Thursday, December 3, 2015

Reflective Essay Organizing Idea and Thesis

Focus on a specific assignment, experience, or concept 


As I revised my QRG, I realized that I oftentimes lack clarity in my writing, and my organization could be improved with the usage of prewriting exercises, such as outlines or SOAPSTones, which my teacher and peer editors pointed out.

http://blogs.msbcollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/thesis_statement.jpg

Compare your experience writing in this course to past experiences

When writing previous essays, I rarely used prewriting exercises, such as outlines and SOAPSTones, which resulted in weaker, unclear essays with lacking organization.  In high school, it was feasible to write a well written essay without prewriting; however, I learned in my college English essay class that it is necessary to use prewriting exercises in order to write a well organized paper.

Reflect on strengths and weaknesses 

Even though I had good evidence and analysis, my arguments were weakened because I did not use prewriting exercises, like outlines, to organize my paragraphs into a cohesive order.

Focus on course objectives

Over the course of the semester, I developed my rhetorical analysis to recognize rhetorical strategies and use them as pieces of evidence in my paper, while also recognizing that I need to improve in my organization and clarity, and using this to improve subsequent essays.

Focus on your writing process/self-perception as a writer

I did not write my first essay with a lot of confidence, but as the semester progressed I learned what my faults and strengths were, and how to improve upon my faults, like focusing on organization, and how to use my strengths, like concrete evidence, to improve the quality of my paper.

I chose to use the thesis where I focused on a specific assignment, experience, or concept because it allows me to focus specifically on the QRG essay and to reflect on what my faults were and how I am going to improve them in my rewrite.  It is easy to integrate specific evidence from the original essay and the improvements in the rewrite using this thesis.  

I looked at Laura Shoemake's and Lekha's blog.



2 comments:

  1. Interesting approach on the importance of pre-writing! It appears that you also want to tie this reflection essay with a future action (your rewriting your QRG). That, in itself, provides a large amount of credibility to you because it shows that you can back up your words with your actions; and although the audience may not be able to see your rewritten essay, they will know you mean it once they detect the appropriate tone and vernacular. Good work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am glad to see another person deciding to choose a specific assignment. I feel that submitting your revised QRG along with the reflection will greatly help Dr. Bell see your improvement as a writer. The order of your thesis statement slightly confuses me, but I think I get what you are saying. At a first glance, it looks like Dr. Bell and your peers pointed out that SOAPSTone and outlines will improve the essay (which in undoubtedly true), but I assume that you are actually trying to say that Dr. Bell and your peers pointed out that your QRG needed to be more clear and organized. I have a feeling that by simultaneously revising your QRG and using that experience will form a powerful reflection essay. I wish you the best of luck and good job!

    ReplyDelete