Now that we've had a couple of weeks to get our feet wet, we want to make sure that we're all comfortable with the expectations for Reading Responses. Everyone should have received a feedback email from me about his or her first Reading Response. Overall they were good, but just so we're all on the same page, I have put together a bullet list collecting the traits of effective Reading Responses based upon what I have observed. Keep in mind that Engagement Assignments, including Reading Responses, are a quarter of your total course grade.
- Provide critical commentary in your Reading Response, not summary. We have all done the reading, so we don't need much summary. Instead, use the reading to make concrete, specific connections to your own experience inside and outside of class and our previous readings. Then turn your discussion to how this information might be useful in our current project, or otherwise change how you thought about it.
- Make certain to account for the complete prompt. If it asks you to include specific information or talk about a particular aspect of the reading, be sure to do that.
- Use grammar and structure that is appropriate for a professional context. Sentence-level grammar is important, in part because it gives the response a fitting ethos. Also, your response should be structured into a complete mini-narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. Don't just collect random thoughts into one huge paragraph. As writers, we have to do the work of presenting our material to the reader comprehensibly.
- Give your Reading Response a descriptive title. Foreshadow what your post addresses.
- Hit the Reading Response word count. Word counts are a little arbitrary, but they encourage the kind of sustained attention that makes a good post.
- Post your Reading Response by the deadline. Reading Responses should be posted before class time on the day that they are due.