Please follow the instructions provided in the documents.
Response to a Reading
- A response-to-reading assignment involves just what its name implies: a discussion of your reaction to the ideas in an article, a chapter, or a book. In the summary assignment you were asked to compress the ideas in an article or a chapter. An objective restatement of the author’s ideas was central to your purpose, and you were not expected to present your opinion. The Response-to-a-Reading requires you to express your opinion on the ideas in an article, a chapter, or a book. Specifically, you will refer very briefly to the author’s idea but you will largely develop your own response.
Decide ONE of the Purposes in Your Response:
Personal Tie-in: Tap into your own experience to illustrate one of the ideas in the reading. Or discuss your experience or observations focusing on the relevance of the idea. You must narrate the experience or provide details of observation to illustrate the author’s idea and draw your conclusions from it. You could either agree or disagree with the author. See the student’s example we’ll discuss in class.
SEC Strategy and Agreement: Extend the author’s idea with your claim, evidence, and reasoning. Agree with any one or more of the ideas in the article or a reading and discuss your claim with support. Use SEC (statement, evidence, and comment) strategy to defend or support the claim. See the handout that explains this strategy later along with the examples.
SEC Strategy and Disagreement: Argue against the writer’s ideas. Here you’ll develop and discuss your disagreement or critical perspective on any one or more of the ideas in the reading. This disagreement may be a qualification of an idea presented by the author—that is, accepting the writer’s analysis and reasoning but disagreeing with the conclusion drawn by the writer. (Use SEC strategy). Do not attack the writer.
Guidelines for writing a response or a discussion of an idea selected from a reading.
First briefly restate (1 or 2 sentences) or refer to the idea you’re responding to. The writer is retelling or paraphrasing the idea chosen for discussion. You should accurately paraphrase the idea you’re discussing.
Then state the claim you will discuss. Continue with the discussion of your response in a paragraph. (maximum 150 words)
Avoid retelling or regurgitating the writer’s point(s) in your discussion.
These paragraphs are subjective. You may start with “I think” or “I believe” to preface your claim. However, you can state your claim without using the label “I think” or “I believe” as long as your claim is explicit and distinct from the writer’s idea.
For the last paragraph in Interview Write-up assignment, select one of the interviewee’s ideas, refer to the idea, state your claim or position, and support it by using Personal Tie-in or SEC strategy. Also see the Interview Assignment handout.
For your discussion of ideas in the Response-to-Reading Assignment, use Personal Tie-in for two ideas and use SEC strategy for two ideas. More information on writing the Response-to-Reading Assignment will be given in a class later.
Nicholas Backlund reports that many companies have adopted environmentally aware policies, from McDonald’s use of recycled packaging material to Ben and Jerry’s production of “Rain Forest Crunch” ice cream, whose profits are contributed to saving the Amazon jungle. This seems an important trend because it shows major companies affirming that good ecology is good business. Too often we hear companies saying, we would really like to help protect the environment, but we are in business to make money. If we worried about every good cause, we would go broke. But now a number of highly profitable companies are showing that this isn’t true.
While working last summer in a fast-food restaurant, I saw an enormous amount of waste that had nothing to do with profits or efficiency. For example…[The paragraph is further developed with personal observation(s) and a brief concluding discussion (comment) that relates to the author’s point.]
S = STATEMENT of Claim: (The finance minister is doing a poor job.).
CONTENTION/OPINION
CENTRAL ASSERTION
CENTRAL IDEA
E = EVIDENCE: (The unemployment is still very high.) Support it with numbers and discussion.)
REASONS/EXPLANATIONS
FACTS/FIGURES/EXAMPLES
TESTIMONY
QUOTATIONS FROM SOURCES
C = COMMENT: (The finance minister is responsible for creating jobs when unemployment is high.) Comment can be an assumption, a general principle, widely held values, beliefs either cultural or organizational values, human motivation, etc
A CONCLUDING STATEMENT
A TIE-IN TO THE CENTRAL THEME/PURPOSE
A PLACE TO DEMONSTRATE YOUR INSIGHT
A Sample SEC (statement, evidence, conclusion) Paragraph
People who are comfortable with and knowledgeable about computers will more likely be creative and work faster than those who feel restricted by limited computer knowledge. For example, Markowitz (1996) compares the performance of accounting clerks given a 1-hour training session supplemented by written materials. The clerks who had an 8-hour training session made an average of 52% fewer mistakes and were able to prepare a spreadsheet three times faster than the other group. In addition, the clerks with more training were more likely to incorporate figures into their written reports. [The paragraph is developed further with reasoning]
Consider the kind of Kind of Claim you’re writing in the Response:
1. Policy claim: common in business; uses “ought to,” “must;” state the action
recommended and imply the agency.
2. Truth claim: What does or does not exist.
3. Claim of Value: Right vs. wrong; desirable vs. undesirable; good vs. bad.
The article’s primary message is that striving to keep a positive attitude in all aspects of life is most important and rewarding. If efforts toward keeping this positive attitude are not made, success and happiness are less likely to be obtained.
To extend on the author’s argument, I believe that a person with a negative attitude not only associates with people with negative attitudes, but also attracts negative reactions from people. For example, in a retail work place, a cashier with a mediocre attitude toward her job may catch herself thinking, “Why do I always end-up with the bad customers?” When a person is constantly thinking, “I hate my job, I don’t want to be here, I’d rather be watching a movie” it is inevitable that they will project a vibe that expresses exactly what they are thinking.
When a person carries on a negative attitude, they have a tendency to become disrespectful and negligent. Such a person might accidentally treat coworkers disrespectfully and end up in compromising situations. For example, the cashier might talk back to her manager when criticized and think it is appropriate, when in reality it is not. Because of her negative attitude and lack of enthusiasm, she might look down upon customers, and speak impolitely to them without even noticing. As explained in the text, “People usually know how you react to them even if you do not communicate verbally.” Therefore, the cashier trying to do her job, as best as she can, will receive the rude comments from customers and will not understand what caused them. Because she is so engulfed in her negative thoughts and attitudes, she cannot even realize that she is the one triggering these negative responses.
Consequently, she lacks confidence and motivation toward her work and is unable to improve or achieve any new goals. Unless she makes a conscious and strong effort to change this negative attitude, she will remain in this vicious cycle.
Janelle Remillard prepared this response to an idea. It is being provided as an example for your review. Names are not mentioned to protect confidentiality. The author maintains full copyright © on this assignment and has granted permission for students of GMGT 2010 to read it for learning purposes.
Elwood Chapman and Sharon O’Neil write that a positive attitude is essential for success in all aspects of life, including work performance and personal happiness. Those who are not capable of possessing a positive attitude will be more prone to difficulties in their work environments, personal relations, and their state of mind.
The authors contend that a positive attitude is vitally important to success in the workplace. I believe that they make an extremely valid argument. An individual displaying a positive attitude can increase productivity in his or her entire workforce. For example, in many pro sports you often hear players speaking negatively when their teams are not performing well, and coincidentally speaking positive when they are doing well. Of course, for many of these teams their attitudes reflect their performances, but I think that certain players’ attitudes may have caused, or at the very least affected, their teams’ performances. For example, Sean Avery was the type of hockey player that many NHL teams desire: an agitator that could score and accumulate points. Avery however, was considered to be what is referred to in sports as a “locker room cancer”. He apparently disrupted the attitudes of his teammates with his egocentric attitude, which many of his coaches felt was detrimental to their teams. As such, he struggled to find a team that wanted to keep him, which I think is best exemplified when he was outright released from the Dallas Stars only 3 months into his recently signed 4 year contract. Unable to find a team that wanted him, he retired at an age, (31), when most hockey players are still in their prime.
Similarly, athletes’ positive attitudes have resulted in their teams overachieving. Joe Namath was the quarterback for the New York Jets heading into Super Bowl III where odds makers expected them to lose by 18 points, (which is a very high point spread in football). Namath disputed the odds, and guaranteed his team would win. That attitude inspired his teammates who ended up convincingly winning the game. As such, positive attitudes should be sought after if one wants to increase efficiency within a group, whether it be a sports team or a business organization.
(Prepared by a student for a response-to-reading. The student gave permission to use it for learning purposes)
Facts: (observed events, cost information, numbers, productivity statistics, case history, specific events, etc.)
They are used to support statements: ideas, claims, and judgments.
Are highly persuasive form of evidence
Demonstrate your knowledge of the topic
Examples: An example could be a current or recent event. It could be a historical example or a or hypothetical one.
They are used to support judgments.
Illustrate the point or main statement
Provide interest for the reader and are convincing
Expert Testimony: It’s an expert’s opinion, a finding, or a judgement.
Such testimony represents the opinion of people knowledgeable about a subject.
It is used to confirm a judgment.
Example: Consumer Reports’ rating of the product when you’re evaluating a
product.
Awards are a form of expert testimony because they’re given by experts in
the field.
Apply the following criteria for evidence:
1. Sufficient: complete and thoroughly presented, with pros and cons noted
2. Typical: Reflects the trends in current research, not exceptional cases. (Representative)
3. Accurate: Verifiable or consistent with other observers under the same circumstances. Or replicable under same conditions and with the same results.
4. Relevant: Applicable to readers’ concerns or
situation.
S=Statement of Claim is highlighted in bold.
E=Evidence is in italics (Facts, Example, or Expert Testimony).
C=Comment (conclusion from the evidence or an assumption) is indicated in the curve bracket at the end of the sentence
Identifying Types of Evidence in SEC Paragraph
1. The story of sex, lies, and videotape is by now part of movie folklore (Statement of Claim): how Soderbergh at twenty-nine, wrote the screenplay in eight days during a trip to Los Angeles, how the film was made for $1.8 million, how it won the Palme d’or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival as well as the best actor prize for Spader. (All these are facts, but the Palme d’or award and the best actor prize are also Expert Testimoney) I am not sure it is as good as the Cannes jury apparently found it; it has more intelligence than heart, and is more clever than enlightening. (Comment)
2. The most expensive hotels...pile on the extras and charge accordingly. (Statement of Claim) Rooms at the Four Seasons in downtown Philadelphia visited by our reporter feature reproduction antique furniture, feather pillows, huge towels, lots of fancy soaps and shampoo, a telephone in the bathroom, and a mini bar. The staff doted on our reporter and his family. The children got free cookies and milk (or soft drinks and popcorn), movies, and Nintendo games--all delivered to the room. (Facts, but no comment is added in this para.)
“The Best Hotels,” Consumer Report (The magazine has a good reputation, so as a representative of the company, he
or she is seen as an expert or a reliable testimony)
3. The AMC Grand’s parking lot, which AMC says it has expanded to include 2,200 spaces, can still be a headache for customers. (Statement of Claim) The entrances and exits create irritating traffic tie-ups, and customers often have to walk several blocks to the box office. (Facts serve as examples.) By that time, a cold drink seems more a necessity than an indulgence (Comment, but no expert testimony is added to this paragraph.)
- Philip Wuntch, “Dallas’ Two New ‘Megaplexes’ Size Up Nicely”
4. As cosmetics go, lipstick is the cheapest and most popular product on the market. (Statement of Claim) That doesn’t mean you can’t spend a fortune on the stuff, however. Enter Princess Marcella Borghese’s Superiore State-of-the-Art lipstick. Cost: $20 for 0.15 ounce. That comes to $133 an ounce. The same amount of Wet’n Wild or Artmatic lipstick, at less than
$1 a tube, costs about $7. Of course, the Borghese lipstick has much prettier packaging. But you may want to save the $126 you’d spend for an ounce of this lipstick, and get yourself a whole line of beauty products instead. (Supports with facts throughout the para and ends with a Comment that’s a recommendation)
“Choosing a Lipstick,” Consumer Reports (The magazine has a good reputation, so as a representative of the company, he or she is an expert and reliable testimony)
