Reflective Essay Reading

Students often face trouble when tacking the reflective essay potion of the portfolio assignment. Some important ideas and strategies to use to ensure that you write a great paper should be;

1. Begin with the writing process: What is the topic you are going to write on. Ensure that you narrow the topic and be precise about the specific problem you will tackle in your essay. How hard was it for you to narrow it down to that topic. What made you choose that topic(purpose) and not something else. What do you hope to gain or realize from sharing this information to the audience.

2. Why changes? That is why did you make revisions to the essay. What revisions were made to the paper from the initial draft to the final draft. How difficult was it for you to make changes to your initial draft.

3. The Writing process. What kind of rhetorical strategies( such as audience questions, appeals, voice/tone) were used in the process.  Add detail/expand on the writing process so that the audience can connect to the essay. Ensure that the body of the essay is in line with what the purpose of the paper was in the first place. Use sources to back up the findings you made when researching the essay. It is important to cite your sources and incorporate why these findings matter.  Organization matters, make sure the essay has ideas which are coherent. Make sure to include your outline and peer review in the writing process.