Before starting the essay, you should find out exactly what the teacher is asking for. Some teachers want you to react when analyzing or evaluating the reading. However, other teachers want a personal answer. Make sure you understand what kind of reaction is called for on duty.

- Ask the teacher to clarify what he expeanother. If so, you should use citations from both texts in your writing.
- You may be asked to react to the text by keeping the class topics in mind. For example, you should read, refine and react to how gender roles are described in a book if you read about gender roles in a sociology class.
- You may be asked to personally react to the text. This is the least common, but sometimes the teacher just wants to know that you have read the text and what you think about it. If so, you should focus on your opinions about the book.

To finish a reaction essay, you not only have to read, give your opinion and submit the written work. A reaction essay synthesizes texts, which means that you take the information you read and put it together so that you can analyze and evaluate. You have to give yourself time to read, but the most important thing is that you assimilate what you have read so that you can gather your ideas.

- One of the biggest mistakes students make is waiting until the last moment to read and react. A feedback is a careful consideration after reading and rereading many times.
You may have to reread many times. First, read and become familiar with the text and then do it again to start thinking about duty and your reactions.

As you reread the text, annotate it . Annotating the margins of the text allows you to easily locate citations, plot lines, character development, or reactions to the text. It will be more difficult to create a cohesive reaction essay if you don't write annotations.