Responding to a Text

Many writers develop ideas from reading.  For example after reading a magazine article, you could examine your response/thinking about a manufacturer's moving out of the U.S. to keep costs down (to pay workers $1.00 a day instead of $18.00 per hour)?  Or from a newspaper editorial, what do you think about being for/against quotas to ensure equal employment?  After reading from a college textbook, you might examine your response to the idea that the U.S. is a society dominated by a traditional class structure?  Reading can spark lots of ideas for writing, and, during your time as a college student, you can count upon being asked to respond to certain assigned college readings with your own ideas.

You can prewrite for an essay by writing your ideas down as you read. Record your thoughts in the margins. Agree or disagree with others' ideas and jot down your reasons. Jot down questions that occur to you as you read. In essence, carry on your own dialogue with the writer of the text, as though you were talking with him or her, and write that dialogue down so you can retrieve it later on.