You will write three reflection essays that will demonstrate your understanding of key concepts in small group communication. These essays are moderate in length, ranging between 1200 and 1500 words per essay.

For each essay, you will respond to a series of questions about a small group topic. Your essay should address some or all of the questions depending on what you are being asked to do. These papers will require you to think about what is being asked and to be able to provide a detailed account of what you have learned or taken away from this particular topic, You are also expected to address the questions in a way that uses your own experiences to help demonstrate understanding.

These essays will be spread fairly evenly across the semester so that one will be due every month or so:

Follow the links above to find reflection essay questions and information. These same pages can also be found at the CRS 333 Assignments page. In addition,  visit the Assignments page on Blackboard to find the appropriate dropbox for each writing assignment.

These essays do not have to adhere to a specific organization but should be arranged in such a way that you can “tell the story” of each particular reflection question. Please use section headers to divide all significant parts of your essay.

These are the basic criteria for your writing project:

  • Your writing project should be between 1200-1500 words
  • You are not required to use sources to write this reflection paper but you should be prepared to cite in-text and on a References page any sources you deem necessary for your essay. Please consult with me for any guidance and questions.
  • Your writing should be in APA style, including correctly-placed in-text citations along with a separate References page that includes full citations of all sources used (only if needed)

Finally, this is the grading rubric. Each essay will be worth a maximum of 50 points. I will use this rubric that to review your and grade your writing.

  • Writing Quality (20 points)– What is the writing like? Do the sentences make interesting statements or ask pertinent questions? Do the sentences connect ideas together to form paragraphs that address a particular situation or concept? Do the paragraphs in the work lead the reader to some kind of outcome or conclusion? Also, are there spelling errors and/or punctuation problems? Are sentences structured correctly from a grammatical point of view?
  • Organization (12 points) – Is the work organized in a meaningful way that aids the reader in being able to follow along with what is written? Do paragraphs follow each other in a logical order? Are the structure elements arranged in a logical or meaningful order?
  • Content (10 points) – Does the work address the topic? Have you explained your beliefs about this topic by using something from your own background/experience?
  • Reflection Skill (5 points) – How skilled are you in turning inward to come up with ways that indicate your grasp of class concepts are sound? Do you provide adequate examples of your views/beliefs?
  • References/sources  (3 points) – (This criteria will be folded into Organization if no sources are used) Do the sources appear to be cited correctly in the References section? Are the sources properly cited in-text?