At one point in our lives we all come to writing an essay and even though it might seem easy, it is not that simple at all. Many students experience the biggest troubles in their studies exactly with essays. I have written quite a lot of them in my college years and I have some advice kept in store for you, because it is always better to learn from somebody else’s mistakes, right? So, in this article, we will talk about how to write the reaction paper.
What is a reaction paper anyway?
It is not surprising, but yes, it is a paper where you need to express your reaction to something you have read, heard or seen, BUT it should not be just a summary of the text and then a little paragraph with your opinion. For example, if you are writing a reaction paper on global warming, you cannot just write about what this is and then say something like “global warming is bad because it does harm our planet.” The question is then, how do you write a reaction paper and make it more profound and meaningful.
Reaction paper requires close reading, attention to detail, analysis and interpretation of the text, and ability to give commentary. It also requires deep research paper work and ability to see far beyond the surface. It is a very popular assignment because teachers want to see how you can work with text and whether you see something more than just collection of letters.
So, let us take a closer look at the working process step by step.
Questions to keep in mind
Before you start working on the text for your essay, write down a couple of questions to ask yourself while reading. For example:
- Do I like what I read?
- Do I agree or disagree with what is happening?
- Can I identify myself with one of the characters?
- Can I relate to the situation?
- What is the best way to evaluate the story?
Keep those in mind and answer them. You may like to write down your answers on different stages of reading so you can see whether you changed your mind and if you did, then why, or why not.
Life-saving notes
Take notes. Lots of notes! Write everything you think about certain events, even those that might seem unimportant or you think that they are so obvious that you would not be able to forget that. You will forget quite a lot of information, that I promise. And then you will spend twice as much time trying to find a certain quote or trying to remember the brilliant idea you had. Just listen to the person who made the same mistake far too many times. Write down EVERYTHING you think and that will save your life!
Make it clear
Do not try to make your essay look deep and mysterious, like you know something no one else knows. Make it simple to understand but show that you really know what you are talking about. Support your thoughts and ideas with quotes and explain them and make sure you check paper for plagiarism, you can do this with the help of EduZaurus plagiarism checker, and it doesn't contain one. Yes, sometimes quotes a pretty self-explanatory but remember that you are writing this not to show that you are able to find words in a text, you are writing this to show that you can explain why have you chosen this quote and why you, exactly, think that this quote is relatable.
The reaction paper structure
Now let us talk a little bit about the formal aspect and provide you with a reaction paper template. As any other essay, reaction paper has an introduction, body, and conclusion.
- The first part of the essay should contain some basic information like the title of the work, a little bit of information about the author and the year of publication.
- Then give a brief summary of the work. Please, be sure that you are not retelling the plot. I know that when the book is interesting it is hard to stop yourself because it has so many interesting plot twists you want everybody to know, but that would be a different type of essay.
- And after that write your strong thesis statement. Tell us what do you want to say with your paper and make it clear.
- In your body paragraph, you need to prove your point of view, which is your thesis statement and explain your reaction.
- And, finally, your conclusion should consist of the overall reaction and should sum up your thoughts, which you expressed in your body paragraph. But do not give any new information.
In the conclusion of this article I just want to ask you not to search the Internet for somebody else’s thoughts, this is YOUR paper, tell the world what you have got to say. Also, make your topics for reaction response paper up to date. Find rubrics and contents that you are interested in and express your thoughts. There were so many reactions to the world’s most famous literature pieces but some fields, like psychology or media are quite new, so you can make your essay not only interesting but also it might make a difference. Reaction paper about bullying would be a very good choice for essay topic because so many people can relate to that and your thoughts and ideas might change something. What is a reaction paper in college if not a chance to made an impact and express yourself!
