A Guide to Writing a Response Paper

In this helpful guide, we will tell you what a response paper is. As we explain
how to start writing a response essay, we will also provide you with an
outline, tell you how to format a response essay paper right by paragraphs,
give some helpful tips for writing a successful response paper, and provide
you with an actual response paper example.

The flow of this guide:

1. What Is A Response Paper?

2. How To Start A Response Essay?
3. Response Paper Outline
4. Response Paper Format
5. How To Write A Powerful Response Paper: Helpful Tips
6. Response Paper Example

1. What is a Response Paper?

It is very important to understand what a response paper is before you start

writing, because very often it can be mistaken for a review of a book, an
article, an event, or a movie, which it should NOT be.

“A response paper is your personal chance to explain and

communicate your personal point of view and
understanding of a particular idea through writing”.

Prepared by: Zakarie Abdi Bade, PhD, (C)

Of course, what you write has to relate to an essay, research paper, a book
or a newspaper article you are writing about. The difference from the usual
review or a summary paper is that you have to speak of your own ideas, visions,
and the values that are contained in the work in question. The most
important task here is to connect the subject you are discussing with your
own personal experience. Writing a response paper is an art and you have
to approach it like an artist — give yourself time and space to think, to
analyze and tell of what you have personally been through. You have to
transform the content of an article or a book, a poem or a movie to a
meaningful experience that your audience can relate.

A response paper is not a review and not a test of how you comprehend
something. You should not write your response essay only in sentences like
“I really liked” or “The author tells of how he went to New York and then
moved to Spain”. It is not a summary of what you have read per se! On the
contrary, a powerful response paper is what tells of how deep you have
thought about the concepts discussed and what you have understood and
learned from the author’s writing. A response paper should be like a
poignant and a deep letter to the author where you speak of what has been
influenced and inspired you the most. Finally, a good response paper is the
one that has the answers these three simple questions:

• What is the meaning that the author wants me to understand?

• What is my personal vision and attitude to what the author has told?
• How has it all affected my personal life and my daily interactions?

Prepared by: Zakarie Abdi Bade, PhD, (C)

 2. How to Start a Response Essay

Before you start writing a powerful response essay, you should remember
that it is extremely important to read original text you are responding to
more than once. Remember that every author writes with a clear point in
mind — he or she always promotes a certain idea, a set of beliefs, values,
and a position you may agree or not agree with.

• Explain author’s original ideas and positions

It tells the reader that you have not only read the book or an article, but
tried to analyze and tell of your own thoughts based on what the author
said. It should be at the very start of your paper — you must respond to
author’s idea!

• Write a Reflection of the Position and Ideas

Your task is to continue from the first paragraph by allowing the reader to
understand where you are coming from. This is where you should use
analysis and strategic thinking to tell how exactly you can or cannot relate
to a subject. You should write how author’s ideas and positions relate to
your thoughts and experiences in life.

• Write Your Personal Outcome and Lessons Learned

The last step is the space where you tell how author’s ideas and position
have influenced you and how they relate to your own life and experiences.
It should answer the question and tell if you agree or disagree with the
ideas, if they are similar to yours or are entirely different. If there is a conflict
that you have identified — be sure to tell about it! If something from

Prepared by: Zakarie Abdi Bade, PhD, (C)

author’s writing has changed your beliefs and an overall vision — tell about
it too! This is your response and you have to tell of what you have learned.

By considering these three steps, you will be able to start and write a
powerful response paper. To help you understand all of it in practice,
proceed to a basic example of a response paper outline below.

3. Response Paper Outline

• Introduction

This part usually takes 1–2 paragraphs and has a powerful hook to grab
attention and an interest of your audience. As you state your main idea,
subject, and a purpose, remember to capture reader’s interest. Tell about
author’s vision, but state it in such way that will inspire the reader to read
further on!

• The Body of a Response Paper

• In most cases, the body part should contain from one to three or
more paragraphs. This is where you have to write about the article
or a book that you are responding to in 1–2 paragraphs. Provide
evidence of ideas you are responding to instead and back it up with
the quotes, if applicable. Tell whether you agree or disagree. In the
final body paragraph, tell whether you support a certain idea or not,
confirm what the author has tried to tell, speak of what makes it
powerful, persuasive or unconvincing to you.

Prepared by: Zakarie Abdi Bade, PhD, (C)

 • Conclusion

The final part of your work is, basically, an outcome of your thoughts and a
most powerful and meaningful part of your response paper. It should be 1–
2 paragraphs, as you find applicable. You should state your final points,
tell of what you have learned, how it has inspired you, and support your
words with your thesis and introduction.

4. Response Paper Format

The response paper format is very important to make your response paper
accurate and to meet academic writing demands. We would like to explain
the most important points of response essay paper formatting, so
everything is organized in adherence to academic writing standards.

Place all the basic and identifying information in your

introduction paragraph.

The first sentence should have:

• Title

• Author’s name

• Position

• Date

• Information related to original publication

The following sentences should contain: a brief summary of what you have
read with quotes and identifying points to introduce the main idea or
position.

Prepared by: Zakarie Abdi Bade, PhD, (C)

The body of your response essay should have the following format
structure:

• Detail from an article or a book

• An actual evidence of your position explained

• Supporting quote

As you format your body paragraphs, you can follow a structure that starts
from the author’s vision followed by your vision of it. Alternately, you can
write of author’s opinion in contrast to yours.

The conclusion part’s format should have the following order:

• A summary of your paper in 2–3 sentences

• Statement of your outcome

• Support of the main idea

The final sentences should reflect on what you have learned and how the
writing of an author has inspired and influenced you.

5. How to Write a Powerful Response Paper: Helpful

Tips

In this part of a guide, we will provide you with a bullet list of useful tips
that will help you to write a truly powerful response essay and feel a little
less stressed! Our advice is to work in a two-step approach (reading and
writing parts):

Prepared by: Zakarie Abdi Bade, PhD, (C)

How to read your original source (book, article, newspaper,
poem, movie, etc)

1. Use the drafts to write down the main ideas that come to mind
as you read the original author’s work.

2. Think about what initial thoughts and feelings you are

experiencing as you read. Write them down like: joy, anger,
confusion, sadness, agreement, shock, feeling relieved.

3. Will your response paper essay agree or disagree with an author?

4. Have you had any experience that relates to the events and ideas
described by the author?

5. Have you read, seen, or heard anything similar to what the author
describes that you can relate to and discuss in a more relaxed
way?

6. Does an article, a report or a book provide enough evidence and

facts to support the claims?

How to organize and plan your response essay writing part:

1. Start by writing down your thesis statement and an idea that you
want to follow.

2. Write down the core points of your idea that you want to
respond to.

3. Add quotes, examples, and references to author’s work and/or

your own experiences.

4. Use topic sentences to make the logical flow of your response

paper work.

Prepared by: Zakarie Abdi Bade, PhD, (C)

 5. Do not forget that the last sentence of each paragraph should
connect with the next paragraph’s first sentence.

6. Remember that your conclusion paragraph should restate your

main thesis in other words and connect it with a lesson you have
learned.

7. Do not be afraid of using your own experience as you analyze

author’s writing and make contrasts.

8. Stay creative and give yourself enough freedom of mind! Use

drafts, revise, proofread and do not be shy to read aloud!

9. Response Paper Example

The Source we are responding to: “I Have a Dream” Speech (Copyright

1963, Martin Luther King Jr.)

“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Response Paper Essay

“I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, delivered during

the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28th of
1963, continues to inspire and influence people all over the world.
What makes this speech so unique is its pursuing of a dream of
freedom and equality among people where a person is not only asking
for racial justice towards mistreated population of African Americans,
but aims for standing up for the rights that every person should be
granted by Constitution of the United States. Still, what makes this
speech powerful, in my opinion, is rhetoric and sincerity of Dr. Martin
Luther King who skillfully uses ethos, pathos, and logos by turning to

Prepared by: Zakarie Abdi Bade, PhD, (C)

metaphors, repetition, pauses, and tonal characteristics that actually
speak to the hearts and minds of people.

Turning to my own life’s experience, the speech by Dr. Martin Luther

King helps me to overcome personal and professional challenges of the
past, today, and tomorrow. It always reflects my own American
Dream. As a working parent, a student, and an African American
immigrant in the United States, I can relate to every line in the speech
and a definition of freedom. The level of sincerity in the speech echoes
with my own perception of being free from clichés in the society where
a person is not judged by a skin color, social or a racial background. As
Dr. Martin Luther King speaks of his dream, he tells of people that
come from all over the country, he specifically mentions different states
from the “snowcapped Rockies of Colorado” to “Stone Mountain of
Georgia”. The use of powerful descriptions helps every person relate
and become united both physically and in spirit. This is exactly what
makes the speech universal through the decades of time as the society
transforms, yet still holds to the same struggles and socio-cultural
principles.

The true power of Dr. Martin’s speech is, indeed, its universal approach
to society where the racial problems are not in the foreground because
they speak of equality among all people and talk to not only African
Americans or the oppressors. “I Have a Dream” is a speech that
reaches to the depth of every human being with an aim to make a
transformation in the hearts and minds. It wants to inspire a person, to
make an individual think, and, hopefully, move forward. As I read the
well-known words again, I remind myself each time that I am not
different, not inferior or superior to anyone else, but a person who has
Prepared by: Zakarie Abdi Bade, PhD, (C)
to make a difference in a society by becoming a change one anticipates.
The “I Have a Dream” speech inspires me to walk an extra mile to
become a better person, a more caring parent not only for my own
children, but to every growing individual. It helps me to become an
example of honesty, sincerity, empathy, and care because it is what
helps to make the society we live in a little bit better and safer for
everyone. I, too, have a dream, a dream that should start from each of
us. A dream that should start right now as we all have a power,
knowledge, and resources to make a difference.

Prepared by: Zakarie Abdi Bade, PhD, (C)