This final reflective essay is not a typical college essay. You can think of it more like a letter to me (your teacher) about your reflections on your learning this quarter. While you should have clear points you are making, you do not need one overall thesis. Your reflective essay must have two parts.
Part 1: Reflect on your writing growth over this quarter.
•In what ways have you grown as a college writer? What areas of college writing do you need to continue to work on? (If you want to, you can look at the course outcomes on very top of page two of the syllabus for inspiration. Think about what college writing involves, based on what you’ve learned in the course.)
•Discuss your personal goal for the course that you set in Week 1. What was your goal? Did you accomplish it? Explain.
Part 2: Reflect on visions of the future.
•Discuss the vision of the future depicted in Parable of the Sower and “Revolutionary Shuffle” (or “Hollow,” if you choose to read it for extra credit).
•Discuss the societal factors restricting characters in these stories and ways characters exert their own agency (their own power to make things happen in the world).
•Describe your own vision for the future, and explain how it is similar and different from the vision depicted in Parable of the Sower.
•Explain how your own agency can play a role in the future we create as a society.
Objective: The goal of this assignment is for you to integrate course themes and show the understandings you’ve gained about your own writing and writing as a cultural practice.
Length: Your paper should be approximately 600-900 words long. The word count for this assignment is not strict, but most students write at least six paragraphs. The most important thing is that you thoughtfully answer each part.
Format: Your paper should be double-spaced with 1-inch margins and no extra spaces between paragraphs. Use a 12-sized font (Times New Roman is recommended). Papers for this class must be formatted in MLA style which means each paper should include your name, the instructor’s name, ENG 101, and the date in upper left corner of the first page. Each subsequent page should also include your last name and the page number in the upper right hand corner. See pages 408-409 in A Writer’s Reference for an example of a paper formatted in MLA style.
Sources: This essay is personal reflection. It does not require citations other than Parable of the Sower and “Revolutionary Shuffle.” To cite these works, see “Documenting Sources” in A Writer’s Reference (beginning on page 370). Remember, to cite the short story, follow the format for “Work in an Anthology” on page 382. Also, see page 412 for an example of a list of sources in MLA style. As always, any sources used must be introduced and properly credited with citations.
