Writing Question

Overview

Reflection Essay Guide

ENG 102: Composition II

Writing the Reflection Essay

Major Elements:

• The reflection essay should be 3-4 pages.
• As with all essays, the key is to be specific. Avoid general statements like: “My writing improved so much” or “I did good on all of these assignments” etc. Quote yourself and provide detailed examples of the work you’ve done for our class. Think of your own writing as the source material and incorporate it into the reflection essay in the same way: through paraphrasing, partial, and direct quotes.
• Do be confident and proud of your work! Writing is a journey that involves a lot of struggle and even failure. All writers understand the struggle intimately. Focus on the progress you’ve made. Like anything else –playing an instrument, building a house, running a marathon – experimenting and practicing are essential steps to achieve polished, refined products. Go your discussion posts, position essay, and other assignments. The progress will likely be significant, and you should feel good about that. Write about that journey and progress in your reflection essay.
• The Learning Outcomes are a way to articulate all of this. On the syllabus, they’re right near the top. Go through those and choose 3-4 to incorporate into your essay. You should discuss a minimum of three of the learning outcomes. Although there are different paths to this essay, the easiest would be to develop a thesis statement based on those learning outcomes and then develop each one into a paragraph (or two).
• You may also want to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as a reader, writer, researcher.

Paragraphing

• This essay is a thesis-guided essay. Your purpose is to explain how you have met the goals of our class.
• The thesis statement should reflect 3-4 learning outcomes.
• Start with a topic sentence (what and why) that gesture towards the previous paragraph and forecast the new paragraph—this is the same technique you used for your research essay.
• Use detailed evidence. Remember to quote your work as evidence.
• Avoid repetition and ensure each paragraph functions in a unique way.

Introduction

• As with your research essay, your reader needs to understand background and context of the topic. The topic is your journey as a writer. Start with your writing life — how did you come into this course as an author? Describe your perspective on your own writing/confidence/fears/hesitations/hopes coming into Comp II.
• Describe the items included in your portfolio and how you did or did not revise them. Keep in mind that you can include other material, if you choose, including discussion posts and the position essay, if you feel like they provide you with evidence.
• Develop a thesis statement around the learning outcomes you want to use within your essay. Ex: After completing ENG 102, I have successfully developed and practiced a strong writing and research process and have learned how to effectively use the library research databases to ask research questions and find appropriate scholarly sources to answer those questions. The thesis statement should be the final sentence in the introduction paragraph.

Body Paragraphs

• Develop body paragraphs around the learning outcomes from your thesis statement. Introduce each learning outcomes with a topic sentences. Each learning outcomes can have as many body paragraphs as you need. There is no set number.
• Discuss each component of your portfolio in detail. How and why did you revise or make changes? How and why did you decide what to keep and what to revise? Be specific here. Talk about your goals for revision.
• Be as specific as possible and quote yourself. Describe not just what you did, but how and why you did it. Show that you understand why the decisions and changes you made have resulted in a more effective product.
• These paragraphs can be organized based on learning outcomes. Each paragraph can address a specific learning outcome and use detailed evidence from your work for the class that explains how you’ve engaged the outcomes.

Conclusion

• Look to the future. Talk about how you feel prepared (or not) for future courses that require writing (most of them) and/or how you feel about writing in professional environments. This will be the last opportunity to show that you’ve engaged with the course material and met the outcomes for our class. It is also a good opportunity to consider the ways you’ve met (or not) the expectations of our course.

Your reflection essay should incorporate a minimum of 3 learning outcomes. The learning outcomes for this course are listed on your syllabus. I am including them here for your convenience:

• Develop, practice, and reflect on reading, writing, and research processes in response to a number of rhetorical situations;
• Engage and interact with texts and perspectives rhetorically in order to learn and practice the academic “moves” for making and supporting different kinds of arguments, including how to use a range of evidence to support claims;
• Ask effective questions and conduct focused research using a range of resources, including the library catalog and databases of scholarly articles;
• Recognize, evaluate, and reflect on the various types of research methods and sources, including primary research methods, that inform effective researched writing;
• Assemble a set of appropriate sources relevant to the issue being investigated and acknowledge clearly when and how the ideas and phrasings from these sources are used;
• Demonstrate authority, focus, development, source engagement, and English language use appropriate to varied contexts and audiences.
• Assess one’s own writing and the writing of others for effectiveness within specific rhetorical contexts and give and act on feedback through flexible revision strategies.