Reflective Essay Prompt
Directions:
This semester, you have done a great deal of reading, challenged your thinking, written
numerous essays, and participated in a collaborative, academic community. In this final writing
piece for your portfolio, you are required to reflect upon the entirety of this experience and
assess your growth as a reader, writer, and student. How have you grown or changed? Be
specific! This reflective essay should not only be thoughtful in content, but it should also
demonstrate the ability to make a point, organize your ideas, and support them with evidence.
Your reflective essay should be 2-3 pages in length, double spaced. You are encouraged to
utilize the Writing Center or Tutoring Center. This essay should represent some of your strongest
writing of the semester, since it will be evaluated as part of your final portfolio.
In your paper, answer the following question:
How have you grown as a student of English this term?
Use the following brainstorming questions to help generate ideas for your paper:
Reading and Thinking
ˆow has your reading improved this term? Think about your comprehension and analysis of
a text, your vocabulary development, and your confidence and motivation to read.
—hat are your strengths as a reader?
—hat are your weaknesses as a reader? How do you feel that you can improve upon these
weaknesses after this course?
Writing and Thinking
ˆow does your end-of-semester writing compare with writing from earlier in the semester?
—hat have you learned about your own writing process?
—hat are your strengths as a writer?
—hat are your weaknesses as a writer? How do you feel that you can improve upon these
weaknesses after this course?
Being a Student
ˆow have you grown as a student over the term? Are you more prepared, participatory,
confident, comfortable, motivated, focused, or simply on time?
‰f yes, what helped you? If no, what were the barriers for you?
re you excited to continue learning?
Introduction/Conclusion:
Here are ideas for your introduction (you probably only want to pick ONE of the below). You
can also return to the same idea in your conclusion.
•
•
Talk about your expectations for college and whether or not the reality was similar to
your expectations.
Talk about your reasons for coming to college.
Talk about your experience on the first day(s) of class.
Talk about your experiences in high school and how they did/didn’t prepare you for
college.
These last four bullet points are ONLY good for the introduction/conclusion, NOT the
body of the paper. The body of the paper cannot talk about these points!

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