Writing Homework Help

Guidelines for Reading Response 1 

Respond to: Habermas’ essay “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article” and Pincus’ essay “Coffee Politicians Does Create”  

Since you are responding to two essays

• Begin by writing a brief summary (50-100 words for each reading). These summaries should be in your own words and focus on the main ideas presented in each reading. 

After this short summary section, respond to the following questions. For this section you can choose to focus on both readings or just focus on one reading (whichever you are most interested in): 

• What I understood:
  • In the “what I understood section” write about the concepts and ideas that you understood and explain what they mean to you. This should go beyond summarizing and include a reflection/response component. For example, if you understood that there are different ways of analyzing languages (that’s summary) you can also think about what that means to you, how you understand it (for example, you might think about scenarios where you have seen or used these concepts), and what the value of these ideas are for you and for the rest of the class.
• What I don’t understand: 
  • In the “what I don’t understand” section explain what concepts you didn’t get and why. You can ask questions here and try to work out what the meaning was. If you end up understanding it after you wrote it in this section, just keep it as is. 
• What I’m excited about:
  • In this section, explain what ideas you are excited about, interested in, or just curious about. Explain those in some detail. 

Style: Your reading response should be close to a free-write but a little more formal. That is, you should write them without too much tinkering, but you should polish them (edit them) after you’re done. Write it in one sitting and then go back reread it and fix any little mistakes you catch.  

Length: I estimate that each section might be around 100-200 words, so one entry should be around 400-500 words. As long as it is not under 300 words, you will receive credit for your reading response. You can quote from the essays, just make sure to include quotation marks and page numbers and be sure to do something with the quote (explain it, question it, relate to it, etc). 

Optional: If you’re not sure what to respond to, here are some questions to get you thinking. You are not required to answer all or any, but they may be helpful.

1. What are the concerns Habermas has about the modern public sphere? Do you share those concerns? What other issues regarding the public sphere are you concerned about?
2. Pincus describes the historical coffee house, how are coffee shops today in comparison? Are these still spaces of the public sphere? If so, how? If not, what might we do to change that? Is there a modern version of the coffeehouse in our society?