hunter college essay topic

Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Masterlinks

About Hunter
One Stop for Students
Make a Gift
Access the Student Guide
Apply to Become a Peer Tutor
Access the Faculty Guide
Request a Classroom Visit
Refer a Student to the Center
Request a Classroom Workshop
RWC Faculty Index
The Writing Process
The Documented Essay/Research Paper
Writing for English Courses
Writing Across the Curriculum
Grammar and Mechanics
Business and Professional Writing
CUNY TESTING
| Workshops
Research Information and Resources
Evaluating Information Sources
Writing Tools and References
Reading Room
Literary Resources
ESL Resources for Students
ESL Resources for Faculty
Teaching and Learning
| Contact Us

Each semester, you will probably be asked by at least one instructor to read a book or an article (or watch a TV show or a film) and to write a paper recording your response or reaction to the material. In these reports—often referred to as response or reaction papers—your instructor will most likely expect you to do two things: summarize the material and detail your reaction to it. The following pages explain both parts of a report.

PART 1: A SUMMARY OF THE WORK

To develop the first part of a report, do the following:

Identify the author and title of the work and include in parentheses the publisher and publication date. For magazines, give the date of publication.
Write an informative summary of the material.
Condense the content of the work by highlighting its main points and key supporting points.
Use direct quotations from the work to illustrate important ideas.
Summarize the material so that the reader gets a general sense of all key aspects of the original work.
Do not discuss in great detail any single aspect of the work, and do not neglect to mention other equally important points.
Also, keep the summary objective and factual. Do not include in the first part of the paper your personal reaction to the work; your subjective impression will form the basis of the second part of your paper.

PART 2: YOUR REACTION TO THE WORK

To develop the second part of a report, do the following:

Focus on any or all of the following questions. Check with your instructor to see if s/he wants you to emphasize specific points.
How is the assigned work related to ideas and concerns discussed in the course for which you are preparing the paper? For example, what points made in the course textbook, class discussions, or lectures are treated more fully in the work?
How is the work related to problems in our present-day world?
How is the material related to your life, experiences, feelings and ideas? For instance, what emotions did the work arouse in you?
Did the work increase your understanding of a particular issue? Did it change your perspective in any way?
Evaluate the merit of the work: the importance of its points, its accuracy, completeness, organization, and so on.
You should also indicate here whether or not you would recommend the work to others, and why.

POINTS OF CONSIDERATION WHEN WRITING THE REPORT

Here are some important elements to consider as you prepare a report:

Apply the four basic standards of effective writing (unity, support, coherence, and clear, error-free sentences) when writing the report.
Make sure each major paragraph presents and then develops a single main point. For example, in the sample report that follows, the first paragraph summarizes the book, and the three paragraphs that follow detail three separate reactions of the student writer to the book. The student then closes the report with a short concluding paragraph.
Support any general points you make or attitudes you express with specific reasons and details. Statements such as "I agree with many ideas in this article" or "I found the book very interesting" are meaningless without specific evidence that shows why you feel as you do. Look at the sample report closely to see how the main point or topic sentence of each paragraph is developed by specific supporting evidence.
Organize your material. Follow the basic plan of organization explained above: a summary of one or more paragraphs, a reaction of two or more paragraphs, and a conclusion. Also, use transitions to make the relationships among ideas in the paper clear.
Edit the paper carefully for errors in grammar, mechanics, punctuation, word use, and spelling.
Cite paraphrased or quoted material from the book or article you are writing about, or from any other works, by using the appropriate documentation style. If you are unsure what documentation style is required or recommended, ask you instructor.
You may use quotations in the summary and reaction parts of the paper, but do not rely on them too much. Use them only to emphasize key ideas.
Publishing information can be incorporated parenthetically or at the bottom of the page in a footnote. Consult with your instructor to determine what publishing information is necessary and where it should be placed.

A SAMPLE RESPONSE OR REACTION PAPER

Here is a report written by a student in an introductory psychology course. Look at the paper closely to see how it follows the guidelines for report writing described above.

Part 1: Summary