+1 862 207 3288 Self-Reflection Essay (3-5 pages)
Reflective writing means looking back at a process or event, analyzing it from multiple perspectives, and making a point about what it means to you as a person and ongoing learner.
This assignment requires you to write about how the process of reading a graphic narrative has unfolded for you over the course of the unit. As a class, we will be discussing two graphic narratives, Daniel Clowes’s Ghost World (1997) and Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (2000). You should choose one of these two texts as the subject of your study.
Purposes
1. To practice using multiple strategies of reading and to develop skills in critical analysis.
2. To identify and effectively use critical terminology relevant to the medium.
3. To practice revision (“seeing again”) as a necessary component of academic writing.
4. To make strategic writing decisions regarding language patterns, diction, and style that demonstrate your purpose and focus as a writer.
As a first step, you should record your reading process as you read the narrative outside of class. That is, you should take careful notes – recording your thoughts as you engage in the process of reading and rereading to make sense of the graphic narrative. For this exercise, please do what Ann E. Berthoff calls “noticing what you notice,” which is to say, record what you find interesting, troubling, or difficult about the text. This might include questions you ask yourself, observations you make about the images, references to critical terminology that we have discussed in class, or memories from your past that help you make connections.
After you have taken notes of your observations, the next step is to write at least two full pages documenting your reading process in a chronological first-person narrative. That means you should look back on your notes and write about your reading experience (What were your initial impressions? What strategies did you use to read critically or with an open mind? What images stuck out to you?). This step should not be overly difficult because all that is required is to write a clear and chronological explanation of your reading experience. You will turn in a hard copy of this document at the beginning of class on Friday, February 7.
As a final step, you will write an analysis of your narrative by reflecting on your reading process and drawing conclusions about why this reading experience matters to you. Be sure that this analysis includes fully developed, specific ideas about your reading experience. For example, instead of writing that you had asked yourself questions, you should be sure to include the questions you asked as well as explaining what types of questions they were and what particular purpose they served. This final self-reflection essay should be three to five pages in length of written text and will be due in hard copy form at the beginning of class on Friday, February 21.
Writing Advice
Self-reflective writing means that you are taking a subjective position, and therefore it’s best to use first-person narrative style in the final draft. That is to say, you should use “I” in your writing because it will help you to clarify and assert your most insightful ideas about the experience.
Even though self-reflective writing might look like a story, you should strategically plan and structure your paper by making rhetorical decisions: clarify your purpose in writing the essay; demonstrate an understanding of your audience; and build toward a main point. At the end of the paper, you should avoid summarizing what you have already written. Instead, offer a concluding point that clarifies why your paper is important.
Think of your immediate audience as your peers in the classroom because, having engaged in the same readings and assignments, they are well informed on the same topic as you.
Further Requirements
As a class, we will read Scott McCloud’s seminal work on sequential art, Understanding Comics, because it will help you to identify structural and visual elements of the graphic narrative. Therefore, you should quote, cite, and document McCloud’s work in your final draft as a way to demonstrate how others influence your reading process. You are required to cite and document your graphic narrative as well as Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics using MLA style. Parenthetical citations follow quotes and paraphrases. Documentation refers to the works cited section at the end of your paper. See Penguin Handbook pp. 248 for an example.
In addition to quotations, you have to include in your essay at least one picture or panel from the graphic narrative. That means you should use the library computers and adobe acrobat or another editing software program to scan important passages, edit the most appropriate image(s), and paste the image or images in the body or appendix of your essay. You should refer to the image [Figure 1] in the body of your writing (like I am doing here) as well as below the image in order to clarify which particular image or passage corresponds with your writing.
Figure 1: This image can be found on pp. 102 of Persepolis.
We will hold mandatory individual conferences in lieu of class during the week Feb 10-14. You should come prepared to the conference with relevant questions about your paper.
Schedule:
Wednesday, Jan 22 – Syllabus
Friday, Jan 24 – Assignment and Reflective Essay Example **on Blackboard**
Monday, Jan 27 – Understanding Comics, Chapters 1-2; Ghost World, pp. 9 – 20
Wednesday, Jan 29 – Understanding Comics, Chapter 3; Ghost World, pp. 21 – 46
Friday, Jan 31 – Understanding Comics, Chapter 4; Ghost World, pp. 47 – 80
Monday, Feb 3 – Jimmy Corrigan, pp. 1 – 100 (note: pp. 2 includes, “Jimmy, come on!”)
Wednesday, Feb 5 – Jimmy Corrigan, pp. 101 – 200 (pp. 101 begins, “A chill morning in April”)
Friday, Feb 7 – Jimmy Corrigan, pp. 201 to end; Homework due – Two full pages of narrative
Monday, Feb 10 – Conferences – No Class
Wednesday, Feb 12 – Conf’s – No Class
Friday, Feb 14 – Conf’s – No Class
Monday, Feb 17 – Drafting day in EGARC Computer Lab (4074 Wescoe)
Wednesday, Feb 19 – Drafting day in EGARC Computer Lab (4074 Wescoe)
Friday, Feb 21 – Final draft is due in class, Introduction to Unit Two
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