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Response Using Sources

In this essay, you'll return to the response format you used earlier. Only this time, instead of using personal experience, you'll use other sources to support your agreement or disagreement with the author's ideas. This is a more common type of response in academic writing, and also one way that academic writers begin to make arguments of their own.

The question you'll answer is "Now that you've done some research on the topic, do you agree or disagree with the position your author takes in his or her argument? Why?"

You're answering it for a reader you identify. You might imagine the reader of this paper to be the professor of a class on your group topic. Based on the discussions we've had in class and your reading, what can you assume about his or her likely expectations for focus, organization, evidence, and style?

Your goals: This is your chance to pull together everything you've learned about academic writing. You'll use those summary skills one more time and, as in the last response paper, focus on agreeing or disagreeing with one of the author's main ideas. You'll also want to think about
  1. What will my audience be most interested in hearing?
  2. How can I select the sources that will best support my points?
  3. What kind of organization will be most useful for my reader?
  4. What's the most effective balance of my own thoughts and outside source material?

Strategies: