Open-Ended Responses

The Basics Your open-ended response can be broken down into three parts: The Answer The Evidence The Analysis/Commentary

The Answer The first sentence of your open-ended response should directly answer the question being asked. Additionally, the first sentence of your open-ended response should address TAG, which stands for Title, Author, Genre. For Example: In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the character of John Proctor is a good man.

The Evidence Introduce the textual evidence you are going to use by providing context, or a frame of reference, for the quote. To properly embed quotations, you could include: who is involved in the example/quote why it happened what is going on in general when it all happened (in terms of the story) where it is all taking place

The Evidence Provide context for your textual evidence in a way that flows within your paragraph. For Example: In the excerpt from Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover and takes a minimum wage paying job as a maid, “gloating internally about [her] ability to keep up with, and sometimes outwork, women twenty or thirty years younger than [herself], but it turns out this comparative advantage says less about [her] than it does about them.”

The Evidence When selecting your evidence from the text, choose something supports your assertion in the answer and allows for elaboration/analysis. Do NOT over-quote. Use only what is needed to make the point. Avoid quotes that simply repeat what you have already said, that are too complex to support one idea or don’t have anything to do with the answer in the first place.

When written properly, the reader should not be able to hear where the quotation marks are when the sentence is read aloud.

The Evidence NEVER SAY: “In the story it says…” Or “This is shown by…”

The Evidence Use only use the most important part of the quote

The Evidence omit unnecessary words and phrases by using ellipses (…) and brackets [ ] to indicate your changes

The Analysis/Commentary After supporting your answer with textual evidence, you need to explain (analyze) how the evidence supports your answer. Your commentary must demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the complexities of the selection. After the reader reads the commentary, he/she should have a very clear understanding of how you related the textual evidence to the answer.

The Analysis/Commentary NEVER SAY: “In this quote…” Or “This shows that…”

Analysis/Commentary Use snippets of text from your textual evidence to clarify your analysis. Instead of saying: As a maid, Ehrenreich felt a sense of pride, but it was insignificant compared to the reality of her younger co-workers. Say: Ehrenreich felt a sense of pride as she “[gloated] internally” about her ability to “keep up with” and “outwork” the younger maids; however, her pride was overshadowed by a more significant truth about her co-workers.