WR 090
Week 2
Assignment Guidelines
WR090 Critical Response Paper (CRP) Guidelines
The Critical Response Paper enables us to actively read a text, to think critically about it, and to respond
in writing. The skills we practice here, invaluable for our course, are also common in many other
disciplines as well. The guidelines, process, and grading criteria are included on this page, which should
be filed in the “Assignment Guidelines” section of your portfolio.
GUIDELINES
1. TIME LOG: Please record how much time it took you to read the text.
2. VOCABULARY: Write down any words that you do not know. Then, using a dictionary, look
up and write down the definition.
3. SUMMARY: Your goal for summarizing a text is to state the work’s main ideas and key points
simply, briefly, and accurately in your own words.
To summarize a written text follow these steps:
• In the first sentence, mention the title of the text, the name of the author, and the author’s
central ideas or thesis statement (a thesis statement is the central claim or argument)
• Maintain a neutral tone; be objective
• Use the third person point of view and the present tense (e.g. Taylor argues . . .)
• Keep your focus on the text. Don’t state the author’s idea as if they were your own
• Put all or most of your summary in your own words; if you borrow a phrase or a sentence
from the text, put it in quotation marks and the page number in parentheses
• Limit yourself to presenting the text’s key points
• Be concise; make every word count
4. ANALYSIS: Where summary most often answers the question of what a text says, an analysis
looks at how a text makes its point.
An analysis often answers the following questions:
• What is the purpose of the text?
• What sort of structure does it have (e.g. narrative, compare/contrast, argument)?
• What are the key parts?
• What type of evidence is used to support the thesis? (This is different than summarizing,
so you don’t want to re-tell what happens, but instead specify the type of information
provided, such as personal anecdotes or scientific data, etc.)
• Given a) and b), who might the author’s intended audience be? If this is a historic text,
has that audience changed over time?
5. SYNTHESIS: Build on your summary and analysis, but focus on answering the question: “How
does this relate to other materials that we’ve read or discussed in class?” Compare or contrast the
piece with another piece we have studied. When discussing, include titles (don’t forget to format
them) and authors’ names for works mentioned, and be sure to include an example to support
your main idea for each text you discuss.
6. EVALUATION: Build on your analysis and synthesis, but focus on the question of “Why is this
information important/relevant/useful/interesting?” You may address this question from a general
point of view, such as why the piece is important in society, or more specifically, why it might be
beneficial or interesting to a smaller subset, such as students, or, yourself. Be sure to support your
main idea with details.
PROCESS
During the term we will work on the CRP sections in stages:
Practice CRP
CRP 1: Summary
CRP 2: Summary + Analysis
CRP 3: Summary + Analysis + Synthesis
CRP 4: Summary + Analysis + Synthesis + Evaluation
As we work through these papers, we will take the following approach:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Text will be introduced and initially discussed in class
Text to be read and annotated outside of class
CRP discussion and preparation will take place in class
CRP will be drafted, revised and proofread as homework (use of the Writing Center is highly
encouraged).
5. CRP will be submitted and follow up questions and discussions will take place in class.
GRADING CRITERIA
Each of our five Critical Response Papers will be worth 6 points, or 6% of our final grade, for a
total of 24%. It is important that responses are complete, written in complete sentences, and
accurate and academic in grammar, punctuation, and word choice.
Points will be deducted for papers that:
• Are incomplete
• After CPR 1, do not meet the minimum length requirement of one full page
• Do not follow guidelines for assigned sections of summary, analysis, synthesis, or
evaluation.
• Have a significant amount of grammar, punctuation, or word choice issues that indicate
that the paper has not been proofread
• Are not MLA-formatted
Papers that borrow from online sources will receive a zero and a notification to the college.
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