A reaction paper or sometimes called a response paper is like expressing your thoughts and feelings about something you experienced, whether it’s something you read, watched, or listened to. This way, you can show how well you grasp the information and how you can use your critical thinking skills to analyze it.
Sometimes in school, your teacher might ask you to write a reaction paper to encourage you to reflect on what you learned in a deeper way.
This type of writing is usually about 2-5 pages long and you’ll write about one or more texts. In a reaction paper, it’s okay to use the pronoun “I”, which is different from other academic writing assignments you might do in school.
Reaction papers also give you the opportunity to practice important skills like summarizing, evaluating, and combining information in new ways. You might even be able to use your reaction paper as a starting point for a larger project in the future.
Reaction papers might seem a bit intimidating at first, but they’re just a way for your teacher to see how well you understand what you learned. Just focus on your own thoughts and feelings about what you experienced, and you’ll do great.
What Are You Reacting For?
In a reaction paper, you are reacting to a specific piece of work that you have read, heard, or seen. This can include a book, article, film, lecture, field trip, lab, or class discussion.
When you write a reaction paper, you’re expressing your thoughts and feelings about what you’ve read, heard or seen. The goal is to show that you understand what the work is about, including the author’s purpose, main ideas, and supporting details.
The purpose of writing a reaction paper is to express your thoughts and opinions about the work, and to demonstrate your understanding of the topic. You need to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the work, and analyze the author’s purpose, main points, and supporting ideas.
To make sure you understand the text, you’ll need to gather some basic information about it. This includes the author’s name, the title of the text, the title of the book or journal it came from (if relevant), the publisher, and the year it was published.
You should also provide evidence from the text to support your own ideas and opinions. The reaction paper is not just a summary of the text or a statement of whether you liked or disliked it. It is an opportunity to engage with the text and critically evaluate it, using your analytical skills and personal experiences to reflect on what you have learned.
You’ll also need to summarize the text in a word or phrase, stating what it’s about. Additionally, you’ll need to know the author’s reason for writing the text, their thesis statement, and the main supporting ideas.
Where to Start?
Before you start writing your reaction paper, think about how you feel about the purpose of the author of the work you’re reviewing. It’s important to understand the author’s goal and know your own thoughts on it.
The start of your essay is really important because it can impact your grade. To help you get started, you can look at different reaction papers as examples.
Here is a guide to get you started:
- Figure out what the assignment is asking for. Before you start writing, make sure you understand what your teacher wants from you. They might want you to analyze or evaluate the reading, or they might want a more personal response. Be sure to know what kind of reaction they are looking for.
- If you’re not sure, ask your teacher for clarification. You might be asked to react to the text in relation to another text. If that’s the case, make sure to use quotes from both texts in your writing.
- You might be asked to react to the text based on the themes in your class.
- You might also be asked to give your personal reaction to the text. This is less common, but sometimes your teacher just wants to know if you read the book and what you thought about it. In this case, focus on your own opinions about the book.
Read the Text
When you’re assigned a reaction paper, it’s important to read the text right away. This type of paper requires you to think about what you read and put the ideas together in a way that allows you to analyze and evaluate. It’s not just about reading, giving your opinion, and turning in the paper.
Don’t wait until the last minute to read and react. A good reaction takes time and careful consideration after reading and rereading the text multiple times.
First, read to get a feel for the text. Then, read it again to start thinking about the assignment and your own thoughts and feelings.
Pay close attention to the text and take notes as you read. You can write down your first thoughts, highlight important parts, or gather evidence to use in your paper.
Think Critically
When you read a piece of writing, it’s important to think about what the author did well and what they could have done better. To do this, you can ask yourself some questions like:
- Was the piece convincing? Why or why not? Was the information well-researched and based on reliable sources?
- Did the author leave out any important information or details?
- Did the author focus too much on one thing, or did they present a balanced view?
- Was the author fair and unbiased, or did they only present one side of the story?
- Answering these questions can help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of the piece, and show that you’ve really thought about it.
Thought & Feeling
It’s also important to think about your thoughts and feelings about the text you just read. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help get started:
- How do I feel about what I just read?
- Do I agree with the author’s ideas?
- Do I relate to the characters in the article?
- What I don’t agree with in the article?
- Has this article changed the way I think about something?
- What kind of assumptions is the author making?
What’s Your Reaction?
Think about how the piece makes you feel on a personal level. Is it relatable to your life? The goal is to share your thoughts and experiences with others who are reading.
Here are some questions to consider when writing your reaction:
- Did the piece keep your attention or did you find it boring? Explain why.
- Did it make you feel upset or annoyed? Why or why not?
- If you could, what would you ask or tell the author about the piece?
- What did you learn or understand after reading the piece?
- Does the piece make you have more questions or think about other things?
- Does it remind you of other things you’ve read in class? Compare and contrast it to those.
Answering these questions will help you better understand the article and what you want to say about it in your paper.
Outline & Draft
After you read the article or text you want to react to you can start to write the paper. Here is the outline to follow:
- Determine your angle, or what you want to say about the text. Ask yourself questions about the text and how it makes you feel.
- Come up with a thesis statement, which is a statement that explains what you will analyze, criticize, or try to prove about the text.
- Organize your paper into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
- In each body paragraph, start with a topic sentence and structure the paragraph by starting with what the author says and following it with your reaction.
- Use quotes and examples from the text to support your opinions and views.
- Make sure to give some background information on the text you’re reacting to, so your reader understands what you’re talking about.
- Make sure your paper follows basic essay format and is easy to read.
To make your first draft, use above outline as a guide. It may not be perfect, but it will give you an idea of what your final project will look like.
Pro tip: Don’t write your introduction first! It can be frustrating if you wrote your whole paper only to realize that you strayed from your main point. Writing the introduction after you’ve finished the rest of the paper lets you make any changes to your main idea if needed.
You might need to write a few drafts before you have a final polished piece. During each editing session, focus on fixing one specific thing.
For example, the first time through, focus on fixing spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. The next time, make sure your ideas are organized well. Keep editing until you’re happy with your final product!
Parts of Reaction Paper
Part 1: Introduction and Summary
When writing a reaction paper, it’s important to first give a brief overview of what you’re reacting to. This should include the author’s name, the title of the work, and the publication date. Keep this section short and focused on the main ideas from the work.
Your introduction is your chance to grab the reader’s attention and make them want to keep reading. To do this, start with a hook like a quote, statistic, or question.
After the hook, give a short summary of the article you’re reacting to, but avoid sharing your own opinions just yet.
To wrap up the introduction, write a thesis statement that outlines the main points you’ll be analyzing in the rest of your paper. This will help guide the reader through the rest of your reaction paper.
What should you do
For this first part of your report, you may follow these:
- Write down who the author is and the name of the work, including the name of the publisher and the date it was published. If it’s from a magazine, write down the date it was in the magazine.
- Make a short summary of what the work is about without giving your own opinions.
- Highlight the most important points and supporting details of the work.
- Use quotes from the work to show important ideas.
- Give a general idea of everything important in the original work, but don’t go into too much detail about one specific part.
- Keep the summary just the facts, without any personal opinions. You’ll have a chance to share your own thoughts later in the report.
Part 2: Body. Your Thoughts, Feelings and Opinions
The body paragraphs are where you get to show your thoughts and opinions about the article you’re writing about.
To make it easy for your reader, you should write each paragraph about just one idea. That way, they can follow along easily and see how all your ideas fit together.
Start by making a list of all the important things you want to talk about in your paper. Then, for each one, think about what examples or quotes from the article you can use to show why you think that way.
If your teacher gave you a specific prompt to write about, make sure you cover it completely in your paper. That way, you’ll get full credit for your work.
Now, it’s time to share your own thoughts and feelings about the article. Sometimes teachers give you questions to answer, but other times you can just share what you think.
To start, say what the article says (like, “The author says that…”), and then share your own thoughts and feelings (like, “I think that…”). Make sure to explain why you feel the way you do.
This is the most important part of your reaction paper, because this is where you get to share your own thoughts and ideas.
Use examples from the article to back up your points and show your reader why you think the way you do. You can talk about how the article relates to real life, how it made you feel, or even how it changed your perspective on the topic.
What should you do
The second part of your report is about giving your own thoughts and opinions about the article or book you read. Here’s what you should do:
- Ask your teacher if there are any specific questions you should answer in this part.
- Think about how the article or book you read relates to what you learned in class. For example, does it talk about the same ideas or problems that your teacher discussed in class?
- Think about how the article or book you read relates to the world around us. Does it talk about problems that people are facing today?
- Think about how the article or book makes you feel and how it relates to your own life and experiences. Did it make you feel any emotions?
- Think about whether the article or book increased your understanding of a particular issue, or if it changed your perspective in any way.
- Finally, decide if you would recommend the article or book to others and why. Do you think it’s important, accurate, and well-organized?
Part 3: Conclusion
In this last section, you get to discuss the relationship between the texts you have read and how they fit into a larger picture.
You may discuss the merits of the work, such as its accuracy, organization, importance, and completeness. You should also state whether or not you would recommend the work to others and provide reasoning for your answer.
To do this, you can compare and contrast the texts, and even bring in information from other class discussions or readings to help make your points.
For instance, you can tell if the text provides more information on a topic previously discussed in class, or if it presents a different perspective on an issue.
As you finish writing your reaction paper, it’s time to summarize your thoughts and ideas. The conclusion should provide a brief overview of the main points you discussed and give your final thoughts on the topic.
This is where you share your opinion on the subject in question, but make sure to keep it concise and not introduce any new information.
Tips for Writing a Reaction Paper
When you write a report, here is what you need to keep in mind:
- Write clearly and make sure there are no mistakes.
- Use good writing rules like making sure everything makes sense, having good examples, and using sentences that are easy to understand.
- Each paragraph should flow smoothly into the next.
- Each paragraph should only talk about one idea that you explain really well.
- When you share your thoughts and feelings, make sure you give reasons and examples to show why you feel that way.
- Make sure your opinions are clear and supported by good examples.
- Your report should have a good structure with a summary of the important parts, your opinions, and a final conclusion.
- Check your work to make sure there are no mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
- Proofread your work many times and ask someone else to look it over too.
- If you use information from other sources, make sure to give them credit by using the right way of citation.
- Use quotes from the original work to highlight important parts, but don’t use too many.
- Ask your teacher if you need to include any information about where the work you’re writing about came from.
The goal of a reaction paper is to write about your thoughts and feelings, so feel free to express yourself in a smart and organized way.
Remember that your opinions should have good reasons and examples to keep your reader’s attention. Write and edit your report using good writing rules like making sure everything makes sense, having good examples, and using clear sentences.
Simple Reaction Paper Example
I recently read an article titled “Konoha Economic Crisis is Caused by a Corrupt Government” by John Robert, which was published in “Konoha Today News” on 2 January 2050. After reading the article, I must say that I disagree with the author’s perspective on the cause of the Konoha economic crisis.
The article asserts that the root cause of the crisis lies in the government’s corruption and mismanagement of funds. However, I believe that this is just one part of a larger and more complex issue. There are several other factors that contribute to an economic crisis, such as natural disasters, changes in the global economy, and low consumer confidence.
In the case of Konoha, the recent earthquake and subsequent natural disasters have had a significant impact on the local economy. Businesses have been disrupted, homes have been destroyed, and the government has had to divert resources to recovery efforts. This has led to a decrease in consumer spending and a decrease in business activity, which has contributed to the current economic crisis.
Additionally, changes in the global economy, such as the fluctuation of currencies and trade tariffs, can also impact a local economy. The Konoha economy is not isolated from the rest of the world, and any shifts in the global market can have a ripple effect.
Lastly, consumer confidence plays a crucial role in the health of an economy. If people are uncertain about their future and the stability of their country, they may choose to hold onto their money instead of spending it. This decrease in consumer spending can further contribute to the economic crisis.
In conclusion, while I acknowledge that the government’s corruption and mismanagement of funds may have contributed to the Konoha economic crisis, I believe that it is just one piece of a larger puzzle. The current crisis is the result of a combination of factors, including natural disasters, changes in the global economy, and low consumer confidence.
