Reader responses give you the opportunity to think about what you've read and to write about your questions and ideas. Occasionally I will stipulate a certain topic or format, but usually you will simply respond to the assigned reading. "But how do I do that?" you might ask.

First of all, let's look at what a reader response does not do. Reader responses DO NOT summarize the reading, present other people's ideas, offer impeccable analyses, or function as busywork. Demonstrate that you've engaged the text by discussing not what you've read, but how you've read. "But how do I do that?" you might ask, yet again. Here are some questions to consider:

What are your initial reactions to reading the text? - Focus first on the feelings evoked by your reading experience. Notice when and where you get angry, worried, bored, confused or excited (these are just a few of the possible affective, or emotional, responses) and then try to elaborate. Here's an example:

I got so mad when Sam threw Lonnie over for Tom. I guess because Sam seemed so shallow and star-struck by an older guy. Also, I thought she was just using Tom to try to understand the War better.

Mason's heavy use of popular culture bothers me and gets me angry, because it contributes to the notion that Sam is shallow and not a very deep-thinking person. Also, I just think it's ethically irresponsible to use someone else for your own gain; when I see my friends do that I always get mad at them.

How do you affect your own reading? - This question aks you to investigate your own assumptions and expectations that you bring to your reading. How do you make sense of a text? Do you expect novels to have happy endings and poems to rhyme? Do you think a good novel needs a "universal" theme? For a more developed discussion of reading strategies, click here.

What does your response tell you about yourself as a reader? - Look back at your responses to the above questions and see if you have learned anything about your own cultural situatedness, or about the ways you approach reading and writing.

[thanks to Reading Texts: Reading, Responding, Writing by Kathleen McCormick, Gary Waller, and Linda Flower (Lexington MA: D.C. Heath, 1987) for their formulation of reader responses]

These questions are meant to guide you through the writing of a response to your reading -- these questions are not prescriptive. In other words, you don't have to follow a formula when you write your response. Just use these questions to spark some of your thoughts.