Writing a Reaction or Response Paper Indicate the author and title of the work, as well as the publisher and publishing date in parentheses. Condense the work's substance by emphasizing its primary ideas and significant supporting aspects. Use actual quotations from the work to demonstrate key points. Do not simply repeat what others have said about the work. When writing your reaction paper, it is important to understand that it is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of the subject material. Rather, your goal is to provide your own insights into the issues raised by the text. In order to do this effectively, you should spend some time thinking about what questions you want to ask yourself when writing your reaction paper, and then try to include all relevant material that will help answer these questions. For example, if you are wondering whether or not the book is worth reading, you should probably also look at other books on the same topic and/or examine how other authors have responded to the same work. Finally, remember that while you may feel like you need to say something profound when writing your reaction paper, it is actually better if you can keep it simple. The only real mistake that can be made here is going beyond the limits of your argument. If you do end up doing this, try to be sure to note any conflicting opinions so that you do not claim something as fact when it is merely a conclusion based on your interpretation of the evidence.