Final Essay: Self-Reflection Essay

• Format: Typed, double-spaced, submitted as a word-processing document (PDF or .doc/x).
  12 point, text-weight font, 1-inch margins.
• Length: 2-3 pages double spaced
• Value: This project will be graded out of 100 possible points, and will be worth 10% of the grade for the course.
• Overview: In addition to the written analysis in Unit 4, students will complete a reflective essay analyzing their own writing from that unit. This will be similar to the previous analysis, and will also include reflection on their own writing practices, processes, and final product.
• This assignment is due on Thursday, May 12th by 11:59pm.
  

Assignment

Analyze your own writing from Unit 4 to create a reflective self-analysis essay.

In addition to your written essay in Unit 4, you will also complete this Unit 5 reflective essay analyzing the effectiveness of the essay you wrote for the previous unit. This will be similar in some ways to the analysis itself:

• Reflect on the process of writing the Analysis essay. What did you learn the most from? What aspect of the writing process and revision was most useful to you? What are your major strengths and weaknesses in your writing?
• Like other forms of analysis, you should use passages from your own writing and prewriting as evidence for the claims you make about your own writing process and writing strategies.

Unlike the written analysis in Unit 4, this self-analysis is also a reflection. In addition to describing your argument, you should reflect on the implications of those choices:

• What aspects of your writing have improved the most in this course? Which specific activities or planning steps helped you most? Be specific about which aspects of the course you learned the most from.
• In hindsight, what do you find most compelling from your analysis? Do you notice any limitations?
• In addition to the Analysis essay, you may also discuss another course assignment, reading, or discussion that had an impact on the way you think about reading and/or writing. Try to be as detailed as possible in your analysis of your own writing progress over the course of the semester.

Objectives

These questions help to guide discussion and inquiry for this unit. The goal is not necessarily to answer these questions, but to explore them through the work of class discussions, writing, and reflection.

• What is analysis? What is the purpose and value of analysis in classroom settings and outside of school?
• How can we apply analysis strategies to own own writing? What is the value and purpose of self-analysis?
• What can I learn about myself or my writing through reflection? How is reflection connected to revision?

Consider the Following before writing your paper:

Writing develops through inquiry, experimentation, and discovery.

The act of writing encourages intellectual and personal development, and leads to greater knowledge retention, deep reflection, and empathy. Writing may teach us new ways to understand ourselves, our world, our communities, and others better. Through writing and listening to the writing of others, we grow intellectually, reflect deeply, and respond empathetically to vital issues facing ourselves, our communities, and our world.

Writing facilitates critical thinking about complex issues.

Writing is a practice of responding clearly, concisely, and coherently to complex issues. Students studying writing develop their logical skills and learn strategies to address critical problems and attune to audiences with precision and purpose.

Writing takes place through a lifelong process supported by revision and reflection.

Beyond traditional academic skills and rules of writing, writers develop flexible strategies to read, listen, plan, and collaborate with others by revisiting and reflecting on their writing experiences. Students studying writing learn to reflect on their own writing processes, which might include critical reading, planning, drafting, collaborating, revising, and reflecting, through multiple pages of drafted material.

Writing can give us agency to intervene in social issues.

Writers intervene in their communities by addressing audience needs and concerns. Academic audiences expect writers to address difficult questions through well-researched writing that is supported with compelling evidence. Other kinds of audiences and communities expect writers to address their needs differently, through flexible rhetorical strategies that offer relevant and timely information.

Writing is integral to information literacy and critical reading.

In order to write ethically and build credibility with audiences, writers must read sources carefully and know how to assess and use information effectively.