Response essay

Summary of assignment
• Task: The response essay asks you to examine two articles and discuss your reactions to
them. The essay will not incorporate other source material other than the articles to
which you are responding.
• Length: 700-1000 words
• Format: APA
• Sources: Two sources, which are the articles to which you are responding

Articles to select from to respond to
In this essay, you will write a personal response to one pair of articles. All of the articles are
available in the e-reserves section of your WRTG 291 class in LEO.
Pair #1 – artificial intelligence
• Helbing, D, Frey, B.S., Gigerenzer, G., Hafen, E., Hagner, M, Hofstetter, Y, van den Hoven,
J., Zicari, R., & Zwitter, A. (2017). Will democracy survive big data and artificial
intelligence? Scientific American. Retrieved from
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/will-democracy-survive-big-data-and-artificialintelligence/

Please note that you should read only pages 1-16 of this article

• Vyas, K. (2018). 7 ways AI will help humanity, not harm it: Artificial intelligence is leading
the way to change life on earth for the better significantly. Interesting Engineering. Retrieved
from https://interestingengineering.com/7-ways-ai-will-help-humanity-not-harm-it

Pair #2 – strategies in teaching writing
• Teller, J. R. (2016). Are we teaching composition all wrong? The Chronicle of Higher
Education, Retrieved from http://www.chronicle.com/
• Stewart, E.M. (2016). No, we’re not teaching composition ‘all wrong.’ The Chronicle of
Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.chronicle.com/

After you select the pair of articles you will respond to, please read both articles in preparing to
construct your first draft of your response essay. You might compare what one author says to
what the other author; consider your own experiences in dealing with the topic that the authors
are addressing; and note areas of agreement, disagreement, or partial agreement/disagreement
you have with either author.
Please incorporate both authors into your response essay. Do not simply respond to one of the
authors.
Point of view
For this essay, feel free to use “I” and “me” (first person point of view) in responding to the
article. While you may have been discouraged from using first-person point of view in previous
classes, please note that this essay is one that allows the use of first-person point of view because
you are responding to an article.
However, you should not write “to the reader” by using the pronoun “you” (second person point
of view) in referring to the reader. For example, instead of “When you read this article, you have
the impression that the author is…” you would write, “When I read this article, I had the
impression that the author was…”
APA Style
The paper should be formatted in APA style. The video How to format your paper according to
APA style might be helpful to watch. In summary, you should observe the following:
• Use one-inch margins.
• Double space.
• Use size 12 Times New Roman font.
• Include a running head.
• Include page numbers.
• Include a title page.
• Do not include an abstract. This paper is not long enough to warrant an abstract.

Helpful Resources and Websites
• Graff, G. and Birkenstein, C., They Say / I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic
Writing with Readings. The chapter in in the e-reserves of our class. It mentions
various techniques to apply in stating what an author said and your response to the
author. It is recommended that you read through that chapter so that you might apply
these techniques to this essay.
• Cahill, Kathleen. (1999). Writing a Reaction or Response Essay. LEO: Literacy
Education Online. http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/reaction.html
• Writing@CSU. (2012).Writing Effective Summary and Response Essays. Colorado State
University, 1993-2012. http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/rst/pop5i.cfm
• Alberdeston, J. (2009).Guidelines for Effective Response Essays.
http://upraenglishhonors.blogspot.com/2009/09/guidelines-for-effective-response.html

• McGee, Chris. (2012). Sample Response Essays. Longwood University, Virginia.
http://www.longwood.edu/staff/mcgeecw/sampleresponsepapers.htm