English 201: Reflective Response on Academic Writing and Pop Culture

This reflective essay, written for an English 201 course, examines the student's development as a writer and thinker throughout the quarter. The essay addresses key aspects of the course, including the analysis of popular culture through rhetorical critique and research. It reflects on the student's initial relationship with academic writing, how it evolved through course concepts, discussions, and peer workshops, and the impact of these experiences on their skills. The essay assesses learning outcomes related to research, writing, and understanding of popular culture. Furthermore, it delves into the student's chosen research topic, its significance, and the insights gained from peer interactions and the final project. The student reflects on their accomplishments, areas for improvement, and contributions to class activities, highlighting the tools and knowledge acquired from the course. The essay concludes with a discussion of the student's takeaways from the course and their plans for future writing endeavors.

Basic Expectations: • Academic Reflective Essay or Letter Format: For the reflective
assignment, you can choose to write your content in academic reflective essay format, or you can
write an academic reflective letter. Your reflective essay/letter must address all of the questions
below (should be written in academic paragraph formatting, not bulleted or outlined form) •
Length: Your essay/letter must be at least 4 full double spaced pages, 12-point font with 1”
margins • Audience: You should write your essay or letter for a scholarly audience. Writing
should be academic and professional. If you choose to write a letter, you can select an academic
or professional audience of your choice. Some examples could be: your current writing
instructor, a past writing instructor, a future English 201 student, and so on.
What information does the RR include? Your RR should reference class concepts that have
added to, or developed, your understanding of academic writing. Your RR should include
responses to the questions below, arranged in a focused, coherent essay or letter.
In this class, you have learned how to effectively analyze popular culture by learning how to
perform a rhetorical critique and by applying various theoretical perspectives. You have also
learned how to perform research and how to develop that research to produce an analytical
research essay which will add to an academic conversation. For this assignment, you will
evaluate how you developed over the quarter regarding your ability to participate in an engaging
scholarly discussion about pop culture. You will discuss what you learned and how you were
able to incorporate this into your participation in this course. 1. Reflection on Past: Think about
yourself as a thinker and a writer at the beginning of this quarter. What was your relationship
with academic writing a couple months ago? If applicable, reflect on how you’ve developed
since concluding English 101 as well. I also encourage you to review and reference your first
“Reflective Writing Prompt” submission! 2. Reflection on Present: Compare your relationship
now—how has it changed/developed? You should provide a thoughtful analysis about how and
why your understanding/relationship has changed. Think about the concepts you have learned,
the discussions/peer workshops we had, new habits or awareness developed, and so on. 3.
Learning Assessment: Reflect on what you learned throughout the reading, research, and writing
process that you completed in this class. How did your understanding about researching and
writing develop? What did you learn from completing the class readings? What new awareness
did you develop regarding popular culture? 4. Topic Assessment: What have you learned about
your topic? Why did you select it? Why was it important to be aware of? What do you plan to
keep thinking about regarding this topic? What did you learn from your peers? 5. Final
Reflections: In your final project for this class, what are you proud of? What do you wish you
could have improved? Overall, what are you proud of accomplishing in this class? What have
you contributed to class activities and discussions that you are proud of? What do you plan to
take away from this course and what have you achieved?

What is the style and format of the RR? Since you are talking about your own work, the RR
will be written from the “I” perspective, but you will want to make your “I” authoritative. You
want to draw on specific knowledge that you have gained in this course to analyze your own
writing. Make sure you provide reasons and point to specific examples from your experiences.
English 201 Reflective Response Example
Dear Future English 102 Students,
You will be soon embarking on an intensive but extremely productive quarter of academic
conversation. Buckle down and get ready to read an array of essays, experts from books,
lectures, reviews and prose written by members of the academic community. Not just read these
pieces of writing, but analyze, annotate, connect and write about them in reflective thought as
well as respond to your peers’ posts. Make sure you pay attention throughout this process,
because it is all involved in a cumulative essay that you will research for, develop, tie in textual
evidence, and submit as your own contribution to the academic world. This class is challenging,
time intensive, demanding but very rewarding. You will come out of it a better writer and with
the tools to join and add valuable input to academic conversations. You will also glean
interesting information and read essays that will change the way you think about society, culture
and authority. Don't let me intimidate you though, because I know that you can do it!
At the beginning of this English adventure I was a minimalist writer. I did the least amount of
work possible to get a good grade. I recited the content of essays that I read rather than analyze
them. Even if I at times ventured into the terrain of analysis, I never thought that I would (or
even could) add any valuable information to any academic conversation! At the beginning of the
quarter I learned to annotate and critically read pieces of writings, which was the first vital step
in becoming an academic writer. We learned about inquiry; asking what is important about the
writing and questioning ideas rather than simply accepting them. These were the first two skills
that I learned in English 102 that broke my previous reading and writing habits. One very useful
aspect of these skills is that by reading critically and with an inquisitive mind, you are actually
beginning the writing process! The process of annotating and critically reading an essay is one
tool that I have been continually developing and utilizing throughout the quarter.
Eleven weeks after beginning this English class, it's easy to forget just how far I've come in
developing my reading and writing skills. We began the quarter learning how to critically read
and annotate our readings, which is truly the first step in the writing process. This is a tool that I
didn't utilize at the beginning of the quarter but one that I have slowly been honing in on.
Looking back on my Ways of Reading textbook, it is not at all difficult to figure out which
essays I have read for this course. Each reading is covered in marks, notes, annotations, circles
phrases, lines, stars, arrows; each little marks that I can come back to when it is time to write a
response or re scan the reading to begin my own writing. I can pull out sections more easily this
way to utilize them in textual evidence, remember thoughts and questions that I had at the time
of the reading and begin writing the outlines for my response in the margins. This tool has been
very helpful in utilizing the texts we read to the fullest extent. Not only do I interact with the
texts that I read differently now than at the beginning of the quarter, I also write differently. Tied

in with the tools of critically reading are utilizing textual evidence in my personal claims and
analysis'. I have learned how to use "citation sandwiches" and not just restate other's ideas, but to
use their quotations to support my own concepts. I feel that my ability to analyze and connect
concepts in different readings is strengthened greatly by these tools.
Another way that my writing has improved throughout the quarter is engaging in peer response
and discussion. Each post you personally write, you will in addition respond to two of your peers
posts. At first, this task was forced and tedious. I would scan other's posts, restate a section of
their writing and say that I agreed with them or thought it was "interesting". As the quarter
developed I learned how to really engage with my peers writing, which in turn benefited my own
writing. Instead of simply restating my peers’ ideas and agreeing or not agreeing with their
statements, I would respond with ideas that their writing had sparked within me. By developing
responses that I had with my peers' writings I was actually making my own opinions more
complex and complete. My ideas would subsequently form new dimensions which would evolve
and strengthen my writing and arguments.
As I stated early, pay attention to the material and tools throughout the quarter, because it will be
vital to the finale of this class; the research paper. I utilized not only the analytical tools I learned
this quarter, but I also utilized text from some of the essays we read from the Ways of Reading
textbook to support my research essay. Not only is this a requirement of the final paper to use
textual evidence from 2-3 of the WR essays, but you will find that no matter what subject you
choose to write your essay on, there will be at least one essay in the textbook that holds valuable
information to develop and support your thesis. I found the readings incredibly useful. They not
only gave me textual support but also helped me evolve my thesis because they introduced
information regarding my subject that I had not thought of before. For example, I used Paulo
Freire's essay, "The Banking Concept of Education" in my essay about the importance of art and
creative process for the social evolvement of humans. His ideas were not only applicable to my
subject, but they also helped shape my thesis because he introduced concepts that had never
occurred to me and had changed the way I thought about education and the importance of the
creative process in education. Be prepared to keep your mind open and let your ideas evolve
because so much of the reading you will do in this course will introduce new ideas to you and
will most likely change some of the opinions that you currently hold.
My final essay evolved a great amount from the initial steps of the process or writing that I
started seven or eight weeks ago. As I was saying, the material we read changed my perspective
on my topic so I was constantly evolving and shifting my thesis and the arguments that supported
my thesis. I am proud of the evolution that my paper took. The process of revision and utilizing
my peers input helped my essay go through many "face lifts". It will be very important to keep
this in mind next quarter; revision is the key to a strong essay. Just as I experienced, the ideas
that you begin with in the writing process will probably be different from the ones that you end
up with. I found myself arguing with my own ideas and eventually developed them into a thesis
that, after learning many sides of a subject, I not only agree with but that I feel is my own
contribution to this academic conversation. I never would have thought that I could contribute
my own personally developed ideas into an academic community and I am proud that I have
done so with the completion of my research essay. If you apply yourself, let yourself develop
with the tools introduced in this class and keep an open mind to new ideas, I have no doubt that
you will write something that you will be proud of as well.
As I have said in this letter, if keep an open mind, work hard, complete your work on time and
let yourself become interested in the subject matter that you will learn in this course, you should

have a valuable experience in English 102. It isn't an easy class but if taken advantage fully of,
the tools you gain in this class will carry on into other English classes or, as I have found,
everyday life interactions and writings. My biggest advice is simply to do the work and take
advantage of the tools offered even if they aren't required. If you don't feel that you are presently
a strong writer, if you put in the time, do the work and take advantage of the tools available, you
will most definitely develop into a strong analytical writer. As they say, practice makes perfect
and the work in this class gives you plenty of time to develop your skills through practice so that
you can come out the other end a true academic writer.
Best of luck to you in your college experience and in this upcoming English class. I know that if
I can come out of this quarter an evolved English student and competent writer, then anyone can!
Sincerely,
Previous English 102 Student
My first “Reflective Writing Prompt” submission!
Writing is like making a meal. In order to prepare for an excellent one, we need to be aware of many
important things (e.g., heat, spices and salt). Moreover, we also need to keep track of the whole
process, unless the result would turn out as unexpected. On the other hand, it is also necessary to care
about the main ingredients such as punctuation, grammar, word choices in writing. Otherwise, the true
meaning of the context would drive the readers to be misunderstood. There is a saying that reading is
good for the soul, so is writing. Most people prefer reading to writing on a day-to-day basis. To be frank,
I have a love-and-hate relationship with writing. Most of the time, I write not exactly I am fond of, but
on account of doing class assignments. The first time I did academic writing was in the ENG101 class
which was way back in 2016. Sad to relate, I have barely used the methods that I learned from it since
then. When I was in Networking and Security classes in which I was obliged to write academic reports
specifically used in IT fields. I am reassured with transitional words and grammar, but I am weak in
making word choices and punctuation and analytical skills. My goal for this class is to experiment with
the reflective, analytical, rhetorical, evaluative skills which are necessary for writing a quality paper. To
improve my skills, I will definitely need to follow all the instructions given in the class and keep writing
not worrying about committing any mistakes. The things that I learn in this class would be tremendously
helpful for the time in a university. Besides that, they would steer me to be an influential thinker and
writer on preparing for a groundbreaking academic research/report papers which might result in good
impression not only for me but also for others in my career life.