environment help

Reflective Essay

A reflective essay expresses an opinion on an issue and supports it with strong arguments and relevant

information. This essay is done to share material with your audience and to solidify your own views on the

topic that you have selected. Think about its construction this way, that if you are looking into a mirror.

The first thing you probably see is yourself looking back at you. Keep looking though and you’ll also see

what’s behind you. Writing a reflective essay is similar to looking into a mirror except that instead of

seeing objects reflected in the room behind you, you “see” reflections of a past experience. The most

important factor to remember in writing a reflective essay is that your opinions and conclusions should

directly relate to the experiences you examine in the essay body.

Following is the rubric which will be used to assess this course’s essays:

Essay 1 should identify the environmental issue, from your home region, outlining the problem and its root

causes and consequence from a systems perspective. In this essay the system connection with both the

social and economic impacts should be introduced, but will be more fully developed in essay 2.

Essay 2 should expand on the systemic connections of social and economic consequences on the

environmental issue. Elaborate on the local community and political perspectives. This essay should

identify a personal course of action that you might take to help mitigate the problem.

REFLECTIVE ESSAY RUBRIC

Information 70 50 30 10 Make a claim and give

reasons supporting the

claim

Accuracy of

information

I make a claim and give

clear and accurate

reasons to support it. I

employ material from

the unit of study in my

claim and its support.

My writing shows that I

know all of the main points.

I make a claim and give

support, but I overlook

important reasons for

support of my claim

My writing shows that I

know most of the main points.

I make a claim but it is

buried, confused, or

unclear. I give 1 or 2

reasons which don’t

support the claim well

or are confusing to my point.

My writing shows that I know some of the main

points.

I did not make a claim

or give convincing

supporting reasons for

my claim.

My writing shows that I

don’t know the main points of this material.

Essay Structure 30 20 10 5

Organization and logic I organize my writing in appropriate paragraph

form. The essay has a

compelling opening, strong body, and logical

conclusion. My work

fits the unit of study in a logical way.

My writing has a clear beginning, middle, and

end. I generally use the

appropriate paragraph format. I occasionally

stretch a point beyond

the unit of study in an illogical way.

My writing is usually organized but

sometimes gets off

topic. The work has several errors in

paragraph format. The

work is often lacking a connection to the unit

of study.

My writing is aimless and disorganized.

Within the work, I

frequently make remarks that are not

relevant to the unit of

study.

Sentence fluency

(“Fluid” writing)

My sentences are clear, complete, and of

different lengths or

styles.

I wrote well-constructed but routine sentences.

My writing does not

have my own “signature” to it.

My sentences are often awkward. Some run-

ons and fragments are

making my essay unclear.

Many run-ons, fragments, and awkward

phrasings make my

essay hard to read.

Conventions I use first-person form, and I use correct sentence structure,

grammar, punctuation,

and spelling.

My spelling is correct

on common words. Some errors in grammar

and punctuation.

Frequent errors are

distracting to the reader but do not interfere with

the meaning of my

paper. My writing includes short-hand

symbols and

abbreviations.

Many errors in

grammar, spelling, capitalization, and

punctuation make my

paper hard to follow.