College students often write reflective essays to explore their ideas about a particular text or a piece of writing and to express their opinion as opposed to summarizing other people’s opinions. Reflective writing not only helps students to improve their skills but also enables them to learn how to express what they think and the reasons behind those thoughts. Due to the importance of writing a reflection paper that allows a learner to express one’s views, validate one’s points and provide a personal insight, this paper explores essays prepared by two students to offer positive criticism. An in-depth assessment of both works reveals critical loopholes that challenge the effectiveness of the pieces of writing. Besides both papers lacking thesis statements, writer A does not explain what she has learned while Writer B fails to include an introduction and conclusion. The comments provided in response to the two essays seek to enhance the students’ understanding of the significance of crafting effective reflection papers that communicate their ideas clearly.
Key words: reflection paper, thesis statement, essay introduction, conclusion.
Teaching Grammar
Writer A
Writer A provides own insights and opinions about various learning and reading techniques but excludes a thesis statement that would allow readers to understand the direction of the reflection paper. The omission of the statement from the essay not only makes the writer fail to express the purpose or the central point of the essay but also denies her an opportunity to explain reasons the paper is vital and worth reading. What is more, the student fails to include critical details that show how she has interacted with Gibbons’ and Coelho’s works. As an illustration, the learner does not explain what she has learned from the books or different questions or concerns she raises after studying scaffolded techniques. Although she states that “scaffolded techniques are excellent”, she does not expound any new lesson she learns or how she plans to use the knowledge to improve her academic work. Therefore, whereas the writer provides personal insights and experiences, her failure to include a thesis statement and lessons learned significantly undermines the effectiveness of the paper.
In spite of the loopholes discussed in the previous section, the student acknowledges the ideas of the text consulted in writing the reflective essay. Citing the source (Coelho, p. 109-121) does not only demonstrate that the student is responsible, but it also allows readers to identify the text for reference. Markedly, the writer also quotes the source on which the paper is based to support her arguments and to discuss the subject. Moreover, the writer arranges the body paragraphs logically to ensure a smooth flow of information. The student also includes a conclusion that restates important points discussed in the paper. Hence, in addition to reflecting her opinion and summarizing critical ideas in the conclusion section, the writer appreciates the contribution of the texts’ authors in her work.
Writer B
The paper does not contain an introduction that would allow readers to gain a keen understanding of the main points to be explored in the body section. Instead, the writer begins the essay by discussing the details of the challenges English language learners face as discussed in a book by Pauline Gibbons. For this reason, the essay fails to entice a reader to continue reading due to the lack of a good first impression. Furthermore, similar to Writer A, Writer B fails to include a thesis statement in the paper. For this reason, the student does not organize the paper well by focusing on a particular central idea. The essay also does not contain a conclusion that would otherwise enable the writer to expand on her main idea. Therefore, the paper fails to demonstrate the direction it takes due to the exclusion of an introduction, thesis statement, and a conclusion.
The student provides her personal thoughts about Gibbons’ work and states critical lessons she learns after reading the book. In particular, the writer elaborates on her reaction to the theme of writing by stating that the text has enabled her to understand that people should write to express thoughts and emotions. Furthermore, the learner demonstrates how the text’s discussion about writing relates to her own experience. For instance, she notes that she was poor in writing when she arrived in Canada, but her skills improved due to practice and assistance from her instructors. Besides, the student cites sources used in the paper and includes important quotes to enhance the credibility of the paper and emphasize supportive evidence respectively. Hence, stating her insights and specifying lessons about her writing skills allow the writer to communicate what she feels about Gibbons’ work and how the book has improved her education.
