A tip for paper writing: In your explanation, try to focus on the arguments (what are the authors premises or reasons for accepting the conclusion?) In your response, try to address your comments specifically to those premises, which you outlined earlier. When you write your explication of the theory, write it with your criticism in mind. You want your points to be directly related to what you have said in your explication. If you introduce an idea that is too far reaching to be dealt with thoroughly in the allotted space of your paper, find a way to do without that idea. Simplify with the goal of being exacting and thorough. Be sure you have an introduction, specifically something that brings together all of the elements and prepares the reader for the order of thought you are presenting. Frequently one has all of the elements in the opening paragraph but they are rather smashed together in a disorderly fashion. Don’t bury your main idea in a bunch of supporting information. Keep your main ideas prominent. Doing so will help to keep you and your reader on track. Be careful about plagiarism. Even if you paraphrase you must give credit. Avoid leaning too heavily on paraphrasing. That isn''t the same as explication, which is explaining. I want to know 1) what the idea is and then 2) what YOU make of the ideas, (once you show you understand what the author is trying to say, say what you think of what the author has said). 3) What would a critical mind say about these ideas.