Help for Your Reflective

Look Here First

Every argument benefits from details, and I shouldn’t have to tell you your Self-Reflective Statement is an argument. Here’s an example of a “perfectly fine” entry in a sample Statement, plus a version enhanced with details. One won’t hurt your Portfolio much. The other could help it considerably.

Original. We have no idea what the author of this paragraph chose for her thesis, cannot focus on her vague assertions, and can’t evaluate whether any valuable lessons were learned.

Gathering and analyzing information helped me tremendously. I gained astronomical amounts of knowledge by reading various sources (via online, books, journals, etc.) on my topic. The best example of this is my Rebuttal Rewrite. In the beginning, I’ll admit that I was very narrow minded in my argument. I received constructive criticism from professor Hodges on my rough draft which allowed me to see the other side of my argument. I gathered as much information as I could on both sides of the argument. There were various scholarly sources to choose from that supported my thesis. This information allowed me to fully understand both sides of the argument before I started writing. It made my argument stronger when I fully understood both sides of the argument, and then presented a rebuttal proving there was a stronger side.

With Details. We may agree or disagree with the author’s conclusions, but we get a much better sense of the challenges she faced and overcame.

Gathering and analyzing information helped me tremendously. I gained astronomical amounts of knowledge by reading various sources (via online, books, journals, etc.) on my topic. The best example of this is my Rebuttal Rewrite. In the beginning, I’ll admit that I was convinced that electric cars were environmentally superior in every way to gasoline engine cars. I received constructive criticism from professor Hodges on my rough draft which allowed me to see the drawbacks of running cars on electricity. Once I investigated the environmental costs of producing enough electricity to convert millions of cars to electric, it was obvious e-cars aren’t as green as I had believed. There were various scholarly sources to support both my original thesis and some alternatives. I nonetheless concluded that electric cars are superior, but understanding the drawbacks strengthened my argument by helping me anticipate objections and refute them.