Orientating the Self in Academia: Strategies for College Success EDUC 101

As part of your Assignment # 1, you will write a personal reflecti on essay of about 350 -400 words where

you need to critically examine a past academic /personal/work experience to reflect, think, and explain

what you ha ve experienced to learn one specific strategy to be successful/ OR a strategy that you used but

didn’t work out . The experience might happen any of your educational institutions or elsewhere but

related to your academ ic life. Demonstrate and describe your feelings and emotions that you felt during

the time and analyse how and why your experience has affected your interpretation of a life skill /strategy

that you have learnt out of it. Through this reflection, you will b e able to explore the meaning and growth

of your life. Do you find any similarities or differences between your life before and after this experience?

Your Introduction should begin with a great ‘hook ’ to grab the attention of your readers from the very

beginning . Then provide enough background information without giving much away or you risk your

reader becoming disinterested in your story . You must portray the exciting aspects of your story so that

you stand the best chances of holding your readers ’ interest. It is part of your responsibility to bring as

much information as possible to make your subject real and believable to your readers. You need to really

aim at engaging your readers/target audience. At the end of this introductory paragraph, pro vide a quick

overview of the reflective topic as your thesis. As you all know, t he thesis statement is a summary of the

focus of the essay, which in this case is the experience that influenced you learning a strategy

significantly.

In your first body parag raph, move into the flesh of your paper by describing your experience: when did it

happen , who else were involved with you, and exactly what happened . Write down everything you can

remember about it, describ e it as clearly and fully as possible in chronolo gical order in a timeline . This

will prevent you from providing a haphazard recollection of your experience. Keep your five senses in

mind as you do this and be sure to use adjectives to describe your experience. Also note that in this essay

you will not just recount your experience, but also explore how you have changed or learned from that

experience. Therefore, the aftermath of the experience is especially more important than simply telling the

story in your first body paragraph .

Your second body paragraph should contain appropriate critique and reflection (no more story telling) .

Therefore, dig deep into the experience to look neutrally at your thoughts, fe elings, emotions, and actions

and to question your very being as to why you felt that way . How was your emotional state at that

moment and do you feel any sympathy or empathy with any of the characters involved? Through this

practice, you will be able to l ook at yourself with interest and curiosity .

In the last body paragraph, you need to reflect more on your experience by showing how it influenced

your certain behaviours and how your life has been particularly changed as a result of using that strategy .

W hat understanding you have gained about yourself and your behaviours. The emphasis should generally

be on reflection as opposed to summation. A reflective posture will not only provide your readers with

insight into your experience, but also highlight your personality and ability to deal with or adopt to

situations .

In the c onclusion of your essay, you should focus on bringing your pieces together by providing a

summary of the points you have made throughout your essay, and what you have learnt as a result (use

“return sentence”) . Try to include a few points on why and how yo ur attitudes and behaviours have been

changed , and how the lesson learnt may help you taking better decisions in the future. Consider also how

your character and skills have been affected, for example: what conclusions can be drawn about your

problem -solvi ng skills? What can be concluded about your approach to specific situations in the future?

What steps have you taken to consolidate everything that you have learned from your experience? You do not need any MLA citation/reference for this assignment but fo llow basic MLA writing format.

Due date and marking rubric for this assignment will be posted on the assignment submission section

soon. Start working /thinking on this assignment, and if you have any questions, send an email/ text

message in MyCC or ask me in your next class.

Good luck!