reading reflection assignment 1

• Peterborough

How to Write a Reflection Paper

Why reflective writing, experiential reflection, reading reflection.

• A note on mechanics

Reflection offers you the opportunity to consider how your personal experiences and observations shape your thinking and your acceptance of new ideas.  Professors often ask students to write reading reflections.  They do this to encourage you to explore your own ideas about a text, to express your opinion rather than summarize the opinions of others.  Reflective writing can help you to improve your analytical skills because it requires you to express what you think, and more significantly, how and why you think that way.  In addition, reflective analysis asks you to acknowledge that your thoughts are shaped by your assumptions and preconceived ideas; in doing so, you can appreciate the ideas of others, notice how their assumptions and preconceived ideas may have shaped their thoughts, and perhaps recognize how your ideas support or oppose what you read.

Types of Reflective Writing

Popular in professional programs, like business, nursing, social work, forensics and education, reflection is an important part of making connections between theory and practice.  When you are asked to reflect upon experience in a placement, you do not only describe your experience, but you evaluate it based on ideas from class.  You can assess a theory or approach based on your observations and practice and evaluate your own knowledge and skills within your professional field.   This opportunity to take the time to think about your choices, your actions, your successes and your failures is best done within a specific framework, like course themes or work placement objectives.  Abstract concepts can become concrete and real to you when considered within your own experiences, and reflection on your experiences allows you to make plans for improvement.

To encourage thoughtful and balanced assessment of readings, many interdisciplinary courses may ask you to submit a reading reflection.  Often instructors will indicate to students what they expect of a reflection, but the general purpose is to elicit your informed opinions about ideas presented in the text and to consider how they affect your interpretation.   Reading reflections offer an opportunity to recognize – and perhaps break down – your assumptions which may be challenged by the text(s). 

Approaches to Reflective Inquiry

You may wonder how your professors assess your reflective writing.  What are they looking for? How can my experiences or ideas be right or wrong?  Your instructors expect you to critically engage with concepts from your course by making connections between your observations, experiences, and opinions.   They expect you to explain and analyse these concepts from your own point of view, eliciting original ideas and encouraging active interest in the course material.

It can be difficult to know where to begin when writing a critical reflection.  First, know that – like any other academic piece of writing – a reflection requires a narrow focus and strong analysis.  The best approach for identifying a focus and for reflective analysis is interrogation.   The following offers suggestions for your line of inquiry when developing a reflective response.

It is best to discuss your experiences in a work placement or practicum within the context of personal or organizational goals; doing so provides important insights and perspective for your own growth in the profession. For reflective writing, it is important to balance reporting or descriptive writing with critical reflection and analysis.

Consider these questions:

• Contextualize your reflection:  What are your learning goals? What are the objectives of the organization?  How do these goals fit with the themes or concepts from the course?
• Provide important information: What is the name of the host organization? What is their mission? Who do they serve? What was your role? What did you do?
• Analytical Reflection: What did you learn from this experience? About yourself? About working in the field? About society?
• Lessons from reflection: Did your experience fit with the goals or concepts of the course or organization?  Why or why not? What are your lessons for the future? What was successful? Why? What would you do differently? Why? How will you prepare for a future experience in the field?

Consider the purpose of reflection: to demonstrate your learning in the course.  It is important to actively and directly connect concepts from class to your personal or experiential reflection.  The following example shows how a student’s observations from a classroom can be analysed using a theoretical concept and how the experience can help a student to evaluate this concept.

For Example My observations from the classroom demonstrate that the hierarchical structure of Bloom’s Taxonomy is problematic, a concept also explored by Paul (1993).  The students often combined activities like application and synthesis or analysis and evaluation to build their knowledge and comprehension of unfamiliar concepts.  This challenges my understanding of traditional teaching methods where knowledge is the basis for inquiry.  Perhaps higher-order learning strategies like inquiry and evaluation can also be the basis for knowledge and comprehension, which are classified as lower-order skills in Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Critical reflection requires thoughtful and persistent inquiry.  Although basic questions like “what is the thesis?” and “what is the evidence?” are important to demonstrate your understanding, you need to interrogate your own assumptions and knowledge to deepen your analysis and focus your assessment of the text.

Assess the text(s):

• What is the main point? How is it developed? Identify the purpose, impact and/or theoretical framework of the text.
• What ideas stood out to me? Why? Were they new or in opposition to existing scholarship?

Develop your ideas:

• What do I know about this topic? Where does my existing knowledge come from? What are the observations or experiences that shape my understanding?
• Do I agree or disagree with this argument?  Why?

Make connections:

• How does this text reinforce my existing ideas or assumptions? How does this text challenge my existing ideas or assumptions?
• How does this text help me to better understand this topic or explore this field of study/discipline?

A Note on Mechanics

As with all written assignments or reports, it is important to have a clear focus for your writing.  You do not need to discuss every experience or element of your placement.  Pick a few that you can explore within the context of your learning.  For reflective responses, identify the main arguments or important elements of the text to develop a stronger analysis which integrates relevant ideas from course materials.

Furthermore, your writing must be organized.  Introduce your topic and the point you plan to make about your experience and learning.  Develop your point through body paragraph(s), and conclude your paper by exploring the meaning you derive from your reflection. You may find the questions listed above can help you to develop an outline before you write your paper.

You should maintain a formal tone, but it is acceptable to write in the first person and to use personal pronouns.  Note, however, that it is important that you maintain confidentiality and anonymity of clients, patients or students from work or volunteer placements by using pseudonyms and masking identifying factors. 

The value of reflection: Critical reflection is a meaningful exercise which can require as much time and work as traditional essays and reports because it asks students to be purposeful and engaged participants, readers, and thinkers.

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17 Reflective Writing

In this type of writing, your instructor wants to see that you are making personal connections between the course content and experiences in your life. Reflective writing is inextricably linked to critical thinking.

Like discussion board posts, reflective writing uses first person pronouns, and writers are encouraged to support opinions and analysis by referring to personal experiences.

Formal reflective writing assignments differ from discussion board posts by being longer and more detailed. Also, instructors usually want you to use APA formatting (correct font, spacing, indentation, and title page). You may be specifically required to paraphrase and cite information from secondary sources.

Learning Objectives

After you complete this chapter, you will be able to

• describe the purpose and structure of a reading reflection assignment
• describe the purpose and structure of an experiential reflection assignment

Formal Reflective Writing Assignments

Self-reflection is a humbling process. It’s essential to find out why you think, say, and do certain things… then better yourself.

– Sonya Teclai (recording artist)

Watch this brief video to get a general overview of reflective writing [1] :

Incorporating the 4Rs for Indigenous Ways of Knowing in your Reflection

At Confederation College, we acknowledge the value and legitimacy of Indigenous ways of knowing, and we encourage students to incorporate the “four Rs” into their reflective writing responses.  This approach values the individual’s experience, as well as the ideas of others.  In this way, knowledge is seen as ongoing, changing, and interrelated [2] .

In Indigenous cultures, critical thinking includes these four parts when analyzing new information:

Two Types of Reflective Writing Assignments

1. reading reflection.

In this type of reflective writing assignment, you will need to review course materials (read an article or chapter or watch a video or movie) and write a response.

Your response should

• demonstrate your understanding of the reading by providing a concise summary using your own words
• make thoughtful and balanced assessment of the materials you’ve reviewed
• make connections between the course materials and your own experiences and/or to other sources of information on the topic
• identify lack of knowledge or personal bias without fear of losing marks; this is part of the reflection process
• recognize opinions that you may not agree with, and consider these with respect
• consider how what you’ve learned from the course materials has changed or confirmed your previous thinking about a topic
• identify steps you may take to add to your understanding of this topic
• end with a conclusion that explains how you will use the knowledge you have acquired

Description : These are the details about your writing topic.  What happened? When? Where? Why?

Feelings : Describe the emotions, thoughts, and responses you felt and thought towards this topic. Often emotions are evidence of our own discomfort, lack of knowledge, or bias towards the topic.

Evaluation : Compare your previous knowledge of this topic with the new knowledge or experience.  Where did you get your information from? Consider the new details and their relation to your previous knowledge

Conclusions : Identify new views and ideas; develop questions for future examination.

Action : Identify changes in your approach or actions towards this topic.  For example, more research, more practice, discussion with others, etc.

Steps to complete a reading reflection

Critical reflection requires thoughtful and persistent inquiry.  Although basic questions like “what is the thesis?” and “what is the evidence?” are important to demonstrate your understanding, you need to interrogate your own assumptions and knowledge to deepen your analysis and focus your assessment of the text. In your reflection, you may choose to focus on one part of the reading, rather than the entire article.

Summarize the most important information from the assigned reading, video or audio.  Concisely explain the topic and the most important details, not all of the small examples.

In this video, Shaun Macleod explains the essentials to writing a summary [3] :

2. Reflect on the article by assessing the text, developing your ideas, and making connections:

Identify where your ideas originated from; you may include personal experiences, cultural beliefs, APA-cited facts, etc. Use paraphrases to demonstrate your understanding of the material that you read or watched. Include APA documentation style to cite ideas from the source. You are encouraged to write about your own experiences and knowledge about the topic.  You may or may not have APA citations for this part.

2. Experiential Reflection

In this type of reflective writing assignment, you will need to participate in an experience, like a lab or placement, and write a response. This type of writing is often used in programs that require students to participate in hands-on, experiential learning, like business, nursing, and education programs.

• make connections between theory and practice
• describe your experience
• assess a theory or approach based on your observations
• evaluate and critique your experience based on class learning
• evaluate your level of knowledge and skills based on your experience
• determine how you might act differently next time you are in a similar situation

Source: Correlation between Critical Thinking and Reflection adapted from p. 1348 of  Wetmore, A.O., Boyd., L.D. & Bowen D.M. (2010). Reflective blogs.

• Academic Skills, The University of Melbourne. (2017, June 1). Reflective writing [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntBj0FIApw . ↵
• Kirkness, V. J., & Barnhardt, R. (2001). First Nations and higher education: The four R's - respect, relevance, reciprocity, responsibility. In Knowledge across cultures: A contribution to dialogue among civilizations (pp. 1-15). https://www.uaf.edu/ankn/publications/collective-works-of-ray-b/Four-Rs-2nd-Ed.pdf ↵
• Smrt English. (2012, November 15). How to write a summary [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGWO1ldEhtQ . ↵

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Examining Sample Assignment 1: Summary and Analysis

In this chapter and in the next three, I walk through example assignments and how you might analyze them to better understand your task.

This assignment comes from one of my first-year writing classes. It’s a fairly typical early assignment in my first-year writing classes, one that asks students to read a text and engage with it in some way. In this case, the readings include the same one I use as a model in the first section of this book , though the actual assignment differs a bit.

The ability to read critically and summarize accurately is a crucial academic skill. The ability to use ideas from one text to guide understanding in another text is similarly crucial. This assignment helps you practice both of these skills.

Your summary will need to explain the key concepts in Mitchell’s article and to explain the main points in the article that you choose to work with. In class, we will work specifically on critical reading strategies to understand how authors make claims and connect those claims to one another. We will also work on techniques for writing strong summaries that accurately represent an author’s work.

Your summaries of these texts should be between 300 and 400 words of your final paper.

In this part of your paper, you will make connections between Mitchell’s concepts and the specific situation described in the article you have chosen. Specifically, you must try to explain the situation in your article using the terms “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” as Mitchell explains them. Think about questions like the following:

• Does the article you have chosen describe a situation that could be considered “segregated coexistence”? If so, what is that situation and how well does it align with “segregated coexistence” as Mitchell describes it?
• Similarly, does the article you have chosen describe a situation that could be considered “living in community”? If so, what is that situation and how well does it align with “living in community” as Mitchell describes it?
• Are there ways in which Mitchell’s terms don’t apply or don’t cover the issue well enough? How so?

Note that this part of your paper should be between 400 and 500 words long, longer than your summaries. While accurately summarizing is important, readers at the college level are more interested in seeing your thinking, so this part should be longer than your summary.

When I comment on your summary and analysis, I will be looking to see how well you have met the goals of the assignment. That is, I will be looking for how accurately and thoroughly you have summarized the articles and how well you have explained and provided support for your analysis. If you only provide summaries of the articles without analysis, your project will not be successful. Instead, your project should demonstrate your critical reading and thinking skills.

Your summary and analysis will also need to meet the standard expectations of good college-level academic writing, which we will be working on during the term. Your purpose and focus will need to be clear and well explained. You will need to provide your reader with sufficient detail in your summary and your response so that your explanations are clear and thorough. You will also need to provide structural cues that enable your reader to follow the logic of your thinking. And your prose will need to be well written both stylistically and grammatically.

Examining the Verbs in Key Sentences

When I read this assignment, I find three key sentences that tell us what we’re supposed to do in this assignment.

Before going on, try to find the key sentences in the Summary and Analysis assignment. Then, read on to see if you agree with my choices.

Let’s look at them.

First Sentence for Examination

To start, there is a sentence summarizing the assignment at the top. Sentences pulled out like this are often important:

Summarize the ideas of “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” from Mitchell’s essay and analyze how those ideas apply to the situation described in an additional article (see sources below).

The verbs here are pretty direct: summarize and analyze.

• What are you summarizing? Mitchell’s ideas
• What are you analyzing? How those ideas apply to the situation in the second article you have chosen

Second Sentence for Examination

There’s another key sentence at the beginning of the “Summaries” section:

Your summary will need to explain the key concepts in Mitchell’s article and to explain the main points in the article that you choose to work with.

The verbs here are less helpful, at least until we look at the words around them.

When someone tells you that you “will need” to do something, you know that they mean that you “must” do it. If we substitute “must” for “will need,” we get a bit more help:

Your summary must explain the key concepts in Mitchell’s article and must explain the main points in the article that you choose to work with.

“Choose” is not terribly important for our purposes because it’s just identifying the second source that we are working with. “Explain,” however, seems to be very important.

Here we get a focus for our summary work:

• Explain the key concepts in Mitchell’s article (which have been identified in the first sentence we analyzed)
• Explain the main points in the article we’ve chosen

In this sentence, we have more detail about what “summarizing” looks like for this assignment.

Third Sentence for Examination

To understand the “analyzing” part of the assignment, we have a couple of sentences at the beginning of the “Analysis” section. I’m including two sentences since the second sentence begins with “specifically,” which indicates that it’s providing more detail about the first:

In this part of your paper, you will make connections between Mitchell’s concepts and the specific situation described in the article you have chosen . Specifically, you must try to explain the situation in your article using the terms “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” as Mitchell explains them.

These verbs require a bit of adjustment before our task will be clear. “Will make” doesn’t tell us much without the following word “connections,” without which we don’t know what we are making. However, “will make connections” can also be understood as simply “connect.” Here’s the sentence with this adjustment (eliminating a few more words to make the sentence grammatically correct:

In this part of your paper, you will connect Mitchell’s concepts and the specific situation described in the article you have chosen . Specifically, you must try to explain the situation in your article using the terms “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” as Mitchell explains them.

Similarly, “must try” doesn’t help us until we look at the words that tell us what we are trying to do. In this case, “must try to explain” is the idea we need to focus on. “Must try” in this sentence is an indication that our professor wants us to make effort, but explaining is really the work here:

In this part of your paper, you will connect Mitchell’s concepts and the specific situation described in the article you have chosen . Specifically, you must explain the situation in your article using the terms “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” as Mitchell explains them.

As with the sentence earlier, “have chosen” just indicates our second article, which is why I skipped that one.

The last “explains” is worth looking at in a bit more detail. In this case, the verb is not about your doing the explaining, but rather the fact that Mitchell has done some. From this sentence, we know that we must use the two identified terms in the same way that Mitchell does.

So, in the analysis part of our paper, we need to do the following:

• Connect Mitchell’s concepts, which we summarized in the summary section of the paper, to the situation in our second article.
• To do this effectively, we need to use Mitchell’s terms.

Applying Bloom

Having done this analysis, we now have a better sense of the intellectual work of this assignment:

• Summary Part 1: Explain Mitchell’s key ideas
• Summary Part 2: Explain the main points in our second article
• Analysis: Use Mitchell’s ideas to explain the situation in our second article.

Before jumping into the next section, take what you know about the task in the sample assignment and see which types of knowledge and which cognitive processes you believe the assignment is looking for.

After you read the rest of this chapter, decide whether or not you agree with my analysis.

Kinds of Cognitive Processes

First, the verbs.

The summary section of the assignment focused on explaining the key ideas in both articles. It can be helpful to move “up” the pyramid or the side of the grid with the cognitive processes to help us figure this out.

We aren’t being asked to remember, since we can look up the information, but we are being asked to understand both Mitchell’s concepts and the main points from the second article. Notice that on the grid version, summarizing appears at the intersection of factual knowledge and the cognitive process of understanding.

When we look at connections, though, “understanding” doesn’t seem to be enough. Yes, we have to understand, but we’re trying to make those connections (remember the original wording?), and “understanding” seems to be more about making sense of ideas that others have already put together.

The next step is “ applying .” If we look only at the grid, applying doesn’t seem to work, but the pyramids explain this one a bit differently. If applying means to “use information in new situations” or “use information in a new (but similar) form,” the term seems to work, right? The assignment asks us to use Mitchell’s terms to explain the situation in the second article. That sounds like an application to me!

But what about “analysis” in the title of the assignment? Look at the explanation of analyzing on the grid: “Break material into constituent parts and determine how parts relate to one another and to an overall structure of purpose.” Similarly, the pyramids describe analyzing as making connections and exploring relationships.

We aren’t doing this kind of work if we look only at Mitchell’s article; there, we are simply explaining what Mitchell means (i.e., summarizing). But when we get to the second article, we have to do more than just apply Mitchell’s terms. We have to divide up the ideas in that article into ideas that are connected to “segregated coexistence” and ideas that are connected to “living in community.”

To do this successfully, we need to explain how these connections work. This means that it’s not enough to identify specific ideas as either one or the other. We also need to make those connections clear to our reader. Those explanations are kinds of analysis .

The verbs in the assignment do not ask us to make arguments or critique ideas, so Bloom’s “evaluate” doesn’t apply in this assignment. Similarly, we aren’t really “creating” something new, beyond the vague idea that what we write should be in our own words for the most part. These two cognitive processes don’t apply much, if at all, here.

To summarize, looking at the verbs and assignment, we seem to be working in the cognitive realms of understanding, applying, and analyzing.

Kinds of Knowledge

While the verbs tell us about the cognitive processes that we are being asked to use, the examination of those key sentences can also help us focus on the information that we will need to complete the task. While much of this was obvious as we explored the verbs, I’ll break it down a bit here to complete the example.

In this case, we will need to know/understand the following:

• Mitchell’s key terms (“segregated coexistence” and “living in community”)
• The main ideas in our second article
• The connections between Mitchell’s concepts and the ideas in our second article

The first two would be factual knowledge, according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. We should be able to go to the article and find those ideas. We aren’t developing those terms or ideas; we are simply recording them. To do that, we have to understand them, but that’s a cognitive process, and we’ll come back to that in a minute.

The connections, however, aren’t factual. Our chosen article doesn’t use Mitchell’s terms directly, so we have to create those connections ourselves. If you look at the descriptions, you’ll see that this type of knowledge is called “ conceptual ,” which specifically is about organizing factual knowledge.

I don’t see anything here that is asking us to work with procedural (how to) knowledge or metacognition (thinking about thinking), so we are just working with the first two types of information.

Putting It Together

In this assignment, we are being asked to use factual and conceptual knowledge to understand, apply, and analyze.

The assignment comes in two parts. The first part is focused on summarizing Mitchell’s two key concepts and the main points from the second article. This part, then, stays firmly in the factual realm. We’re not supposed to talk about our opinions of any of these ideas or start making connections between them in this section. If we fail to present the factual information (e.g., we are missing one summary or the other; or we misread the article so our summary isn’t accurate), we will not succeed at this part. Also, because this is the more basic part of the assignment (lower on the pyramids and grid), if we don’t do this part accurately, odds are good that our analysis part won’t be as successful as we would like.

The second part, what the assignment calls “analysis,” is really a combination of applying and analyzing. We have to understand the main points, too, but mostly, we would do that in the first part of the assignment. In the “analysis,” we need to explain how the ideas in the second article can be categorized using Mitchell’s terms. We’re applying Mitchell, but we also have to explain if our assignment is going to be successful.

At this point, I have beaten this assignment into submission, but I’m hoping you can see the value in taking an assignment apart like this.

Reading and Writing Successfully in College: A Guide for Students Copyright © 2023 by Patricia Lynne is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

• Annotated Bibliography
• Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
• Group Presentations
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• Types of Structured Group Activities
• Group Project Survival Skills
• Leading a Class Discussion
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Works
• Writing a Case Analysis Paper
• Writing a Case Study
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Reflective Paper
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Generative AI and Writing
• Acknowledgments

Reflective writing is a process of identifying, questioning, and critically evaluating course-based learning opportunities, integrated with your own observations, experiences, impressions, beliefs, assumptions, or biases, and which describes how this process stimulated new or creative understanding about the content of the course.

A reflective paper describes and explains in an introspective, first person narrative, your reactions and feelings about either a specific element of the class [e.g., a required reading; a film shown in class] or more generally how you experienced learning throughout the course. Reflective writing assignments can be in the form of a single paper, essays, portfolios, journals, diaries, or blogs. In some cases, your professor may include a reflective writing assignment as a way to obtain student feedback that helps improve the course, either in the moment or for when the class is taught again.

How to Write a Reflection Paper . Academic Skills, Trent University; Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; Tsingos-Lucas et al. "Using Reflective Writing as a Predictor of Academic Success in Different Assessment Formats." American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 81 (2017): Article 8.

Benefits of Reflective Writing Assignments

As the term implies, a reflective paper involves looking inward at oneself in contemplating and bringing meaning to the relationship between course content and the acquisition of new knowledge . Educational research [Bolton, 2010; Ryan, 2011; Tsingos-Lucas et al., 2017] demonstrates that assigning reflective writing tasks enhances learning because it challenges students to confront their own assumptions, biases, and belief systems around what is being taught in class and, in so doing, stimulate student’s decisions, actions, attitudes, and understanding about themselves as learners and in relation to having mastery over their learning. Reflection assignments are also an opportunity to write in a first person narrative about elements of the course, such as the required readings, separate from the exegetic and analytical prose of academic research papers.

Reflection writing often serves multiple purposes simultaneously. In no particular order, here are some of reasons why professors assign reflection papers:

• Enhances learning from previous knowledge and experience in order to improve future decision-making and reasoning in practice . Reflective writing in the applied social sciences enhances decision-making skills and academic performance in ways that can inform professional practice. The act of reflective writing creates self-awareness and understanding of others. This is particularly important in clinical and service-oriented professional settings.
• Allows students to make sense of classroom content and overall learning experiences in relation to oneself, others, and the conditions that shaped the content and classroom experiences . Reflective writing places you within the course content in ways that can deepen your understanding of the material. Because reflective thinking can help reveal hidden biases, it can help you critically interrogate moments when you do not like or agree with discussions, readings, or other aspects of the course.
• Increases awareness of one’s cognitive abilities and the evidence for these attributes . Reflective writing can break down personal doubts about yourself as a learner and highlight specific abilities that may have been hidden or suppressed due to prior assumptions about the strength of your academic abilities [e.g., reading comprehension; problem-solving skills]. Reflective writing, therefore, can have a positive affective [i.e., emotional] impact on your sense of self-worth.
• Applying theoretical knowledge and frameworks to real experiences . Reflective writing can help build a bridge of relevancy between theoretical knowledge and the real world. In so doing, this form of writing can lead to a better understanding of underlying theories and their analytical properties applied to professional practice.
• Reveals shortcomings that the reader will identify . Evidence suggests that reflective writing can uncover your own shortcomings as a learner, thereby, creating opportunities to anticipate the responses of your professor may have about the quality of your coursework. This can be particularly productive if the reflective paper is written before final submission of an assignment.
• Helps students identify their tacit [a.k.a., implicit] knowledge and possible gaps in that knowledge . Tacit knowledge refers to ways of knowing rooted in lived experience, insight, and intuition rather than formal, codified, categorical, or explicit knowledge. In so doing, reflective writing can stimulate students to question their beliefs about a research problem or an element of the course content beyond positivist modes of understanding and representation.
• Encourages students to actively monitor their learning processes over a period of time . On-going reflective writing in journals or blogs, for example, can help you maintain or adapt learning strategies in other contexts. The regular, purposeful act of reflection can facilitate continuous deep thinking about the course content as it evolves and changes throughout the term. This, in turn, can increase your overall confidence as a learner.
• Relates a student’s personal experience to a wider perspective . Reflection papers can help you see the big picture associated with the content of a course by forcing you to think about the connections between scholarly content and your lived experiences outside of school. It can provide a macro-level understanding of one’s own experiences in relation to the specifics of what is being taught.
• If reflective writing is shared, students can exchange stories about their learning experiences, thereby, creating an opportunity to reevaluate their original assumptions or perspectives . In most cases, reflective writing is only viewed by your professor in order to ensure candid feedback from students. However, occasionally, reflective writing is shared and openly discussed in class. During these discussions, new or different perspectives and alternative approaches to solving problems can be generated that would otherwise be hidden. Sharing student's reflections can also reveal collective patterns of thought and emotions about a particular element of the course.

Bolton, Gillie. Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development . London: Sage, 2010; Chang, Bo. "Reflection in Learning." Online Learning 23 (2019), 95-110; Cavilla, Derek. "The Effects of Student Reflection on Academic Performance and Motivation." Sage Open 7 (July-September 2017): 1–13; Culbert, Patrick. “Better Teaching? You Can Write On It “ Liberal Education (February 2022); McCabe, Gavin and Tobias Thejll-Madsen. The Reflection Toolkit . University of Edinburgh; The Purpose of Reflection . Introductory Composition at Purdue University; Practice-based and Reflective Learning . Study Advice Study Guides, University of Reading; Ryan, Mary. "Improving Reflective Writing in Higher Education: A Social Semiotic Perspective." Teaching in Higher Education 16 (2011): 99-111; Tsingos-Lucas et al. "Using Reflective Writing as a Predictor of Academic Success in Different Assessment Formats." American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 81 (2017): Article 8; What Benefits Might Reflective Writing Have for My Students? Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse; Rykkje, Linda. "The Tacit Care Knowledge in Reflective Writing: A Practical Wisdom." International Practice Development Journal 7 (September 2017): Article 5; Using Reflective Writing to Deepen Student Learning . Center for Writing, University of Minnesota.

How to Approach Writing a Reflection Paper

Thinking About Reflective Thinking

Educational theorists have developed numerous models of reflective thinking that your professor may use to frame a reflective writing assignment. These models can help you systematically interpret your learning experiences, thereby ensuring that you ask the right questions and have a clear understanding of what should be covered. A model can also represent the overall structure of a reflective paper. Each model establishes a different approach to reflection and will require you to think about your writing differently. If you are unclear how to fit your writing within a particular reflective model, seek clarification from your professor. There are generally two types of reflective writing assignments, each approached in slightly different ways.

1.  Reflective Thinking about Course Readings

This type of reflective writing focuses on thoughtfully thinking about the course readings that underpin how most students acquire new knowledge and understanding about the subject of a course. Reflecting on course readings is often assigned in freshmen-level, interdisciplinary courses where the required readings examine topics viewed from multiple perspectives and, as such, provide different ways of analyzing a topic, issue, event, or phenomenon. The purpose of reflective thinking about course readings in the social and behavioral sciences is to elicit your opinions, beliefs, and feelings about the research and its significance. This type of writing can provide an opportunity to break down key assumptions you may have and, in so doing, reveal potential biases in how you interpret the scholarship.

If you are assigned to reflect on course readings, consider the following methods of analysis as prompts that can help you get started :

• Examine carefully the main introductory elements of the reading, including the purpose of the study, the theoretical framework being used to test assumptions, and the research questions being addressed. Think about what ideas stood out to you. Why did they? Were these ideas new to you or familiar in some way based on your own lived experiences or prior knowledge?
• Develop your ideas around the readings by asking yourself, what do I know about this topic? Where does my existing knowledge about this topic come from? What are the observations or experiences in my life that influence my understanding of the topic? Do I agree or disagree with the main arguments, recommended course of actions, or conclusions made by the author(s)? Why do I feel this way and what is the basis of these feelings?
• Make connections between the text and your own beliefs, opinions, or feelings by considering questions like, how do the readings reinforce my existing ideas or assumptions? How the readings challenge these ideas or assumptions? How does this text help me to better understand this topic or research in ways that motivate me to learn more about this area of study?

2.  Reflective Thinking about Course Experiences

This type of reflective writing asks you to critically reflect on locating yourself at the conceptual intersection of theory and practice. The purpose of experiential reflection is to evaluate theories or disciplinary-based analytical models based on your introspective assessment of the relationship between hypothetical thinking and practical reality; it offers a way to consider how your own knowledge and skills fit within professional practice. This type of writing also provides an opportunity to evaluate your decisions and actions, as well as how you managed your subsequent successes and failures, within a specific theoretical framework. As a result, abstract concepts can crystallize and become more relevant to you when considered within your own experiences. This can help you formulate plans for self-improvement as you learn.

If you are assigned to reflect on your experiences, consider the following questions as prompts to help you get started :

• Contextualize your reflection in relation to the overarching purpose of the course by asking yourself, what did you hope to learn from this course? What were the learning objectives for the course and how did I fit within each of them? How did these goals relate to the main themes or concepts of the course?
• Analyze how you experienced the course by asking yourself, what did I learn from this experience? What did I learn about myself? About working in this area of research and study? About how the course relates to my place in society? What assumptions about the course were supported or refuted?
• Think introspectively about the ways you experienced learning during the course by asking yourself, did your learning experiences align with the goals or concepts of the course? Why or why do you not feel this way? What was successful and why do you believe this? What would you do differently and why is this important? How will you prepare for a future experience in this area of study?

NOTE: If you are assigned to write a journal or other type of on-going reflection exercise, a helpful approach is to reflect on your reflections by re-reading what you have already written. In other words, review your previous entries as a way to contextualize your feelings, opinions, or beliefs regarding your overall learning experiences. Over time, this can also help reveal hidden patterns or themes related to how you processed your learning experiences. Consider concluding your reflective journal with a summary of how you felt about your learning experiences at critical junctures throughout the course, then use these to write about how you grew as a student learner and how the act of reflecting helped you gain new understanding about the subject of the course and its content.

ANOTHER NOTE: Regardless of whether you write a reflection paper or a journal, do not focus your writing on the past. The act of reflection is intended to think introspectively about previous learning experiences. However, reflective thinking should document the ways in which you progressed in obtaining new insights and understandings about your growth as a learner that can be carried forward in subsequent coursework or in future professional practice. Your writing should reflect a furtherance of increasing personal autonomy and confidence gained from understanding more about yourself as a learner.

Structure and Writing Style

There are no strict academic rules for writing a reflective paper. Reflective writing may be assigned in any class taught in the social and behavioral sciences and, therefore, requirements for the assignment can vary depending on disciplinary-based models of inquiry and learning. The organization of content can also depend on what your professor wants you to write about or based on the type of reflective model used to frame the writing assignment. Despite these possible variations, below is a basic approach to organizing and writing a good reflective paper, followed by a list of problems to avoid.

Pre-flection

In most cases, it's helpful to begin by thinking about your learning experiences and outline what you want to focus on before you begin to write the paper. This can help you organize your thoughts around what was most important to you and what experiences [good or bad] had the most impact on your learning. As described by the University of Waterloo Writing and Communication Centre, preparing to write a reflective paper involves a process of self-analysis that can help organize your thoughts around significant moments of in-class knowledge discovery.

• Using a thesis statement as a guide, note what experiences or course content stood out to you , then place these within the context of your observations, reactions, feelings, and opinions. This will help you develop a rough outline of key moments during the course that reflect your growth as a learner. To identify these moments, pose these questions to yourself: What happened? What was my reaction? What were my expectations and how were they different from what transpired? What did I learn?
• Critically think about your learning experiences and the course content . This will help you develop a deeper, more nuanced understanding about why these moments were significant or relevant to you. Use the ideas you formulated during the first stage of reflecting to help you think through these moments from both an academic and personal perspective. From an academic perspective, contemplate how the experience enhanced your understanding of a concept, theory, or skill. Ask yourself, did the experience confirm my previous understanding or challenge it in some way. As a result, did this highlight strengths or gaps in your current knowledge? From a personal perspective, think introspectively about why these experiences mattered, if previous expectations or assumptions were confirmed or refuted, and if this surprised, confused, or unnerved you in some way.
• Analyze how these experiences and your reactions to them will shape your future thinking and behavior . Reflection implies looking back, but the most important act of reflective writing is considering how beliefs, assumptions, opinions, and feelings were transformed in ways that better prepare you as a learner in the future. Note how this reflective analysis can lead to actions you will take as a result of your experiences, what you will do differently, and how you will apply what you learned in other courses or in professional practice.

Basic Structure and Writing Style

Reflective Background and Context

The first part of your reflection paper should briefly provide background and context in relation to the content or experiences that stood out to you. Highlight the settings, summarize the key readings, or narrate the experiences in relation to the course objectives. Provide background that sets the stage for your reflection. You do not need to go into great detail, but you should provide enough information for the reader to understand what sources of learning you are writing about [e.g., course readings, field experience, guest lecture, class discussions] and why they were important. This section should end with an explanatory thesis statement that expresses the central ideas of your paper and what you want the readers to know, believe, or understand after they finish reading your paper.

Reflective Interpretation

Drawing from your reflective analysis, this is where you can be personal, critical, and creative in expressing how you felt about the course content and learning experiences and how they influenced or altered your feelings, beliefs, assumptions, or biases about the subject of the course. This section is also where you explore the meaning of these experiences in the context of the course and how you gained an awareness of the connections between these moments and your own prior knowledge.

Guided by your thesis statement, a helpful approach is to interpret your learning throughout the course with a series of specific examples drawn from the course content and your learning experiences. These examples should be arranged in sequential order that illustrate your growth as a learner. Reflecting on each example can be done by: 1)  introducing a theme or moment that was meaningful to you, 2) describing your previous position about the learning moment and what you thought about it, 3) explaining how your perspective was challenged and/or changed and why, and 4) introspectively stating your current or new feelings, opinions, or beliefs about that experience in class.

It is important to include specific examples drawn from the course and placed within the context of your assumptions, thoughts, opinions, and feelings. A reflective narrative without specific examples does not provide an effective way for the reader to understand the relationship between the course content and how you grew as a learner.

Reflective Conclusions

The conclusion of your reflective paper should provide a summary of your thoughts, feelings, or opinions regarding what you learned about yourself as a result of taking the course. Here are several ways you can frame your conclusions based on the examples you interpreted and reflected on what they meant to you. Each example would need to be tied to the basic theme [thesis statement] of your reflective background section.

• Your reflective conclusions can be described in relation to any expectations you had before taking the class [e.g., “I expected the readings to not be relevant to my own experiences growing up in a rural community, but the research actually helped me see that the challenges of developing my identity as a child of immigrants was not that unusual...”].
• Your reflective conclusions can explain how what you learned about yourself will change your actions in the future [e.g., “During a discussion in class about the challenges of helping homeless people, I realized that many of these people hate living on the street but lack the ability to see a way out. This made me realize that I wanted to take more classes in psychology...”].
• Your reflective conclusions can describe major insights you experienced a critical junctures during the course and how these moments enhanced how you see yourself as a student learner [e.g., "The guest speaker from the Head Start program made me realize why I wanted to pursue a career in elementary education..."].
• Your reflective conclusions can reconfigure or reframe how you will approach professional practice and your understanding of your future career aspirations [e.g.,, "The course changed my perceptions about seeking a career in business finance because it made me realize I want to be more engaged in customer service..."]
• Your reflective conclusions can explore any learning you derived from the act of reflecting itself [e.g., “Reflecting on the course readings that described how minority students perceive campus activities helped me identify my own biases about the benefits of those activities in acclimating to campus life...”].

NOTE: The length of a reflective paper in the social sciences is usually less than a traditional research paper. However, don’t assume that writing a reflective paper is easier than writing a research paper. A well-conceived critical reflection paper often requires as much time and effort as a research paper because you must purposeful engage in thinking about your learning in ways that you may not be comfortable with or used to. This is particular true while preparing to write because reflective papers are not as structured as a traditional research paper and, therefore, you have to think deliberately about how you want to organize the paper and what elements of the course you want to reflect upon.

ANOTHER NOTE: Do not limit yourself to using only text in reflecting on your learning. If you believe it would be helpful, consider using creative modes of thought or expression such as, illustrations, photographs, or material objects that reflects an experience related to the subject of the course that was important to you [e.g., like a ticket stub to a renowned speaker on campus]. Whatever non-textual element you include, be sure to describe the object's relevance to your personal relationship to the course content.

Problems to Avoid

A reflective paper is not a “mind dump” . Reflective papers document your personal and emotional experiences and, therefore, they do not conform to rigid structures, or schema, to organize information. However, the paper should not be a disjointed, stream-of-consciousness narrative. Reflective papers are still academic pieces of writing that require organized thought, that use academic language and tone , and that apply intellectually-driven critical thinking to the course content and your learning experiences and their significance.

A reflective paper is not a research paper . If you are asked to reflect on a course reading, the reflection will obviously include some description of the research. However, the goal of reflective writing is not to present extraneous ideas to the reader or to "educate" them about the course. The goal is to share a story about your relationship with the learning objectives of the course. Therefore, unlike research papers, you are expected to write from a first person point of view which includes an introspective examination of your own opinions, feelings, and personal assumptions.

A reflection paper is not a book review . Descriptions of the course readings using your own words is not a reflective paper. Reflective writing should focus on how you understood the implications of and were challenged by the course in relation to your own lived experiences or personal assumptions, combined with explanations of how you grew as a student learner based on this internal dialogue. Remember that you are the central object of the paper, not the research materials.

A reflective paper is not an all-inclusive meditation. Do not try to cover everything. The scope of your paper should be well-defined and limited to your specific opinions, feelings, and beliefs about what you determine to be the most significant content of the course and in relation to the learning that took place. Reflections should be detailed enough to covey what you think is important, but your thoughts should be expressed concisely and coherently [as is true for any academic writing assignment].

Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; Critical Reflection: Journals, Opinions, & Reactions . University Writing Center, Texas A&M University; Connor-Greene, Patricia A. “Making Connections: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Journal Writing in Enhancing Student Learning.” Teaching of Psychology 27 (2000): 44-46; Good vs. Bad Reflection Papers , Franklin University; Dyment, Janet E. and Timothy S. O’Connell. "The Quality of Reflection in Student Journals: A Review of Limiting and Enabling Factors." Innovative Higher Education 35 (2010): 233-244: How to Write a Reflection Paper . Academic Skills, Trent University; Amelia TaraJane House. Reflection Paper . Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence, University of Arkansas; Ramlal, Alana, and Désirée S. Augustin. “Engaging Students in Reflective Writing: An Action Research Project.” Educational Action Research 28 (2020): 518-533; Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; McGuire, Lisa, Kathy Lay, and Jon Peters. “Pedagogy of Reflective Writing in Professional Education.” Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2009): 93-107; Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; How Do I Write Reflectively? Academic Skills Toolkit, University of New South Wales Sydney; Reflective Writing . Skills@Library. University of Leeds; Walling, Anne, Johanna Shapiro, and Terry Ast. “What Makes a Good Reflective Paper?” Family Medicine 45 (2013): 7-12; Williams, Kate, Mary Woolliams, and Jane Spiro. Reflective Writing . 2nd edition. London: Red Globe Press, 2020; Yeh, Hui-Chin, Shih-hsien Yang, Jo Shan Fu, and Yen-Chen Shih. “Developing College Students’ Critical Thinking through Reflective Writing.” Higher Education Research and Development (2022): 1-16.

Writing Tip

Focus on Reflecting, Not on Describing

Minimal time and effort should be spent describing the course content you are asked to reflect upon. The purpose of a reflection assignment is to introspectively contemplate your reactions to and feeling about an element of the course. D eflecting the focus away from your own feelings by concentrating on describing the course content can happen particularly if "talking about yourself" [i.e., reflecting] makes you uncomfortable or it is intimidating. However, the intent of reflective writing is to overcome these inhibitions so as to maximize the benefits of introspectively assessing your learning experiences. Keep in mind that, if it is relevant, your feelings of discomfort could be a part of how you critically reflect on any challenges you had during the course [e.g., you realize this discomfort inhibited your willingness to ask questions during class, it fed into your propensity to procrastinate, or it made it difficult participating in groups].

Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; Reflection Paper . Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence, University of Arkansas.

Another Writing Tip

Helpful Videos about Reflective Writing

These two short videos succinctly describe how to approach a reflective writing assignment. They are produced by the Academic Skills department at the University of Melbourne and the Skills Team of the University of Hull, respectively.

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Eberly Center

Teaching excellence & educational innovation, instructor: marsha lovett course: 85-392: human expertise, psychology department, college of humanities and social sciences assessment: reading reflection exercise to prepare for class discussion.

Although almost all of the students in this course are upper-level psychology majors, they still have difficulty completing the reading by the due date and in a way that prepares them for class discussion. I also was not able to assess the quality of their reading other than their contributions to class discussions; this was an issue for students who were not comfortable participating in class for a variety of potential reasons. Knowing how effectively students had read would help me give positive feedback to prepared students and give constructive feedback to students who had difficulty with the readings.

Implementation:

I created a three- to four-question reading reflection for each reading in the course. Two questions appeared in every reading reflection and asked students (1) to state the reading’s main point and (2) to identify a strength or weakness in the reading. The other one or two questions focused on specific aspects of the reading. Students wrote one-page responses to these questions, which they could refer to during class discussion and handed in at the end of class. I gave brief written feedback on these responses and scored them as check-minus, check, or check-plus; the reading reflections collectively counted for a small percentage of the final course grade.

Students’ performance on the reading reflections was consistently satisfactory or above. Students came to class much more prepared with ideas and reflections to share. Also, if many students showed a misconception or difficulty in the reading reflections that had not arisen during class discussion, I could address it in the following class period.

I was not sure whether the students would need to continue to submit these reading reflections for the entire semester. At mid-semester, I asked for students’ anonymous feedback on if the reading reflections were still helpful or had become unnecessary. All of the students responded that they wanted to continue the reading reflections because it structured their preparation for class and gave them extra incentive to do so effectively.

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HONS 250 Class Blog

Reading reflection #10: overcoming obstacles to critical thinking (4/20).

Based on your reading of ARQ chapter 12: “What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible?”, respond to the following prompts:

• Summarize your understanding of dichotomous (also called black and white) thinking. Provide an example of a well-known social issue in which this type of thinking is often used.
• According to ARQ , what are some dangers of dichotomous thinking? How does “grey thinking” and using “if-clauses” enable you to find the best possible solution to an issue or problem?

Self Reflection

• Based on the readings, discussions, and assignments you’ve completed for HONS 250, describe how your thinking has changed since the beginning of the semester.
• What have you learned about yourself as a result of taking HONS 250?
• What are some ways you will continue practicing your critical thinking skills beyond this semester?

Reading Reflection #9: Rival Causes and Statistics (due 4/13)

To complete this reading reflection assignment, (1) Go to your personal blog, (2) Click on New -> Post, (3) Title the post  Reading Reflection #9: Rival Causes and Statistics , (4) Select the Category box for Reading Reflection Assignments , and (5) Add a few descriptive tags. Remember to respond to all prompts below.

A. Based on your reading of ARQ chapter 9, “Are There Rival Causes?,” respond to the following prompts:

• What are rival causes and when how should you look for them (what questions should you use to find them)?
• Explain the difference between causation and association/correlation. Which is more difficult to demonstrate and why?
• Identify the conclusion and reason (cause) for the conclusion in the following passage. Name two potential rival causes (other possible causes) for the conclusion other than the one given.

Increased amounts of germs and bacteria on college campuses cause higher rates of illness in college students. College students are less likely to sanitize living areas and common areas on campus, which in turn creates excessive germs on surfaces and in the air leading to more sickness in students.

• Conclusion:
• Reason/cause:
• Rival (other possible) causes:
• Evaluation (How strong is the original argument? What’s missing?):

B. Based on your reading of ARQ chapter 10, “Are Any Statistics Deceptive?”, summarize how the following types of statistics can be deceptive. What are some strategies you can use to determine how reliable each type is?

• Unknowable and biased statistics
• Confusing averages
• Measurement errors
• Concluding one thing, proving another
• Deceiving by omitting information

C. Read the following passage. Identify the conclusion, and reasons, and evaluate the evidence (in this case the statistics) used to support the writer’s argument.

The home is becoming a more dangerous place to spend time. The number of home-related injuries is on the rise. In 2005, approximately 2300 children aged 14 and under died from accidents in the home. Also, 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs each year. To make matters worse, even television, a relatively safe household appliance, is becoming dangerous. In fact, 42,000 people are injured by televisions and television stands each year. With so many accidents in the home, perhaps people need to start spending more time outdoors.

• Reasons/causes:
• Evaluate the evidence (the statistics):

Reading Reflection #8: Evidence Part 2 (due 4/6)

Based on your reading of ARQ chapter 8, “How Good is the Evidence: Personal Observation and Research Studies?,” respond to the following prompts:

• Briefly describe the scientific method (you may have to Google it). What are the main characteristics of the scientific method, as mentioned in this chapter, that contribute to the reliability and dependability of research data and results?
• What are some ways that surveys or questionnaires can be unreliable? What are some things to look for to verify the reliability of survey information?
• What are some pros and cons of research studies? Explain how some research findings can be problematic.
• What are three questions you can use to evaluate research studies? Where (in an article) should you look to find answers to these questions?
• Find a scholarly, peer-reviewed research article to use for Short Formal Assignment 4: Scholarly Article Analysis. Skim through the article to prepare for Assignment 4. Write (or copy and paste) the APA citation for the article here.

Reading Reflection #7: Evidence Part 1 (due 3/17)

To complete this reading reflection assignment, (1) Go to your personal blog, (2) Click on New -> Post, (3) Title the post  Reading Reflection #7: Evidence Part 1 , (4) Select the Category box for Reading Reflection Assignments , and (5) Add a few descriptive tags. Remember to respond to all three prompts below.

Based on your reading of ARQ chapter 7, “The Worth of Personal Experience, Case Examples, Testimonials, and Statements of Authority as Evidence,” respond to the following prompts:

• In class we have been working on identifying arguments in written material. You’ll remember that an argument must have both a conclusion and reasons. The next step in evaluating information critically is looking for the evidence that supports the reasons. Summarize, in your own words, the textbook’s definition of evidence (don’t forget to provide an in-text citation).
• Provide a brief definition of each of the four different types of evidence discussed in this chapter (personal experience, case examples, testimonials, and appeals to authority). What is a strength and a potential problem with the validity and/or reliability of each of the four types of evidence?
• Go to www.theconversation.com , www.theatlantic.com , or quillette.com and look for an article that uses one of the four types of evidence discussed in this chapter. Briefly summarize the article and describe the evidence the author provides. How reliable do you think the evidence is, given the topic of the article, and why? Include an APA citation for the article (hint, the publication/journal title is The Conversation , The Atlantic, or Quillette ).

Reading Reflection #6: Logical Fallacies (due 3/3)

Based on your reading of ARQ chapter 6, “Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning?,” respond to the following prompts:

• Which of the fallacies described in this chapter have you heard/seen used the most often? In what kind of situations have you heard the fallacy used?
• Describe a time when you may have used one of these fallacies (either consciously or subconsciously) to argue your point of view. How did the person you were talking with respond?
• Identify the fallacies in the following passage:

There has been a dangerous trend of states’ legalizing gay marriage as of late. It’s apparent that the gay agenda has infiltrated the legislative bodies of these states and has influenced the legislatures into passing laws that allow gay marriage. The liberal media and its glorification of gay marriage have certainly played a part as well. These laws destroy the traditional morals of this great nation.

Despite the trend, several politicians still agree that gay marriage is an affront to America’s traditions and values. If America allows gay marriage, it’s only a matter of time before this nation allows other nontraditional relationships, such as polygamy or incest. Marriage has always been a sacred institution between a man and a woman and should remain that way. Otherwise, it’s inevitable that the morals of the American people will fall by the wayside.

Fraternity members who hold college parties are unfairly depicted in the media because of overreactions to a few cases where fights or sexual assaults have occurred at a fraternity party. Only an idiot would ban fraternity parties on campus. Most of the complaints about fraternity parties come from antisocial loners, people who hate parties in the first place. I’ve held several fraternity parties with alcohol available and nothing has ever gone wrong. Clearly placing some kind of ban or regulation on fraternity parties on campus would be a pointless action. I have seen other parties off campus that were not held by fraternities where assaults happened. Once administrators ban fraternity parties, their next step will be to ban any sort of social event on campus where alcohol is permitted.

• Choose one of the passages above and make three suggestions for how the argument could be stronger.

Reading Reflection #5: Census 2020 (due 3/3)

To complete this reading reflection assignment, (1) Go to your personal blog, (2) Click on New -> Post, (3) Title the post  Reading Reflection #5: Census 2020 , (4) Select the Category box for  Reading Reflection Assignments , and (5) Add a few descriptive tags. Remember to respond to all prompts below.

Based on your attendance at the Census 2020 Campus & Community Discussion on February 25, respond to the following prompts:

• Why is it important to be counted in the census?
• Who are often uncounted in the census? Why might some people wish not to be counted? What are some personal and societal impacts of not being counted?
• What is one new thing you learned during the session?
• Describe one of your passions (i.e. something important to you) and how it connects with federal or state funding.

Reading Reflection #4: Ambiguity and Assumptions (due 2/27)

Based on your reading of the ARQ chapter 4, “What Words or Phrases are Ambiguous?,” respond to the following prompts:

• How does the book define “ambiguity” and why is it important to identify any ambiguous terms before evaluating an argument?
• Why are dictionary definitions of key terms and phrases used in an argument often not sufficiently helpful in determining their meaning?
• ARQ stresses that not all ambiguous terms or phrases are equally important. How do you determine which ones are the most important to identify?

Based on your reading of the ARQ chapter 5, “What Are the Value and Descriptive Assumptions?,” respond to the following prompts:

• How do value and descriptive assumptions differ?
• Why is it important for people to be aware of what values they and others are assuming (a.k.a. of their value assumptions) when they argue about a social issue? Provide an example.
• Why do so few experts (such as politicians, scientists, professors, and television pundits) make value priorities explicit? Should individuals expressing their opinions on a social controversy make their value priorities explicit? Why should or shouldn’t they?
• Look at the table of “Typical Value Conflict and Sample Controversies” on page 57 of ARQ . Try to think of one more to add to this list, and an example of when the two values conflict. Write it down here and be prepared to share it in class.

Topic Suggestions for Course Readings

For the rest of the semester, we will be critically analyzing articles and other readings. To make these readings engaging and relevant to your interests, please recommend at least two topics that we can explore as a class . Controversial and current issue topics work best for the work we’ll do in class.

If you come across a specific article that your want to share, please provide a link here as well.

Reading Reflection #3: Issues, Conclusions, and Reasons (due 2/18)

Based on your reading of ARQ chapter 2, “What Are the Issue and the Conclusion?,” respond to the following prompts:

• In order to figure out how reliable a person’s reasoning is, you must first be able to identify the issue they are presenting. What are the two primary types of issues discusses in the book? How can you tell the difference between these two types of issues?
• You must also be able to identify the conclusion that the person is presenting. What are some questions you can ask yourself to try to determine the author’s conclusion? Describe the clues to can help you locate the conclusion.

Based on your reading of ARQ chapter 3, “What Are the Reasons?,” respond to the following prompts:

• How does the book define an argument? What are the necessary components of an argument? What are some characteristics of an argument?
• What is the main question to ask yourself when you’re trying to find an author’s reasons that support a particular conclusion? What are some indicator words (words that suggest a reason) to look for?

Read the article, “ How ‘Intellectual Humility’ Can Make You a Better Person .”

• Identify (a) the overall issue discussed, (b) the author’s conclusion, and (c) the author’s reasons that explain why we should believe the conclusion.

Reading Reflection #2: Implicit Bias and Race (due 1/23)

Based on your reading of “ Trouble in Mind: To Be Black Is Blue in America ” by IBé [link in D2L] , answer the following questions:

• What was your emotional response when you read about IBé’s experiences as a Black man in St. Cloud? What personal experiences of your own can you connect or compare to those he describes?
• On page 74, IBé shares his thought process when he encounters microaggressions or discrimination. He then quotes James Baldwin as saying, “To be black and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.” IBé adds, “Even if you are not raging mad, you may be losing your mind. In other words, trouble in mind.” What do you think he means by this?

Based on your viewing of Microaggressions in the Classroom , answer the following questions:

• Describe a time you witnessed or experienced a microaggression, in the classroom or within another group experience (if you can’t think of one you’ve experienced personally, describe one you’ve seen in a movie, etc.). What happened? How was it addressed (or not addressed)? How did people react? How did it make you feel?
• How important do you think it is for students to feel a sense of belonging within the classroom and within the university? How can feeling like you belong and are welcome affect one’s ability to do well and succeed?

Based on your reading of “ Do Conversations About Race Belong in the Classroom? ,” respond to the following questions:

• How diverse was your high school? If you identify as white, how much did you talk or think about what it means to be white in the United States? If you didn’t talk or think about being white, do you think that was itself a privilege? If you identify as a Person of Color, Latinx, or Indigenous, how has whiteness been visible to you?
• Do you think conversations about race should happen in school? Why or why not (please answer thoughtfully)?