Write Critical Response Essay

We will read about a different topic in political psychology each week. Some of these topics will
interest you more than others. As such, your task is to identify two topics that you find
particularly interesting. Once you have identified these two topics, you will need to write a short
(~1,000 word) critical response essay for each set of readings.
Both critical response essays should be more than just summaries of the readings. Each essay
should present a new idea that (a) integrates the weeks readings, (b) challenges a given view, or
(c) examines the implications of the research. You can also offer a critique of the literature or
propose a new study. Regardless of the approach you choose, each essay will be due one week
after (by 5:00pm) your topic has been discussed in class. You must, however, turn in your first
critical response essay by 7 April. This first essay is worth 10% of your end-of-semester mark.
Your second critical response essay, which is due by 2 June, is worth 20% of your end-ofsemester mark.
Summary
Main points/idea
objectively

Thesis & Main Ideas

What key question or

problem does the author
address
What is the author
thesis
What are the key
passages or key
moments in the text

Organization & Evidence

Where does the author

preview the essays org
How does the author
signal new sections of
the essay
What kind of evidence is
used (personal exp,
descriptions, statistics,
interviews, etc)

Response
Analyse effectiveness of
the text
Agree/disagree with
ideas
Interpreting and
reflecting to the text
Critiquing the ideas
Supporting the response
with evidence
Combining summary &
response into coherent
thoughts
Where do you agree or
disagree
Does the essay have
contradiction or errors in
logic
What ideas or
arguments does the
essay ignore
At what points were you
confused about
organization
What evidence was
most/least effective
Where did the author
rely on assertions & not
evidence
Which of your own
experience did you recall
as you read the essay

1. Reread the essay, book, or story and ask yourself if you find that the text
supports (illustrates or exemplifies) its thesis (theme or topic) effectively.
Decide whether the text persuades or not and why it does or does not do
so. Check for obvious biases, flawed logic, false arguments and so on,
including your own. It may be helpful to read the text once with the
belief that the author is absolutely right and tells the truth convincingly
and once with the belief that the author is full of nonsense and lying
through his or her teeth: jot down the truths and the untruths during
both readings and compare them at the end to see which ones hold up in
your mind and which ones do not.
2. Write a position statementyour thesisthat you can use to centre your
response.
3. Make a list of arguments you consider (potentially) useful to make your
point.
4. Select your strongest arguments, and arrange them into a logical order
(narrow to wide, or wide to narrow).
5. Write your opening paragraph(s) to include a brief summary of the essay
you respond to, your position statement, and the main points you plan to
raise to make your case.
6. Write your concluding paragraph to include a reference to the essay you
critique, a consolidation of the points you have raised, and the result of
the reasoning you have applied: your conclusion, that is, your position
statement in different words.
7. Write the middle part of your response to follow the order of the various
arguments you have listed for yourself.
8. Check to make sure that opening, body, and conclusion form a logical and
coherent whole. Look out for transition problems.
9. If all looks well, read, revise, and edit it again to take out grammar,
mechanics, and stylistic errors.
Two Example Paragraphs
Example 1: A Plot Summary (Dont Do This)
Rowlandson intersperses her autobiography with numerous quotations
from the Bible. She seems to use the quotations to try to make sense of
her ordeal. In one section, she dismisses her hardships as a trial by God.
Affliction I wanted, and Affliction I had, full measure. [. . .] And I hope I
can say in some measure as David did, It is good for me that I have
been afflicted (69). Using scripture, Rowlandson is able to make sense
out of the hardships she endures.
Example 2: A More Engaging Paragraph
In her autobiography, The True History of the Captivity and Restoration
of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Rowlandsons attempts to use scripture to
make sense of her ordeal reveal the role Puritans believed God played in
their lives. Rowlandson uses scripture as a way to illuminate Gods
motives; she uses scripture to explain why she has to endure seemingly
senseless hardships. Near the end of the narrative, Rowlandson writes,
Affliction I wanted, and Affliction I had, full measure. [. . .] And I hope I
can say in some measure as David did, It is good for me that I have
been afflicted (69). This example shows how Rowlandson compares her
ordeals to the ordeals of Biblical figures. She is able to understand her
hardships as trials and tests by God to strengthen her faith.
Rowlandsons attempt to explain her hardships through scripture reveals

the Puritan view that God is an omnipresent influence in daily life and
that everything that happens serves Gods purpose, whether or not that
purpose can be understood.
A critique is an analysis of and a commentary on another piece of writing. It
generally focuses on technique as well as on content. A critical response essay
(or interpretive essay or review) has two missions: to summarize a sources
main idea and to respond to the sources main ideas with reactions based on
your synthesis.
Summarizing
The first step to writing is to read actively and thoughtfully, seeking answers to
the following questions as you go:
o What are the main points, ideas, or arguments of the work (book, article,
play essay, etc.)?
o How is the work organized?
o What evidence/support does the author give?
o What is the primary purpose of the work?
(For further guidance on summarizing, see our handout Five Keys to Writing
Effective Summaries.)
Analyzing (interpretation and evaluation)
To help you generate content for your analysis, consider the following questions:
o Does the work achieve its purpose? Fully or only partially?
o Was the purpose worthwhile to begin with? Or was it too limited, trivial,
broad, theoretical, etc.?
o Is any of the evidence weak or insufficient? In what way? Conversely, is
the evidence/support particularly effective or strong?
o Can I supply further explanation to clarify or support any of the main
points, ideas, and arguments?
o Are there sections you dont understand? Why?
o Was there any area where the author offered too much or too little
information?
o Is the organization of the work an important factor? Does its organization
help me understand it, hinder my understanding, or neither?
o Is anything about the language or style noteworthy?
Organization
The length or your essay and whether you respond to a single passage or to an
entire work will vary with the assignment.
o Introduction:
o Body:
Summary
Transition
Analysis: Evaluate the evidence: sufficient (enough evidence,
examples), representative(large enough pool/sample),
relevant(accurate correlations), accurate, claims fairly qualified
Transition

o
o

Response: base reaction on your own experience, prior knowledge,

and opinions (?)
Conclusion:
Documentation:

Within the body, you may choose from three basic patterns of organization:
write all the summary paragraphs first, followed by the analysis portion;
alternate between summary and analysis paragraphs so that each paragraph of
summary is followed by a critique of the summarized information; or combine a
summary and critique of each idea within each paragraph of the body.