The summary is a compression of what the author has to say. It is not a rewording. Though a summary is a compression of the author’s main points, a summary is still a type of argument. You will convince me with your summary what the point of the essay is. In that respect, the summaries should differ from person to person as each of you decides what is important to you in the essay. This part of your essay does not necessarily have to be structured like an argumentative essay with a thesis and topic sentences. However, you must have an argument: “The author’s main point is this . . .,” but not in so many words. You may pull quotes from the text to support your point. Any quotes or paraphrases used I want cited MLA style. Your summary should be one to two paragraphs in length.

The response is your reaction to the summary. It is not a rehashing of what the authors says (that is paraphrase or to some extent summary). I want your opinion, your response. You may draw from outside events (i.e. I respond to the essay in this way because of this event in my life) or other texts (i.e. this essay reminds me of this text). Think back to when we did the group work on Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us. I want to see in this section of the paper that you have thought critically about the essay and have a well-developed response. The response should be at least a full page in length.

Both the summary and response should be typed in Times New Roman 12 point font, double spaced, and in MLA format. Do not section the summary and response. You may go directly from one to the next with only a paragraph break. You paper in its entirety should be 2-3 pages in length.