Writing Workshop: Critical Response Essay

Throughout this unit, you’ve practiced comparing and evaluating texts. You also wrote a critical response essay evaluating the short stories “A Sound of Thunder” and “Nethergrave.”

An effective critical response essay includes the following elements:

• an introduction with a clear thesis stating the writer’s evaluation of the text
• several reasons to support the writer’s evaluation
• specific evidence from the text, such as dialogue, details about the plot and characters, and direct quotations
• a conclusion that restates the writer’s main ideas

In this lesson, you will revise and edit your essay to produce a final, polished draft. Keep the elements listed above in mind as you compose your final draft.