How to Write a Reading Response

HOW TO WRITE A READING RESPONSE

I

’m old. When I started teaching college in the ‘90s, I wanted a way to make sure students were reading the assignments required for class because there’s nothing worse than standing in front of a classroom having a discussion about a piece of literature when I’m the only person in the room who has read it. I hated giving quizzes because they take up class time and stress students out. That’s when I came up with reading responses, and I have been using them since.

Here’s why: 1. They prove that you have actually completed the reading assignment.

2. You have to think critically about the literature you’ve read.

3. Even though they are very short, they are writing assignments, and the key to becoming a better writer is to write.

While Blackboard and other instructors refer to them as “discussions,” I call them “reading responses,” but they are essentially the same thing.

There is no length requirement. A few sentences will do. You will notice that some of the examples I use in this handout are as short as two sentences, and I think the longest one is five sentences. I also don’t grade on grammar, spelling, punctuation, style, content, etc. They are graded

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only on completion. Because everyone in the class will be able to see your response, the shame of posting a crappy response should be motivation enough. While you should avoid using “I” or “in my opinion” in formal essays, it is fine in reading responses.

WHAT I DON’T WANT One of the great things about reading responses is it’s next to impossible to do them wrong.

Because they aren’t graded for length, content, spelling, or grammar, I’m not asking for much.

There are, however, three things you should avoid: 1. If there are questions at the end of the reading or posted in my notes, you may want to consider them in your head, but you do not need to answer them in reading responses.

2. I don’t just want a retelling of the plot. I read it. The class read it. There is no reason to give a summary.

3. While it’s fine to give your opinion of the work as a whole, that shouldn’t be the focus of your reading response. I don’t really care if you loved it or loathed it. I want you to respond to it.

Let’s look at some samples of what I DON’T want.

Again, we all read it. We don’t need you to tell us what we read. In this first example of what I don’t want, the student—responding to the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson—gives a summary of the story: Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” depicts a small, seemingly ordinary village that annually conducts a lottery. The event begins with familiar communal rituals, but as it progresses, a chilling undercurrent of tension and apprehension emerges. The story culminates in the horrifying reveal that the lottery’s “winner” is sacrificed through stoning.

The main reason I don’t want you to focus on whether you liked it or not is that I’d like you to wait for me to teach it before you settle on an opinion. If you want to tell me you hated it or loved it then, fine. The other reason I don’t want you to focus on if you like it is you run the risk of making it sound like you didn’t read it. In the next example from a reading response submitted by a former student, I removed the title and the author*, which shows you how these types of responses don’t prove you read the assignment or thought about it critically and could apply to anything you have (or haven’t) read: I did not like [title of work]. I don’t think [the author] is a very good writer. I didn’t understand it, and it bored me. *By the way, the student was writing about Annie Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels.”

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If you do make any of these errors, I will still probably give you credit, but I will make a note on your grade to avoid it in the future and may dock you points if it becomes habitual.

WHAT I DO WANT As noted earlier, all you need to do in your reading responses is (1) prove you’ve read it, (2) prove you have thought about it, and (3) prove you can articulate those thoughts in a few sentences.

Your focus can be broad or esoteric. When you read it, what did you think about? Did any of the literary terms we will discuss pop into your head? Did it remind you of something from your own life? Did it have an impact on you in some way other than liking or disliking it?

Now, let’s look at some past examples from students showing what I DO want.

Don’t get anxious or worried that the examples are well written. Remember, these are the best of the best I have received in almost thirty years of teaching college English. Also, in most cases, I have jazzed up the diction, fixed the errors, and added a word or two to make them better.

In this first example, the student is addressing the theme of the essay “Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard in general terms that summarize the author’s intentions, not the plot: I think Dillard’s theme centers on living with raw instinct and necessity rather than overthinking and complicating life with human desires. She suggests that embracing the weasel’s fierce simplicity can lead to a more authentic and purposeful existence.

“Going to Meet the Man” by the African-American writer James Baldwin—a short story that is in my opinion one of the best pieces of fiction ever written—is a difficult read for many because it is riddled with racism, extreme violence, and the N-word. I had a student ask me why we read things in class that made her uncomfortable. I suggested she explore why she thought professors often require it and similar works in literature classes. This is her reading response: Exposure to diverse and challenging literature helps students develop crucial empathy, broaden their perspectives, and foster critical thinking skills. By encountering fictional scenarios that reflect real-world issues, students can safely explore complex emotions, learn to analyze different viewpoints, and better understand human nature and the challenges faced by others, including those from marginalized communities. In James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man,” the graphic violence is essential to the story’s brutal tone, exposing the deep-rooted cruelty and dehumanization at the heart of racism. This violence forces the reader to confront the horror and psychological impact of racial terror, making clear how it shapes both personal identity and societal structures.

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Race often comes up in reading responses. A question that always comes up when discussing “Harlem” by Langston Hughes is if the poem is directed toward African-Americans or everyone.

This student gives her take on the question: In Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem,” race is central because the poem speaks to the deferred dreams of African Americans who were systematically denied equality and opportunity. The unanswered question of what happens to a “dream deferred” reflects the collective frustration of Black communities whose aspirations were postponed by racism and segregation. The imagery of decay, such as a dream “fester[ing] like a sore” or “stink[ing] like rotten meat,” symbolizes the destructive consequences of racial injustice. Hughes emphasizes that suppressed dreams do not simply disappear but instead transform into tension, bitterness, or explosive anger. By grounding the poem in the experience of racial oppression, Hughes highlights both the resilience of African Americans and the urgent need for social change.

Two of the hardest things for authors to convey to readers is humor and horror (or “Gothic,” as we call it in the literary world). In this reading response on “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the student tries to answer the question, What makes it a horror story? I think she nails it: Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is considered a horror story because it transforms the ordinary setting of a small, friendly village into the site of ritualistic murder, shocking readers with its contrast between normalcy and brutality. The horror lies not in supernatural elements but in the townspeople’s unquestioning acceptance of violence as tradition. This chilling portrayal of collective cruelty forces readers to confront the darkness that can exist within ordinary human behavior.

Similarly, this student attempts to explain what makes David Sedaris’s essay “Us and Them” funny: David Sedaris’s “Us and Them” is humorous because he exaggerates his childhood misunderstandings about his neighbors, turning ordinary situations into absurd observations. His sharp wit and self-deprecating tone make his younger self’s selfishness and confusion both funny and relatable. The humor also comes from the contrast between the serious way he narrates events and the trivial, even ridiculous, details of his concerns.

Some things we read may leave you with more questions than answers. This student focuses on the questions he has about “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner in his reading response, which is a great idea: This short story left me with several questions. What does the fire and blood in the story symbolize? In what ways does Sarty’s internal conflict reflect larger themes? How does the setting of

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the rural South shape the characters’ choices and the story’s central conflict?

One of the most common approaches students take when writing their reading responses is to focus on one of the several literary terms we discuss in class—point of view, character development, symbolism, tone, diction, etc. This post on Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” addresses some of its symbols: I think in Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” the hills symbolize the woman’s pregnancy. They are distant, looming, and unspoken, yet shaping the couple’s conversation. The white elephants represent something rare, burdensome, and unwanted, reflecting the man’s view of the pregnancy as an obstacle to their carefree life. The contrast between the fertile fields and the barren landscape underscores the woman’s choice between life and emptiness, symbolizing the deeper conflict about love, freedom, and responsibility.

Before reading “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, I mentioned in passing that the students should consider the setting. A student attempts to answer that question in this posting: In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” I believe the Southern setting highlights themes of tradition, decay, and moral corruption, grounding the story in a landscape tied to both history and violence. The isolated dirt road where the family encounters the Misfit intensifies the sense of inevitability and underscores O’Connor’s exploration of grace and redemption.

After reading “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, a student felt Walker’s style was similar to other writers, especially African-American women writers, she’d read and decided to explore that in her reading response: When I read this story, it reminded me of other writers I have read, so I decided to try to figure out whom her writing reminds me of. Authors such as Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston share stylistic and thematic similarities with Alice Walker, particularly in their focus on African-American women’s voices, cultural heritage, and resilience. Like Walker, they weave themes of identity, oppression, and empowerment into narratives that blend personal struggle with broader social history.

When a character in a work of fiction is clearly mentally ill, we often try to arm-chair diagnose them in class. The final two examples do just that. In this first example on “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the student attempts to diagnose the protagonist: In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the protagonist likely suffers from a combination of postpartum depression and anxiety, symptoms which escalate significantly due to

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her prescribed “rest cure”. The story details her descent into psychosis (and possibly dissociative identity disorder) as her isolation and lack of mental stimulation worsen her condition. Her increasingly obsessive thoughts about the yellow wallpaper and hallucinations of a woman trapped within its pattern are indicative of a severe mental breakdown.

In this second example, the student does his best to diagnose Blanche DuBois’s numerous mental health issues in Tennessee Williams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play A Streetcar Named Desire: In Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche shows signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), stemming from the loss of her young husband and the trauma of repeated personal failures. Her delusions, paranoia, and unstable behavior suggest possible psychosis or schizophrenia, as she struggles to separate reality from fantasy. Additionally, her dependency on alcohol and unstable relationships indicate patterns consistent with depression and substance use disorder.

FINAL THOUGHTS I have said the same thing for almost thirty years, and it’s probably the best advice I can give you when it comes to reading responses: “If you are stressed out or worried about reading responses, you’re doing it wrong. Relax.”

Happy writing!

—ALW

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