Summary-Response writing

         One of the most common types of writing that you will do in college and in your profession after college is summary-response writing. Let's start with college.

         Your history professor asks you to read Chapter 2 in the textbook about the the American Revolution and write a summary-response paragraph about it. The paragraph is due the next class in five days. You have a lot of work to do. First you have to read the chapter and make sure you understand the main ideas and points. Don't focus on all the details. When you think that you understand the main ideas and themes of the chapter, write an outline of what you are going to write. Then write the paragraph, making sure that you have a title, an introduction topic sentence, a summary of the main ideas of the chapter, then your response (opinion, evaluation) to the chapter, and end with a conclusion sentence. Your professor will be impressed that you know how to write a good, well organized summary-response paragraph. You will probably get an A.

        After you graduate from college and start your first job, your boss might ask you to write a report for him. Let's say that you are working for a company that manufactures car parts. Customers have been reporting problems with one of the parts that your company makes. Your boss doesn't have time to read all the customer complaints, so he asks you to read them and write a summary of what the main problems are, along with your response to the summary stating which of the problems appear to be the most serious. This allows your boss to read your short summary report instead off all the complaints, and then decide what to do. This saves your boss a lot of time and will make you a valuable employee. Maybe you will get a raise and promotion if you do a good job.

         In conclusion, knowing how to write different kinds of paragraphs and essays will help you not only in college, but in your work and life after college. This is especially true of summary-response writing.