In the reading response, you shall summarize an author’s thesis/argument, cite specific examples or evidence they use to uphold their argument, identify their key terms and concepts, and reflect on how to their thesis/argument and writing relates to other scholarly or cultural ideas. By writing a reading response, you actively engage with a writer’s work and demonstrate your comprehension of the text. [Be sure that the class reading(s) you select (chosen from a bulleted listing) are assigned for the upcoming week, -not- for material assigned in the past week.]
- Before you hit the “Publish” button, make sure your blog profile name is set so we can appropriately identify you as the Author. (Your user profile settings might default to your UC NetID.)
Part One: Your weekly reading response (300-words minimum) should complete the following four actions:
- State the author’s thesis and/or argument (in your own words, do NOT merely cite).
- Identify specific examples and forms of evidence they use to uphold their argument. (Indicate where you found this in the source text by including the page number.)
- Define key terms and concepts the author either references or introduces.
- Relate how this author’s idea(s) connects to other scholarly or cultural ideas. (Be sure to adequately identify what you are discussing as an external work or issue; do not presume the readers are familiar with your reference.)
- Optional: Formulate 1-2 questions that the core reading raises for you.
Part Two: For the PEER COMMENT (60-100 words) of your weekly reading response, you will read and comment on ONE other student’s reading response (to a DIFFERENT reading, if possible). Remember: you should focus less on simply correcting your fellow classmate. Instead, you should analyze what they have surmised from the article and attempt to answer the questions they raise and/or provide a reflection to encourage thoughtful dialogue and reception to another perspective.
All reading responses are due on our course blog space by 11pm the Monday BEFORE the class when we will be discussing that particular set of articles/essays. Peer Comments are due the following day (Tuesday) by 11pm.
**Here’s some links to sample student blog posts (from Spring 2017, for different Asian American Studies course topics) which attain a
“High Pass” rating under the same blog writing criteria.
Sample Post #2: https://sites.uci.edu/asammedia55-s18/2018/08/07/sample-post-2-does-a-venus-in-film-exist/
In this piece “Does a Venus in Film Exist?” the student author leads their writing with Element #4, an external academic essay, as a way to design a unique dialogue with the required reading.
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