One of the most essential skills you can develop as a writer is learning how to skillfully incorporate sources into your own writing. This technique allows you to strengthen your writing with others ideas, expert opinions, and research. To do this ethically and correctly, learning when to quote, when to paraphrase, and when to summarize another authors ideas is crucial. Additionally, an author who thinks critically knows that he must not take everything an author says at face value; how do you interpret and respond to what an author claims?

For this essay of at least 500 words, you will be reading a short, published nonfiction essay or article. Once you have read the essay, you will write what we call a summary and response paper. The summary and response challenges you to do the following:

  • In your own words, explain what the author is saying.
  • Find evidence within the author’s original text that demonstrates his or her claims.
  • Decide what you think of the author’s claim and express your opinion about that, using an academic voice.

Your essay will include the following paragraphs:

  • An introduction, in which youll write a thesis statement that identifies the original article and the author, then hints at your response to it (without simply giving it away by making a list of your points).
  • 2-4 body paragraphs that include short summaries of the reading assignments main ideas, including quotes when relevant. You will write one body paragraph for each major point or argument in the author’s original essay.
  • A conclusion, in which youll include a response: your reaction to and interpretation of the essay. Remember that this response will be completely written in the third person (no first or second person); however, it will inherently be an opinion.

Be sure to include direct quotes from the source essay (about 10-15% of your total word count) and cite them correctly with quotation marks and a parenthetical citation. Include a works cited page at the end of your essay.

Read the article “Debt Forgiveness Cannot Fix the Real Problem with Student Loans” by John Hartley. (

This source is from the database Opposing Viewpoints in Contextfrom the PSC Library. This essay — and the entire database — is meant to express opinions about a divisive issue. Consider the three questions at the beginning of the article. Choose ONE to answer, using direct quotes from the text, your own knowledge and experience, and the critical thinking exercises you’ve practiced this term.

Notice that the MLA 9 citation for this article is included in the link provided.

When you’re done, submit your completed essay in the

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