| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Reflective Analytical Essay

Page history last edited by Michael Kuhne 1 year, 10 months ago

Background

Far back in the dim recesses of the semester, the Feature Article Analysis assignment announced:

 

For the rest of semester, we will continue to think about how Wikipedia works.


To do this, we will

  • study the conventions and expectations of Wikipedia
  • write in Wikipedia
  • reflect on this knowledge and experience and draw conclusions


The goals for this process are

  • to write in different styles (arguing and informing)
  • to write in different platforms (class wiki and Wikipedia)
  • to understand and negotiate the different purposes and audiences attached to these styles and platforms
  • to work in a collaborative writing environment and reflect on that environment


Now, as we near the end of the semester, we have

  • studied the conventions and expectations of Wikipedia
  • written in Wikipedia
  • written in different styles (arguing and informing)
  • written in different platforms (class wiki and Wikipedia)
  • attempted to understand and negotiate the different purposes and audiences attached to these styles and platforms
  • worked in collaborative environments (Wikipedia and the Wikipedia Article Collaboration pages)


The final activity of the semester is to analyze this knowledge and experience and draw conclusions

 

Task

Your task is to create a 1250-word (minimum-- not including Works Cited) essay.  Develop an argument about Wikipedia based on something your experience has taught you about Wikipedia.   Use a combination of your own experience and researched knowledge to build your argument.  The essay must be more specific and nuanced than an oversimplified pro- or con- position such as our initial Wikipedia and Social Change essays.

 

The essay must be analytical, but - in addition to textual forms of evidence - it must draw upon your experiences as a Wikipedian.   To be analytical means to take into consideration all that we have read, as well as all of the material provided by the Wikipedia pages.  To use your experience as evidence means to be very detailed and specific about how that experience supports your claims.  This is not a place, however, to rely on opinions and generalizations.  Expressions such as "I believe," "in my opinion," and "I think" often lead to simplistic opinions and generalities.  Instead,  it will be more effective to claim "My experience shows/proves . . . ."   

 

Structure

Lead--Your lead should introduce the topic and focus of the essay. 

 

Thesis--The thesis should clearly state your position. 

 

Body paragraphs--The body paragraphs will use the analytical body paragraph structure.  For evidence you can use information from class readings, D2L discussions, class essays, class peer responses, additional research, and your own experience working in Wikipedia.

 

Conclusion-- The conclusion should be more expansive than the previous essays.  At minimum, it should be two paragraphs long. The conclusion should both 1) summarize the essay's argument and explain how and why it is convincing and 2) express what the writer learned (e. g. surprises, insights, shifts in perspectives). One model for this conclusion would be to summarize in one paragraph and to express what the writer learned in another paragraph.

 

MLA documentation-- You will be evaluated on your ongoing improvement regarding not only MLA documentation - in-text citation, formatting, and Works Cited - but also framing the evidence (introducing the sources, using signal phrases, and labelling the citation form [summary, paraphrase, or direct quote]). 

 

MLA documentation

 

This one-page resource contains a multitude of MLA resources.

 

There are two features of citing sources that you'll want to learn.  The first is creating an accurate MLA Work Cited entry for every source that you use in an essay.  Follow this link to a helpful resource that will help you create MLA Work Cited entries.


Once you have created the Work Cited entry for a source, you will be ready to create the second feature you'll need to learn: follow this link to a helpful resource that will help you create MLA in-text citation.

 

Finally, Wikipedia has actually created its own resource for citing a Wikipedia article in MLA format.  Follow this link to a helpful resource that will help you create MLA-style Works Cited entries for Wikipedia article.

 

 

Samples

There are many, many nuanced positions to take about issues related to Wikipedia. Earlier in the semester we had read about censorship in Wikipedia, ethical questions raised by Wikipedia, Wikipedia's use as an educational tool, and the needs to change Wikipedia policies in light of the messiness of democracy.  There are also questions about other Wikipedia policies and about the technology of Wikipedia. Any argument related to Wikipedia is fair game in this assignment. Think about what you have learned about Wikipedia over the full course of the semester, what you have liked, what you have disliked, and what you believe the future of Wikipedia should be as you think of possible thesis statements for your final essay. Do not be hemmed in by our earlier discussions.

 

The following sample essays are not perfect, but they do show students working with interesting ideas about Wikipedia and its place in our world.  While each takes a slightly different approach, one common theme throughout is the focus on the writer's experience in Wikipedia.   Please take some time to review the samples; seeing how other students have navigated this writing task will prove invaluable as you draft your own essay.

 

 

Student Samples

A Two Way Mirror

What Changed My View to Wikipedia

Be Bold in Your Collaboration

Edit Addendum

 

Additional Resources

Grading rubric

 

Students must upload rough drafts and final drafts to this page.

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.