Created by the Evergreen Writing Center
Library 2304  867-6420
www.evergreen.edu/writingcenter
 Seminar Response Papers 
Response Papers in programs serve three main purposes:
1. To prepare for seminar by posing a burning question that you have explored and
to which you have given some thought.
2. To practice and develop your ability to write clearly and creatively while
engaging with a text.
3. To share how a given text does or does not resonate with your own experience or
ways of looking at the world.
In preparation for writing, you might ask yourself how the text connects with the themes
of the program.
In preparation for writing, you might consider these following prompts:
• What burning question do I need to discuss in seminar?
• What three important insights, facts, or perspectives did I learn from the book that I will
surely want to keep in mind for discussion?
• How will evidence in that I find in the text support my opinions or answer my questions?
• What major holes or inaccuracies in arguments has the author created within the text?
It’s important to be specific about what in the text is prompting your response. All ideas,
quotes, paraphrases, or summaries from the text or any other source should be cited with
a page number (or lecture date). Don’t forget to contextualize the author and book by
asking “What is the author’s background?” and “What makes this text important?”
Unless the author is the subject of your response paper, you should be able to adequately
introduce her or him in a couple of sentences or less.
It is also vitally important to bring up any insights you have in your personal experience
that reflect directly on the text, and on the themes of the program as a whole, but be
careful not to get so wrapped up in telling your own story that you neglect to engage fully
with the text. By reading your response, professors will want to know that you have read
the book and that you’re thinking.
Finally, remember that this handout is just a guide, and that ultimately the form and
content of your response is at your discretion. The real purpose of the seminar paper is to
develop and convey your best thoughts and ideas about whatever you are studying.
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Created by the Evergreen Writing Center
Library 2304  867-6420
www.evergreen.edu/writingcenter
For further information on seminar papers, we suggest Calen Swift’s article entitled
“Seminar Papers: Conversations with your Mind,” on page 40 of the 2008 Inkwell,
available for free at the Writing Center.
D:\533568845.doc