writing critical responses

7Writing Critical Responses

Critical Response to Film

Rose will pop in during the tutorial to share her thinking as she planned and wrote her first essay.

Tip: Have Rose’s Graphic Organizer and Outline for her critical response handy!

Purpose of Critical Responses

Critical responses ask you to consider the main idea (theme) of a text and how effectively the text creator supported that theme through his/ her choices.

The focus of a critical response is the text itself, not your personal opinion about the text.

Brainstorming:

Before you begin writing your essay, it makes sense to spend some time brainstorming.

Brainstorming allows you to write down all you know about the topic.

Using a graphic organizer can help you organize your thoughts.

A sample graphic organizer has been provided with your essay assignment for you to use.

Brainstormingwith Organizers

Focus on the theme.

Relate characters to the theme.

Identify examples that are positive examples.

Identify examples who serve as negative examples.

Focus on the consequences/outcomes of actions.

Brainstorming with Organizers Focus on characters

who are positive examples of the theme.

Identify what is important to each character.

Identify the character’s significant experience that relates to the theme.

Relate the example to the theme.

©2010 Thinkstock

Brainstorming with Organizers

Focus on characters who are negative examples of the theme.

Identify what is important to each character.

Identify the character’s significant experience that relates to the theme.

Relate the example to the theme.

©2010 Thinkstock

Brainstorming with Organizers

Review your ideas about each character. Choose 3 characters who serve as your strongest examples that prove the theme. These will be the characters you will discuss in your essay.

Identify the consequence/outcome for each character’s actions that you identified earlier.

Relate the outcome/consequence to the theme.

Where do I go from here?

Depending on your confidence in writing, you may feel you have enough information after you finish your graphic organizer, to start your rough draft.

If you are less confident, you may want to work with an outline format. This will give you a chance to write about your examples in greater detail. Outlines are handy because the transfer to rough drafts really easily.

Now would be a good time to review Rose’s graphic organizer and her outline. You can get a sense of her process from organizer, to outline to essay.

A few thoughts from Rose

Hi there! I used the tips you just read about to organize my brainstorming about the movie Star Trek. I wrote an outline too, so I could work through my ideas more.

When I was writing examples that came to mind, I saw that my examples for Engineer Olson weren’t so good. I was able to focus on the other characters instead.

It’s a lot easier to change your mind about your examples early, instead when you’ve already written a paragraph!

Avatar i l lustrat ions courtesy of DoppleMe

Moving from organizer to outline

Rose’s OutlineRose’s Graphic Organizer

II.What happens to characters who don't learn from their experiences?A. Character Name: Nero 1.What is important to this character? a. Wiping out the Federation 2.What is this character's significant experience? a. He loses his family and his planet, because Spock Prime couldn't get there in time. 3.Does this person learn from this experience? How do you know? a. He would not learn from grief and focused on revenge. He destroys Vulcan.B. Character Name: Engineer Olson 1. What is important to this character? a. Being aggressive, blowing things up. 2. What is this character's significant experience? a. He races towards the drill with the charges without thinking clearly. 3. Does this person learn from this experience? How do you know? a. He release his parachute too late and he dies.


Parts of a Critical Response

Introductory Paragraph

Body Paragraphs

Concluding Paragraph

This is not all that different than other written responses we have completed so far in the course. The letters, the movie reviews… they all had introductions, body paragraphs and conclusions!


Introductory Paragraph

The purpose of the introductory paragraph is to introduce the text, the text creator, and your general support for your discussion of theme.

1. Begin with an interesting quotation, question or observation about the text.

2. Introduce text and text creator.

3. Introduce general topics to be discussed.

4. Develop a thesis statement that connects the general topics to the theme.

Avatar i l lustrations courtesy of DoppleMe

Rose’s Sample: Introductory Paragraph

JJ Abrams movie, Star Trek, was exciting to watch. Lots of action and a great story. The characters in the movie are very realistic and their experiences teach us an important lesson. Spock is a Vulcan who tries to follow the rules and do the right thing. James T. Kirk is more of a daredevil. He is very smart, which allows him to learn from his experience. Nero, the dark villain in the movie, focuses on revenge rather than learning. By studying their experiences and the consequences of their actions, we learn that it is important to learn from our experiences if we want to be successful.

Introduce the text, its creator and the topic.

Introduce general topics you will discuss.

Thesis statement connects topics to theme.

Body Paragraphs

Body paragraphs develop each of the general topics using specific supporting detail from the text.

Body Paragraphs include:

Topic Sentence: introduce the topic and relate it to the theme.

Supporting Details: refer to specific details from the text to support your discussion. At first, it is easiest to organize your details chronologically (in the order they appear in the text).

Concluding Sentence: bring closure to your discussion of the topic.

Rose’s Sample: Body Paragraph #1

Spock “will always be a child of two worlds” (Sarek). There are several characters that learn from their experiences. For Spock, it was most important to do things right. His family and his culture are very important to him. When Nero destroys Vulcan and kills Spock’s mother, Spock feels a lot of anger. He tries to keep in control of his emotions but he can’t and he loses command of the Enterprise. After speaking with his father, he learns that he shouldn’t ignore how he feels, but he shouldn’t be controlled by it either. He learns from this advice and returns to the deck to try to help.

Introduce topic

Supporting Details

Conclusion



“I don’t believe in no-win situations” (Kirk). Kirk also learns from his experience. In the movie, it was more important to get things done…fast! He was loyal to his commanding officers, except Spock. When he challenges Spock’s decision to go to the Laurentian system, he insists that they chase Nero and the Narada instead. He refuses to leave the bridge. Spock knocks him out, and he ships Kirk to Delta Vega for mutiny. While he is there, Kirk meets Spock Prime (Spock from 125 years in the future) who proves to him that Vulcans do feel. He realizes that he was wrong for challenging his captain, but he learns that some future challenges will be necessary. With the help of Spock Prime, Kirk and Scotty are able to return to the Enterprise.

Introduce topic

Supporting Details

Conclusion



“Nero is one troubled Romulan” (Spock Prime). He, on the other hand, refuses to learn from his experience. At first, Nero valued his family, but when his planet is destroyed, he does not learn from the loss. Spock Prime could not get there in time to save Romulus. He decides for ultimate revenge. He and his crew will wipe out the Federation, including destroying Vulcan, and forcing Spock (from both the present and the future) to watch. As soon as this gruesome job was done, he still was not satisfied. He set a course intent on destroying Earth, not knowing this course would lead to his own destruction.

Introduce topic

Supporting Details

Conclusion


Concluding Paragraph

The concluding paragraph summarizes the discussion. It emphasizes key ideas and restates the theme as a universal statement.

Good concluding paragraphs include:

Restatement of thesis.

Closure for each body paragraph.

Concluding Sentence: bring closure to your discussion of the theme. Why is this theme relevant to us today?

Rose’s Sample: Concluding Paragraph

By looking at the consequences of their actions, we can see how the movie supports the theme. If they do not learn from their experience, they will not find success. Kirk learns to trust the advice of others, so he can gain command of the Enterprise and fulfill his destiny. Spock acts on his anger and helps lead the attack on the Narada. As a result, they are able to stop the Romulans from destroying Earth. When Nero and the Narada are destroyed, it is the strongest example of why it is important to learn from one’s experiences. So much death and destruction could have been avoided if Nero had learned from his grief and not inflicted the same grief on others. We must learn from our experience.

Restate thesis

Closure for body paragraph #1

Conclusion

Closure for body paragraph #2Closure for body paragraph #3


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