How to succeed at response writing



How to succeed at response/reaction writing

Cheryl Krueger

University of Virginia

What is it?

• A reaction or response paper is a short essay that reveals a thought process, going from an initial thought or reaction to a deeper understanding of the text or film or question. It showcases the student’s ability to formulate a question or hypothesis and to use that question to carve out a path of inquiry or analysis. The paper is short (about 2 pages) so it should get right to the point. When in doubt, instead of reaching out to other sources, get even more focused, linger on a detail, and dig deeper.

What is it not?

• It is not an opinion piece. Although a personal or emotional reaction may trigger the thought process, the goal of the paper is not to justify an opinion or feeling about the text/film.

• It is not a review.

• It is not a report.

• It is not a retelling or summary of the story.

All of the above are valid forms of writing in specific contexts, but they do not fulfill the same purpose as response writing.

Purpose

• To develop the ability to define problems, ask questions, formulate hypotheses that could be later developed in a longer paper

• To practice combining, juxtaposing, synthesizing, integrating, developing, building ideas.

• To make a transition from subjective (personal, emotional) reactions to texts and films, to objective, analytical, scholarly approaches.

Title: Often the idea for a title surfaces only after you have finished the essay. An engaging title gets the read off to a good start.

These are skills that can be applied to longer papers, in this course and in other courses involving analyzes and problem solving.

First paragraph

• First sentence: The first sentence of an essay flavors the entire reading. It sets the tone and leaves a lasting impression. Try to be concise, and be sure to check spelling, grammar, accuracy, very carefully.

• One way to begin: Ask a question or articulate a topic, related to the text or film you are going to discuss, and based on topics discussed in class or raised in readings. Or, start with a brief quote from one of the readings for the course, or a brief paraphrase of an idea brought up in another reading or film. Let this question guide your analysis of key moments in a text or film.

Ideally, this is a question provoked by your reading of a text or viewing of a film. For example, you notice that the first sequences of the film are presented out of chronological order, and that this is confusing at first. You wonder why this would be. You start your paper by asking: What do the chaotic opening sequences of the film say about the characters? Another example: You notice that the title of Musset’s book is close to the title of Kury’s film, but Kurys has left out “confession” and has made the singular “child” plural. You decide to look at sequences of the film that reveal something about these changes in the title, You begin the paper by asking: What does the change in title indicate about the relationship between the film and Musset’s text and theories?

• Do not worry about whether or not you can answer the question definitively. Explore the question instead. Use the question to “read” portions of the text and film.

Body of the essay:

• In order to answer this question, focus on 1-2 passages in a text or scenes in a film. Don’t take on too much, and stick to the central idea raised in your question or thesis.

• Less is more: go deeper into one or two examples rather than trying to cover a lot of material. It is a short paper.

Conclusion

• The conclusion does not have to answer the question but can narrow it down and suggest future paths of analysis.

What to avoid:

• Avoid focusing on whether or not you liked the film or reading. You have a right to your opinion, and I would not grade you on it.

• In moments when you do reiterate plot points use the present tense.

• In films, be careful of focusing on how the actors act: “We know Emma is sad because she cries;” “Le Colonel Chabert looks confused.” “Alfred is upset so he drinks. We can see he is drunk because he has an empty bottle. He also sings loudly.” As you see, this leads to lots and lots of plot summary. Instead focus on how the film medium reinforces emotion: “A close-up of Emma’s hand on the doorknob emphasizes her fear;”

“The soft focus signals Chabert’s escape into old memories, and signals the beginning of a flashback sequence.” “Despite his bravado, Alfred’s fragility and isolation are underlined by the composition of the frame and the steep camera angle.”

• Avoid a question or thesis that is too obvious: “Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot is a comedy with almost no dialogue.” You don’t need to argue or prove this: it is true!

• Avoid straying from the question you asked at the beginning.

• Avoid generalizations about genres, such as: It is easier to relate to films because there are sounds and images [some films have no sounds, some move slowly, some texts are actually more action packed than some films]. Likewise, “The spectators have more sympathy for Emma in the film because they can see her face”

• Avoid generalizations about audience/reader reactions: “Viewers are chocked by Alfred’s behavior in this sequence.” It is hard t know if this is true since there are a lot of viewers out there. You can say that fast montage, or a juxtaposition of images creates a jarring effect.

• Be careful of writing a whole essay to justify your liking or not liking a film, a book, a character. This line of thinking usually doesn’t dig very deep, and produces a lot of plot summary. For example: “I didn’t like Emma in the movie as much as in the book. In the movie she is selfish, For example she is selfish in the scene where she does X, Y and Z …Then she is selfish again in the last sequence when she seeks so and so and says thus and such and does this and that.” Likewise, this type of writing can end up being confessional or autobiographical. That’s interesting, but I can only give an objective grade to objective writing. Here is what can happen: “ I don’t think a heroine should ever be selfish. In my opinion a heroine is always generous. To me, a real hero is someone who is tough in hard times, and who does not give up so easily. I don’t think Emma should use her dull marriage as an excuse for behaving immorally.”

• Beware of imposing a moral, philosophical, social order that does not relate to the text/film or its context. For example, we cannot judge George Sand’s feminism in terms of 20th-century definitions of the term. Another example: suicide is forbidden by the Catholic church. But an essay claiming that Emma Bovary is not a good Catholic because she commits suicide is not an analytical essay. It is explaining something about Catholicism , perhaps, but not about Flaubert’s book. This will lead to lots of plot summary that does not have a point, since the fact that suicide is forbidden…it just that, a fact. It can’t be proved by reading Madame Bovary. If the book seems to have an anti-clerical message, that is a topic worth pursuing.

• In fact, avoid moral judgments. In an analytical essay, moralizing often ends up making the paper more about he person writing it than about the subject to be analyzed. If the film/narrator seems to emphasize a moral or moralizing perspective, that is a topic worth pursuing.

Characteristics of an excellent response paper:

• An excellent response paper traces a thought process, beginning with an observation or question and moving toward a deeper understanding of the text, film or question.

• Anything in quotation marks (including quotes from text or film) should be precise. Use indirect discourse if you cannot rewatch the film to verify accuracy. Likewise, if you are translating loosely from the text or film, do not present this as a direct quote..

Direct discourse: He said, “I am leaving” [must be accurate].

Indirect discourse: He said that he was leaving; He said that he was going to leave; He announced his departure; He threatened to leave. [does not have to be exact].

• The writer shows evidence of having read the works, seen the films, and participated in class discussion. The paper seems to be for this course and not for another course (though connections to other courses are welcome).

• There is very little plot summary.

• The paper raises a question, or explores an idea in a new context.

• The writer moves beyond ( “I was bored; ” “I think films should [XYZ]”) to objective, thought-provoking discussion: “The film was long and moved slowly because there was a great deal of dialogue and little action. In fact, one could say that the camera was more active than the characters. This constant movement on the part of the camera reinforced the sense that the characters were always being watched and evaluated. For example, let’s look at the sequence in which….…”

• Editing: whether in French or English, all basic grammar and editing rules are observed: spelling, agreements, verb conjugations have been checked. The names of characters and other proper nouns have been spelled correctly . Beware of subtitles, which may use translated words and spellings.

Suggestion for choosing a topic:

• Start with something that you did not fully understand or like, something you can untangle: “In Les Enfants du siècle” there is a noticeable lack of reference to the political climate of France.” How, in the context of the film, does this play out? What is the function or result? Does the film refer to the historical context in subtle ways? Take it from there.

• Before writing, select a topic using a three-point process. 1) Observation: I noticed [I couldn’t tell if Mussed really loved Sand; or, Musset used metaphors that caught my attention in La Confession; or, I feel like “mal du siècle” was not discussed much in the film, but a lot of the characters seems to suffer from something. 2) Brainstorm: select one observation and think about what parts of the text or film relate to it, and how they were narrated or presented on film ; does anything we have read or discussed link to this observation? 3) Formulation: Now formulate the question that will open and anchor you essay.

Grammar/style:

• Use the present tense when summarizing plot, whether in French or in English….

• …but avoid summarizing plot. If this has been a sticking point for you, try the “When” rule, that is always make references to plot in subordinate clauses starting with since, when, because, after, despite. For example, do not say “Then Emma Bovary ate the poison.” Refer to the plot just to make your point: “When Emma eats the poison, in a sense she lives up to her romantic fantasy….” “When Emma eats the poison, she takes control of her destiny for the first time….

• In novels, avoid assigning emotions to the author, who may or may express him/herself directly in fiction. Instead refer to the narrator. It is appropriate to refer to the author in autobiographical works.

• When speaking about a writer or filmmaker, avoid using verbs such wants, and tries: these tend to make the paper sound naïve, unless the writer can actually quote the author. Filmmaker to prove this is what s/he wanted or tried to do.

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