Reflection for Essay

Reflective/Metacognitive Annotations #1 – Discipline Awareness Project

Note: As this is the first of these Reflective Writing papers we are completing, I wanted to set up some guidelines which will apply to all three we will do this term. First, these responses should be thoughtful, detailed, and original (do not borrow language from your essays, unless explicitly asked to do so). Writing broadly, forgoing detail, doing the minimum or not responding to the questions, will result in a grade deduction.

While the major essays themselves ask you to execute and apply skills learned in the classroom, these reflective writing assignments ask you to think about HOW and WHY you executed and applied those skills the way you did. These writings focus on your thinking and writing (and researching) processes in an attempt to help you understand how and why you succeed when you succeed, so that you can build on it, and how and why you struggle, when you struggle, so you can learn from it. One thing to remember is that metacognition and reflective writing is not just something we do after an assignment, but, with practice, it can be a process which informs our writing, pre- and post-draft. Additionally, this may seem to you at first glance to be a kind of writing you, the student, might do to please me, the teacher, but I assure that is not my or our goal. In fact, it’s best for you to think of yourselves, rather than myself, as your audience here. These writings are an opportunity to stop, take stock, and consider your own writing process and growth. Thinking your way through (and understanding) how you think, write, research, will help you develop the all-important “transfer” of skills from inside of the classroom to beyond it.

1. Take a moment to consider and discuss your writing process from the time you received the prompt for Essay #1 to the time you sat down to complete it. Find the location in the paper where you feel your planning, brainstorming, or other pre-draft writing strategies are most apparent. Please detail any pre-draft strategies (outlining, sketching, etc.) you employed and discuss why you took those particular steps in preparing your draft. This is also an appropriate space in which to discuss what your intentions were (what you were trying to achieve in this part of the paper/process) and where you think you succeeded and where you feel you came up short (and perhaps why you think that is)? [200 words].

2. In this essay, you were asked to complete some tasks/respond to some questions which had either no specific singular path/no specific answer or were given no specific text/source in which to search for the answer/guidance. For example, you were asked to determine the role of writing and research in your discipline as it differs from other fields, or for another example, you were asked to create criteria for what makes a valuable, credible source in your field. Find a place in your paper where you showed independent research and problem solving and compose a response to the following: What steps (intellectually and physically) did you take to answer these questions? Discuss how you employed independent inquiry and curiosity to help you properly respond to those demands of the essay prompt [200-250 words].

3. Identify and discuss what you consider to be your best, most effective (in responding to the prompt) paragraph in Essay #1. Now, using your knowledge of rhetorical analysis, discuss what rhetorical moves (writerly decisions/choices made) you employed in composing that paragraph. Note: This is a discussion on your writing/composition, rather than just your research or the sources you found. Pay attention to things like structure, organization, word choice, etc. You must discuss how you made decisions regarding your utilization of at least two of the following: Tone/Voice, Writing to Audience, Context, Medium, Goal [200-300 words].