Reading responses are academic–style evaluations of a reading. They are not
summaries. Respond to the reading in an analytical fashion. What is there, and also what is not there? What connections do you make between the printed page and your own observations? Ask yourself, “What is the writer’s motive in writing this?” and “What is the writer not saying.”
Also ask yourself how the reading connects with your own personal experiences. And you might even comment on whether or not
you liked the reading, but you must explain the why of such statements in order to back them up.
In short, a reading response is a short essay about
the reading.The purpose of the reading response is to reward you for taking the time first of all to really read something and think about it and