instructions
The WID Reflection Paper Assignment
We’re about to get “meta”!
metacognition, noun: awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes; higher-order thinking that enables understanding, analysis, and control of one’s cognitive processes, especially when engaged in learning
For this reflective and analytical paper assignment, students need to consider their own writing process, primarily thinking about and explaining the style choices they made when writing their WID papers.
Minimum Requirements Length: 4 full pages Sources: 1-3 sources
Required Outline:
- Begin your WID Reflection Paper by … briefly describing the discourse community you were trying to target in your WID paper (include the publication title—that is, the scholarly journal or the professional magazine that you were trying to write for) and b. briefly describing the subject/focus of your WID paper (you might draw on the info. you included in your WID paper abstract for this information) and c. ending with a clear, focused claim about your own writing process & style in the WID paper
- Use a subheading to indicate that this section of your paper will focus on the stylistic
qualities and writing conventions that you purposefully did follow (or at least attempted to follow) from your chosen publication. [Note: This section should include at least 3 body paragraphs, one for each writing style/convention being discussed.]
- What conventions & stylistic qualities from your chosen scholarly journal or professional magazine did you imitate? **Give an example from your WID paper for at least THREE specific writing conventions/stylistic qualities.**
- Why did you choose to imitate these particular conventions?
- How successful were you in writing for your chosen discourse community and how do you know?
III. Use a subheading to indicate that this section of your paper will focus on the stylistic
qualities and writing conventions that you purposefully did not follow from your chosen publication. [Note: This section should include at least 2 body paragraphs, one for each writing style/convention being discussed.]
- What conventions & stylistic qualities from your chosen scholarly journal or professional magazine did you not mimic? **Give an example from your WID paper for at least TWO specific writing conventions/stylistic qualities you chose not to follow.**
- Why did you choose to not imitate these particular conventions? What considerations affected your decisions in this regard?
- Conclude the paper by reflecting on what you have learned from this whole process of (1) familiarizing yourself with the writing style and conventions of a scholarly journal or professional magazine in your field/discipline and (2) trying to mimic specific writing style qualities and conventions as you wrote your own academic paper.
- What have you learned about the scholarly/professional writing expectations for your discipline?
- Was mimicking the conventions of a publication in your field easier or harder than you thought it would be when I explained the WID assignment at the beginning of the semester? Why or why not? Explain your thoughts/feelings on this subject.
- Do you see any particular value in the WID module in English II? Do you think going through the process of “Writing in your Discipline” has helped you in some specific ways? Do you feel better prepared for the future writing you’ll have to do in your discipline? Why (in what specific ways?) or why not? Explain.
- Don’t forget a MLA works cited page or an APA reference page!
A Note about Citing Your Own Previous Work
Many of you will simply use your own previous work(s) as the source(s) in your WID Reflection Paper. This is absolutely acceptable but you need to make sure that you are citing your previous work(s) appropriately (in both in-text citations and end citations).
Here are two resources I found that explain why and how to cite your own previous work in both MLA and APA styles:
- http://libanswers.snhu.edu/faq/158884 · https://www.slideshare.net/khornberger/citing-yourself-citing-your-previous-work-in-mla-
or-apa-format
A Note about Using 1st-person and Tone
It is entirely appropriate to use first-person statements in this paper—you are writing a self- reflection, after all!
That said, while this reflective paper will likely have a more casual tone than other pieces of academic writing that you may have written in the past, you should still maintain an appropriate tone by avoiding slang, grammar errors, and profanity. 😉
A Final Note about Selecting Writing Style Qualities/Conventions to Analyze
You don’t need to “reinvent the wheel” when it comes to brainstorming potential style qualities/conventions to discuss in this paper. Think back to the qualities you originally analyzed in your Style Analysis Paper from Module 1 to get started with this. This also applies to your introductory description of your chosen publication’s discourse community—if you did a good job describing the discourse community in your Style Analysis Paper, then consider quoting yourself.