law

A response paper communicates your intellectual reactions to one or more books, ideas, or events. For this response paper, your job is to pick a theme from the book that you can relate to course material to give an intellectual response and analysis of the book. For example, a response paper on the book Just Mercy might start with overview of the book and its context, but then choose to focus on the writer’s concern about the problems inherent in juvenile sentencing, or the specific case of Walter McMillian 

Once you have read the book well and taken notes, review your notes carefully. Can you identify patterns in your notes? What you are looking for is your theme. Since you can’t possibly respond to every idea in the book in the limited number of pages, you will have to be selective here and choose the most important and most interesting ideas to which you will respond. 

You will probably find that you could write several response papers. This is intentional! The project is designed so that you can write on a theme that you identify that you want to learn the most about or that resonates most with you. Do not try to write on every theme. Pick one theme and write a great paper. 

1. Title page. This identifies the paper as yours and provides a descriptive title that gives the reader a hint of what your paper is about (hint – do not use ‘Just Mercy: A Reaction Paper’).

2. Introduction. Identifies major theme(s) of the book and your intellectual reaction to them. Typically, this is accomplished in a paragraph starting broadly and ending with your identified theme. 

3. Body. Systematically addresses your areas of agreement and disagreement with the author(s), giving reasons, facts, and examples from both the course and the book. Be specific and detailed. The evidence should be connected to your major theme, established in the introduction. You may compare and contrast authors/theories/etc based on your major theme. Be sure to cite the page and the source (of either the book or text) when you are using specific ideas or quotes.

4. Note that your personal beliefs, if they are to be considered valid, must be supported by facts and logic. You may not simply say “Sentencing juveniles to life in prison is wrong” or “Sentencing juveniles to life in prison is right”. If you want to state that this topic is right or wrong, you must give the reader facts and logic that lead the reader to that inescapable conclusion. If you cannot back up a statement with facts and logic, leave the statement out of the paper. 

5. Conclusion. Summarizes your reaction and sets out your ideas about the significance of the book and its implications.

6. 5. References. A good writer always gives credit where credit is due. Make sure to cite your sources in text (in any style you prefer). Then, list the sources you used on an additional page tacked on to the end of your paper.