English 1101
Evaluating Reflective Essay
70 points; minimum of 600 words (MLA format not required—you type or paste your text
directly into a text box in your Digital Portfolio)
Due: Web address posted to Moodle by class time on Nov. 18
The online portfolio you are compiling enables you to gain some critical distance from your own
work. When drafting the Evaluating Reflective Essay, you should think of the rest of the
portfolio as “data” or “evidence”: you will look at everything you have collected and, as you
write your reflective essay, consider where you are as a writer. To paraphrase the Enlightenment
philosopher John Locke: reflection is a mind observing itself. Just as a reflective mind can
observe how it generally functions and reacts in a given situation, we can learn about our writing
and how we generally write or approach writing tasks. Through the act of articulation, we can
understand more about ourselves, what we are thinking, and how where we are now may be
different from where we were in the past. The ultimate goal of the writing portfolio is for you to
develop a clear sense of your identity as a writer: the types of topics you tend to focus on, your
typical process for approaching a writing task, how you react or write differently based on the
genre, audience, etc., how you see yourself developing or struggling as a writer, and so on.
More specifically, the reflective essay serves three main rhetorical purposes:
• It enables you to understand more about your writing and thinking.
• It is a forum through which you explain what you have learned and accomplished
so far this semester.
• It introduces me to the work in the portfolio.
• It brings my attention to certain features of your portfolio. If you have made
substantial revisions on any draft since I last saw it, for instance, you should let
me know in the reflection.
(Note that the focus here is on YOUR WORK, not on me or the class as a whole. Of
course, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t mention me or the class if these subjects
come up in your discussion of your work)
These purposes might lead you in a number of different directions when writing the
reflection that will accompany your portfolio:
• discussing the different types/genres of writing you have done in the class
(journal exercises, peer reviews, reflection letters, research, etc.). You might contrast them,
thinking through how differently you have approached different writing situations. You
might also take a broader view, exploring how these different writings have
worked together as you have pursued your work as a writer.
• discussing what you think is your most important work in the class—explaining
why and how it connects to your goals as a writer.
• discussing continuity: strengths and weaknesses you note in most of your writing.
• discussing your progress as a writer in the class—challenges you have faced and
what you learned as you dealt with these challenges.
• discussing the trajectory of your thinking in the class—how has it changed with
and through your writing over the course of the semester so far?
Strategies
I have listed three strategies for approaching the composition of your reflective essay
below. You can adopt any of these strategies as you choose. Please use them as general
guidelines, rather than as specific assignments. You can combine elements from each.
I. Gaining Sophistication with “Literacy” and Writing Over Time
Look at your initial writing in the class and compare it to where you are now. Tell "the
story” of your work in the class as it plays out through the various texts. Has your
thinking and writing evolved? What have you learned about the relationship between
inquiry, interaction with research and peers, and writing? What have you learned about
relationships between context and genre?
II. Movement in Writing Ability Over Time:
Look at the work in your portfolio chronologically—starting with the early texts and
moving toward the final project. Do you see evolution in your thinking, habits or skills?
Look specifically at:
• general rhetorical concerns (such as audience awareness and a clearly articulated
purpose).
• editing and revision: have your editing skills become more advanced over time?
Is your work becoming more polished? Is your ability to revise your own work
and respond to the work of others becoming more sophisticated? How?
• what you can say about your understanding of the “social” aspects (peer review,
workshopping, reflection, discussions with the teacher) of writing?
III. Highlighting Special Features (essential)
What texts have undergone substantial revisions since the last time I saw them? What
revisions did you make? Any special features of your portfolio of which you like me to
be especially aware? Any aspect of the class in which you think you were especially
engaged and can illustrate with work from the portfolio? Remember that your reflective
essay introduces me to the portfolio. It is your chance to make sure I notice certain of its
aspects.
Additional Notes:
• Again, the portfolio should generate your insight— you start with an
observation of what is in your portfolio and then begin to write the essay--not the
other way around. Take the time to get to know what is in your portfolio AND
THEN you can begin to make observations about your progression through the
class.
• Tie specific assertions back to specific examples from the portfolio.
• The primary focus of the reflective essay is your writing—not me or the class.
• Don’t feel compelled to create a dramatic narrative of progress.
• Don’t feel compelled to be a salesperson. Recognition of weaknesses and
shortcomings are a hallmark of rigorous reflection and learning.
