EGE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT UNIT
2020 – 2021

A summary-response combines a summary of a reading with your personal thoughts

and opinions about the reading. It will not have an introduction, body, or conclusion. Instead,
it consists of two distinct parts: a summary of the reading followed by your response to the
reading. Each part is usually a paragraph and the length of each paragraph depends on the
length of the reading being addressed. For instance, if a reading is only a few paragraphs long,
the summary-response would be two paragraphs, each with approximately four to five
sentences.
It is important to keep in mind that the two paragraphs are distinct. The summary paragraph is
a brief restatement of the author's main idea and supporting details. It does not include your
opinion. Your opinion goes in the response paragraph where you state your thoughts about
the author's main idea and use supporting details from your own experience to explain your
thoughts.

Summary-Response Process

Use a four-step process to write a summary-response of a reading.

Step 1: Identify the main idea of the reading. For the summary paragraph, create a topic
sentence that identifies the main idea of the reading. Then, for the response paragraph, create
a separate thesis statement that states your opinion about the author's main idea.
Step 2: Identify the supporting details for the summary and for the response. The next
step is to identify the supporting details of the reading. In the summary paragraph, it is
important to maintain the order of these supporting details. Once you note these points,
consider how they relate to the author's main idea. Then, develop the supporting details for
the response paragraph, showing how your own personal experience supports the thesis
statement created in Step 1.
Step 3: Identify the author's purpose for writing. As part of the summary paragraph, ask
yourself, "Why did the author write this? What did the author want me to know, think, or do
after reading this?" As part of the response paragraph, address whether or not the author was
successful achieving his or her purpose.
Step 4: Write a summary-response of the reading. Bring Steps 1, 2, and 3 together to write
 EGE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT UNIT
2020 – 2021

the summary and the response paragraphs. The following is one way you could do
this:             

Summary Paragraph

Sentence 1: Introduce the reading, stating the title and the author's name. You should
also state the author's main idea. This may be as simple as adding the title and author
to your topic sentence from Step 1.

Sentence 2: Write supporting sentences (or sentence) describing the supporting details
of the reading you noted in Step 2 in order.

Sentence 3: Write a sentence that brings this information together and states the
author's reason for writing that you noted in Step 3.

Response Paragraph

Sentence 1: Clearly state your opinion or thoughts about the author's main idea. Use
the thesis statement you created in Step 1. Ask yourself, "How does my own
thought/opinion about the reading relate to the author's main idea?"

Sentence 2: Write supporting sentences (or a sentence) describing how your personal
experience supports your opinion or thought about the author's main idea.

Sentence 3: Write a sentence that brings this information together and states how your
opinion or thought relates to the author's main idea.