Summary-Response Essay

1. Summary-Response Essay Responding to Reading

2. Reading Critically • Not about finding fault with author • Rather engaging author in a discussion by asking questions as you read an article or essay • Requiring author to meet certain demands that employ good writing techniques:

3. How to read critically • Good note taking • Keep a Reader’s log

4. Author’s Name and title of Article • Summary: List main ideas, key features, examples, and evidence the author may provide • Response: • Log your reaction to each main point, record your comments, and questions

5. Purpose of this Essay • To understand an author’s main idea and purpose for work • To recognize the main points that support that main idea • To be able to summarize(paraphrase) author’s main ideas • To be able to respond or react to what the author has to say (to support or defend your point of view)

6. Preparing the Summary • Cite the author and the title of the text • Indicate the main ideas of the text • Paraphrase main ideas; quote sparingly, use key words, phrases, and sentences • Include attributive tags • Avoid summarizing specific examples or data • Be objective

7. Response • Your opinion of the author’s ideas • Do you agree or disagree • How well is the essay or article written?

8. Structuring Your response • Requires your reaction to the text and your interpretation of the text • A response of this nature will react to the ideas or the argument • Simply, do you agree with the author? • Why or why not? • Provide evidence based on your experiences to support your reaction

9. 3 ways to provide evidence to support your response • Your response requires that you provide evidence to support your opinion, whether you agree or disagree with the author • Consider what sort of evidence will best support your statements: personal experience, evidence from text, outside sources

10. 1. Personal Experience • Use personal experience as examples to demonstrate why you interpret the text the way you do, why you react the way you do, why you agree or disagree • I strongly disagree with so and so’s first point based on my own high school experience, especially in my History class. • Look at Abramowitz’s essay for examples of her personal experiences.

11. 2. Evidence from the text • Cite specific phrases or sentences from the text to support your: • explanation of the text • analysis of the effectiveness of the text • response to the text (why you agree or disagree) • Look at Abromowitz’s essay for examples of her using evidence from the text

12. 3. Evidence from other texts • Acceptable to bring in ideas and information from other texts • Your prior knowledge • No research required for this assignment • Cite sources if you do use borrow material from other sources • Look at Abramowitz’s essay for examples of her using outside texts or sources.

13. Introduction • Brief introduction that will state these items: • Title of the article or essay; Name of author; Place of publication • Any key information you might know about author to help establish author’s credibility • State author’s main idea • Thesis: a well thought out statement stating your main point about the article or essay.

14. Body Organization: Block • Pattern 1 • I. Introduction with thesis • II. Summary of main point • III. Points You agree with • IV. Points you disagree with • Conclusion

15. Body Organization: Point by Point • I. Introduction with thesis • Summarize point 1; agree or disagree • Summarize point 2; agree or disagree • Summarized point 3; agree or disagree • Conclusion • Note: you do not need to agree or disagree with all points

16. Conclusion • End essay with a summary of your response • You can add a new perspective about the article, author, or topic

17. Important things to remember • Make sure to give reasons why you disagree • Give examples, personal experience, facts, any previous experience or knowledge you can draw upon to support your opinion • Based on my experience with boys in class in high school. . . . • Try to avoid over using “I agree” and “I disagree”

18. The Summary: Discuss the Points that Feagin makes in groups • Denying Individual Racism • White Views on Government Action Against Racism • Symbolic and Laissez Faire Racism • Views on Affirmative Action • Imaging the White Self • Fostering and Learning Racist Attitudes • Role of Elites • Everyday Racism: Subtle, Covert, and Blatant • Who Does the Discriminating? • Facing Lifetimes of Racial Discrimination • Racial Discrimination in Public Places

19. Denying Individual Racism • Slavery ended a long time ago • Institutionalized racism ended after the Civil Rights movement • Racism is something that other people are i.e.) grandparents, parents, KKK members

20. Symbolic and Laissez Faire Racism • Symbolic • Whites have replaced blatant racism with a more subtle form • Whites believe blacks are making “illegitimate demands for societal changes” (Feagin 342). • Criticized for not acknowledging that blatant racism still exists • Laissez Faire • Whites have embraced the principle of desegregation but are opposed to government intervention or actual changes that involve living and going to school with black people. • Allows whites to feel good about themselves

21. Affirmative Action • Whites believe affirmative action is not needed b/c racism is dead. • Whites believe that if blacks aren’t successful, it’s b/c they don’t work hard enough. • White elites shape views on this issue: • For example, media attention of this issue goes up in the years preceding presidential elections

22. Imaging the white self • Whites see white culture as superior. • Whites don’t see financial benefits from slavery and segregation • “My family didn’t own slaves.”

23. Role of Elites in Fostering Racist Attitudes • Without realizing it, many white people harbor negative attitudes towards blacks • These ideas are fostered by an elite few through the media, schools, and even churches

24. Everyday Racism • White people may not be aware of their racism • May grab purse or lock door when a black man walks by • White employer might hire a white man over an equally qualified black man b/c he feels more comfortable with his own kind

25. Who Does the Discriminating? • 3 types of racist whites • Blatant-KKK • Less subtle forms • Don’t directly participate but don’t stop it • White upper/middle class Americans affect housing and jobs • Lower classes are more violent

26. Facing Lifetimes of Racial Discrimination • No way to tell impact of racism • Little research • Black people don’t want to appear weak • Black people don’t count small examples of racism

27. Racial Discrimination in Public • Whites assume blacks are going to steal • Whites charge more for cars • White medical professionals less likely to use expensive procedures on black patients

28. Respond to major points: • Points you agree with(Students will list) • 1 • 2 • 3 • Experiences or knowledge that support your agreement • 1 • 2 • 3

29. Respond to major points: • Points you disagree with • 1 • 2 • 3 • Experiences or knowledge that support your agreement • 1 • 2 • 3