English For Academic and Professional Purposes: (Engprof)

BOARD
ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND

PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
(ENGPROF)
Lesson 4:
Writing the Reaction Paper/Review/Critique
Lecturer:
Geramy P. Blancad, LPT
ACCESS COMPUTER COLLEGES

TOPIC
BOARD
• Fact and opinion

• Citing specific sources to
support claims.
• Principles and uses of a
reaction paper/ review/ critique.
Topic 1: Formulating opinions based on BOARD
facts.
Facts and Opinions

• A fact is a specific detail that
can be proven as true based
on objective evidence.
Example:
1. King John of England signed the
Magna Carta in 1215.
2. The capital of Ukraine is Kiev/Kyiv.
facts.
• An opinion is a feeling,
judgment, belief, or conclusion
that cannot be proven true by
objective evidence.
Example:
1. My history teacher hates me.
2. The movie was boring.
facts.
Facts and Opinions

• Fact • Opinion
– Objective – Subjective
– Interprets reality
– States reality
– Can NOT be
– Can be verified verified
– Presented with – Presented with
unbiased words value words
“Spinach is a source “Spinach tastes

of iron.” extremely bad.”
facts.
Separating Fact from Opinion

• Know the traits of facts and
opinions.
Fact: Spinach is a source of iron.

Opinion: Spinach tastes
extremely bad.
facts.
Examples of Value Words (these

words cannot be verified or
measured):
• best ,great, beautiful, worst,

terrible, bad, should, must,
good, strangest, disgusting,
wonderful, pretty, most, lovely
facts.
facts.
Topic 2: Citing specific sources to support BOARD
claims.
INTRODUCTION TO
REFERENCING
claims.
Criteria in Evaluating Sources

1. Relevance of the Source to the Research
Topic
• How well does the source support the
topic?
Key ideas:
 You can check the title, table of
contents, summary/abstract,
introduction, or headings of the text to
have a sense of its content.
claims.
2. Authority/Author’s Qualifications.
• Is the author’s name identified?
• Is the author’s background, education,
or training related to the topic?
• Is he or she a professor in a reputable
university?
• What are his/her publications?
• Is the contact information of the
author available?
claims.
Key ideas:
 If the source does not have an author, think twice
before using it.
 You can check the university’s website to make sure
that the professor is associated with the university.
 Publications from professors are usually peer-
reviewed and have undergone a strenuous publication
process and are therefore reliable.
 Legitimate academic texts must include citations as a
requirement for publication. Citations must
demonstrate that the writer has thoroughly
researched the topic is not plagiarizing the material.
claims.
3. Currency/Date Publication
• What is the date of the publication?
Key ideas:
 In most fields, the data from the
older publications may no longer be
valid. As much as possible, the date
of publication should be at most
five years earlier.
claims.
4. Contents/Accuracy of Information
• Does the author have a lot of
citations in his or her text and/or a
bibliography or works cited section?
• What is the tone and style of
writing?
• Is the information inaccurate?
• Is the information obviously biased
or prejudiced?
claims.
Key ideas:
 The tone or attitude of the author
towards his/her subject and writing
style must be formal. There should be
no words or phrases (such as colloquial
words and contracted words) that are
unacceptable in English formal writing.
 You do not want to use a source that is
disputable, so make sure to verify your
findings with multiple sources.
claims.
 It might be all right to use a

source which only focuses on
one aspect of the topic, as long
as you balance it in your research
with sources from other points of
view. Make sure that the author
has no personal agenda in
writing the information.
claims.
5. Location of Sources
• Where is the source published? Is it
published digitally or in print?
• Is it a book, an academic journal, or a
reputable news source such as
www.nytimes.com or
www.economist.com?
• Does it provide complete publication
information such as author(s)/editor(s),
title, date of publication, and publisher?
claims.
• What is the URL of the website?

Key ideas:
 Avoid using blogs or personal homepage and
wiki sites (Wikipedia, Wiktionary,
Wikiqoutes).
 If the URL includes the top-level domain.edu,
then that means that it has been published
by an academic institution such as university.
 Common URLs include.gov (government),
.org (organizations), .com (commercial sites)
BOARD
Topic 3: Reaction Paper/Review/Critique

BOARD
• Specialized forms of
writing in which a reviewer
or reader evaluates any of
the following:
BOARD
 A scholarly work (e.g. academic

books, articles)
 A work of art (performance art,
play, dance, sports, films, exhibits)
 Designs (industrial designs,
furniture, fashion design)
 Graphic designs (e.g. posters,
billboards, commercials, and digital
media)
BOARD
 Usually range in length from

250-750 words. Not just a
SUMMARY – critical
assessments, analyses,
evaluation of different works.
Critique is not connected with
pessimism.
BOARD
A reaction paper is/does/must…

• A reaction to something you have read
or seen
• Be organized
• Have citations and references
• Include your opinions but be careful to
support your opinions with evidence
• Summarize what you are reacting to,
in the beginning of the paper
BOARD
• Explain your reaction (s) to the topic
and explain why you think this way to
the topic
• Judge, analyze or evaluate the issues
of the topic
• Identify and discuss the issues of the
topic
BOARD
When you review a journal article…

• You must answer these questions:
- What is it all about?
- Why is the topic important?
- What was done?
- Key result (or “what happened?”)
- implications on practice or on research
activities
- What was left unanswered ( according to the
authors)
• Your critique of the article
BOARD
When you review…

• Is it clear to the reader who funded
the study? (if there is no specific
funding, then this should be stated.)
• Don’t make hostile,insulting or

defamatory remarks. Rather support
your points with evidence.
BOARD
What is a critique?
• A critique is a paper that gives a
critical assessment of book or article.
• A critique is a systematic analysis of a
piece of literature that discusses its
validity and evaluates its worth.
• Its main purpose is not informational,
but analytic and persuasive
BOARD
• In analyzing the content and

context within which the book (or
article) was written, the writer of a
critique argues whether it is worth
reading or not.
BOARD
Topic 4: Critical Approaches in Writing a Critique
Critical Approaches
in Writing a Critique
BOARD
Critical approaches are different

perspectives we consider when looking
at a piece of literature.
They seek to give us answers to
these questions, in addition to aiding us
in interpreting literature.
1. What do we read?
2. Why do we read?
3. How do we read?
BOARD
Critical approaches to consider:

1. Reader – Response Criticism
2. Formalist Criticism
3. Psychological/Psychoanalytic Criticism
4. Sociological Criticism
a. Feminist/Gender Criticism
b. Marxist Criticism
5.
BOARD
You can critique a material

based on:
• Technical aspects
• Approach to gender
• Reaction as an audience
• Through its portrayal of class
struggle and social structure
BOARD
1. FORMALISM
• Emphasizes the form of a literary
work to determine its meaning,
focusing on literary elements and
how they work to create meaning.
- Examines a text as independent from
its time period, social setting, and
author’s background.
- A text is an independent entity.
BOARD
- It focuses on close reading of texts

and analysis of the effects of literary
elements and techniques of the text.
BOARD
Two Major Principles of Formalism

1. A literary text exists independent
of any particular reader and, in a
sense, has a fixed meaning.
2. The greatest literary texts are

“timeless” and “universal.”
BOARD
2. FEMINIST CRITICISM
• Focuses on how literature
presents women as subjects of
economic oppression.
• It reveals how aspects of our
culture are patriarchal (i.e. how
our culture views men as superior
and women as inferior)
BOARD
4 Basic Principles of Feminist Criticism

1. Western civilization is patriarchal
2. The concepts of gender are mainly
cultural ideas created by patriarchal
societies.
3. Patriarchal ideals pervade
“literature.”
4. Most “literature” through time has
been gender-biased.
BOARD
3. READER RESPONSE CRITICISM

• Asserts a great deal of meaning in a
text lies with how the reader
responds to it.
• Focuses on the act of reading and
how it affects our perception of
meaning in a text (how we feel at the
beginning vs. the end)
BOARD
• Deals more with the process of

creating meaning and experiencing a
text as we read.
• The text is a living thing that lives in
the reader’s imagination.
Reader + Reading Situation +Text = Meaning

BOARD
4. MARXISM CRITICISM
• Concerned with the difference between
economic classes and implications of a
capitalist system-working class and elite.
• It is based on the political theory of Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels.
• Concerned with understanding the role
of power, politics, and money in literary
texts.
BOARD
Marxist Criticism examines literature

to see how it reflects:
1. The way in which dominant groups
(typically, the majority) exploit the
subordinate groups (typically, the
minority)
2. The way in which people become
alienated from one another through
power, money, and politics.
BOARD
Structure of a Reaction
Paper/Review/Critique
 Introduction- 5% of the paper
(title/writer’s name/ thesis
statement)
 Summary- 10% of the paper
(objectives/purpose/methods
used/major findings/claims/ideas
or messages)
BOARD
 Review/Critique- in no particular
order around 75% - methodology,
coherence of ideas, other
perspectives in explaining
ideas/problems or issues
 Conclusion- 10% of the paper
(overall impression/ benefits/
suggestion for future research)
BOARD
For other types of reviews, the

following sections are always
present:
• Introduction
• Plot Summary/ Description
• Analysis/ Interpretation
• Conclusion/ Evaluation
Try This Activity
BOARD
• List down ten (10) examples of fact

and formulate it into opinion.
Reference
BOARD
• Learning.hccs.edu
• www.ucclermont.edu
• https://www.slideshare.net/Dorie75/f
act-and-opinion-6123502
Next Session
BOARD
• What is a concept paper?

• Types of concept papers
• Concept by definition,
explication and clarification
THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!

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BOARD

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND

ACCESS COMPUTER COLLEGES

• Fact and opinion

Facts and Opinions

Facts and Opinions

“Spinach is a source “Spinach tastes

Separating Fact from Opinion

Fact: Spinach is a source of iron.

Examples of Value Words (these

• best ,great, beautiful, worst,

Criteria in Evaluating Sources

 It might be all right to use a

• What is the URL of the website?

Topic 3: Reaction Paper/Review/Critique

Topic 3: Reaction Paper/Review/Critique

 A scholarly work (e.g. academic

 Usually range in length from

A reaction paper is/does/must…

When you review a journal article…

When you review…

• Don’t make hostile,insulting or

• In analyzing the content and

Critical approaches are different

Critical approaches to consider:

You can critique a material

- It focuses on close reading of texts

Two Major Principles of Formalism

2. The greatest literary texts are

4 Basic Principles of Feminist Criticism

3. READER RESPONSE CRITICISM

• Deals more with the process of

Reader + Reading Situation +Text = Meaning

Marxist Criticism examines literature

For other types of reviews, the

• List down ten (10) examples of fact

• What is a concept paper?

THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!

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