Article Response

One of the more common writing assignments at the college level is that of the article response; the incorporation of primary sources and scholarly journal articles into nearly any college class renders the article review an invaluable tool for assessing students’ overall progress. Generally speaking, an article response is just as it sounds - a personal response to an article, expressing students’ opinions while maintaining a strictly academic tone. Despite this being rooted in personal opinion, most article reviews are instructed to avoid the use of first person or the interjection of their own political perspective.

The most important element when writing a response article is that you thoroughly read the original material. The content should be read and reviewed regularly, not simply leaving it up to the last minute when discussing the topic at hand. At the same time, working to create an outline of the content of the article response is equally helpful. The proper placement of the thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph centralizes the content of the article and provides the reader with a basic framework for how the remainder of the chapter – and its content - will be presented.

Article responses are often short and direct in their presentation; the utilization of individual responses demonstrates critical thinking and analysis of the issue at hand. In being able to read, analyze, and synthesize information from a recent reading into a new piece and then back again to self-preservation and the defense of the colonies, Americans are beginning to prove themselves.