english

Writing effective response essays requires both a clear understanding of your source text's position, as well as a clear statement of your own position. Once you've delineated both, you must supply support (reasons and evidence) for your position, as well as an analysis of the opposing position that shows why it is unsupported.

Let's look at a common position:

“People spend too much time online, and it damages their ability to hold face-to-face conversations or build in-person relationships.”

Now let's break that position down:

People

(who? which people? all people or just some?)

spend too much time

(how much is too much?)

online,

(the internet is a big place, what kinds of online usage are we talking about here?)

and it damages

(how do you measure damage in this situation?)

their ability to hold face-to-face conversations

(all face-to-face conversation? with whom? and how can you measure ability versus inclination or willingness?)

or build in-person relationships.

(again, with whom? and does it matter?)

Get into groups based on agreement or disagreement with this position. Those who agree should quickly develop a more specific and arguable version of this position; those who disagree should quickly develop their own, alternative position, and compile support (reasons, and, if possible, evidence) for that position. Meanwhile, those who agree should anticipate these counterarguments and begin developing answers.

Agree with the above position:

--Refine it.

--Get ready to defend it.

Disagree with the above position:

--Make a new one.

--Support it.

Another position:

“The internet is a hindrance to education because it provides too-easy answers.”

Repeat the above procedure.