Documenting: Reflection Statement (1 Viewer)

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anti

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How to write a Reflection Statement, what you should include:

Lazarus said:
The Reflection Statement:
<ul><li> summarises the intent of the work and the relationship it has with the extensive independent investigation
<li> must include an outline of the intended audience for the Major Work and the purpose for which it was composed
<li> supports the Major Work explaining the relationships of concept, structure, technical and language features and conventions
<li> should explain the development of concepts during the process of composition making the links clear between independent investigation and the development of the finished product
<li> should indicate how the student realised the concepts in the final product.
</ul>It will therefore call on information that has been presented in each of the other three tasks in terms of intent, work in progress during the process of investigation and composition, and on information contained in the final report. Responses from teachers and students to the three assessment tasks may assist students in formulating their reflection statement.

<div align=right><i>http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/english_ext2_qa_support.pdf</i></div>
You should aim to compose "a sophisticated and critical Reflection Statement that explains the intention, development and realisation of the Major Work", which "exhibits sophisticated and highly developed ability to articulate, monitor and reflect on processes of investigation, interpretation, analysis and composition." :)

ujuphleg said:
its basically what Laz said. its like your final journal entry too, just do what it says - reflect on your major work and the process which was involved in writing it.

oh and if you haven't mentioned at any point how the work relates to 2/3 Unit, then now is the time.

if you have a copy of Young Writers Showcase from any year at your school (if it isn't in the library, your extension teacher may have it) have a look at those, because they are the really really good ones....

pitted said:
yeah i'd suggest 3 drafts of the reflection statement at least.

i did my first one immediately after i finished my short story, it was really crap but i think it was the way to go. id also suggest that people should re-read their mw's before the second and third drafts as well as looking over your work journal.

also refer and quote from your own mw.

not sure about anything else
hope that helps though

pitted.

Monkey Butler said:
How you realised your concepts means how well you pulled off your idea. Say, if I wanted to write a crime story, but it really ended up being, I dunno, a love story, then I haven't really realised my concept very well have I? Or if I DID write a crime story, and it was just really shit, and didn't add anything to the genre or explore a new angle or whatever, then my concept wasn't fully realised either, it's only superficially realised.
 

Lhyviathan

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What is the word limit for the Reflection Statement?

The figure floating around in my head is 1,500 words, but I'm not sure if that's right.
 

ur_inner_child

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1500 is right. its a very adequete number. One of my teachers (who was a marker) said, any less would be inadequete, any more would bore them.

hahaha.

just do around 1500
 
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Just adding on to the above.

Your Reflection Statement, in a nutshell, is the last chance you'll have to talk directly to your audience. Make the most of it!

Yes there is a fair bit of criteria to fulfill, and you do need to do this, but you should also spend a fair bit of time thinking about what you'd like to say to your audience. Since I was absolutely paranoid about whether my audience would 'get' my work (or my concept, or reason for writing about it like I did) I spent quite a bit of time going into further detail about my major work, fleshing it out a bit more by giving the "behind the scenes" info (a bit like the director's commentaries you get on DVD's).

A good place to start is reading up on the criteria, and reading past reflection statements. There are a couple of different approaches - semi informal tone, hard-core condensed essay format, a "discussion" kind of mood. Do your research - look at the pros and cons of all the different approaches. For example - my personal writing style is intended to be somewhat conversational, informative, but always as accessible as I can make it. Unfortunately, I also take a lot longer to get to the point. My RS underwent a heck of a lot of editing and reworking in order to say everything I needed it to in the word limit I had! The end result wasn't really written in a typical "me" style, but I felt it was more important to focus on the content - so I did. That isn't to say this is the *right* way, but it's the way I approached it.

Another idea is to get other people to read your major work, and see what their comments are. They might say something like "oh, I wish I knew a bit more about blah blah blah" or "I didn't really get that bit... why did you do it?". Your reflection statement is your opportunity to answer these questions, to go into more detail, to say anything else you feel you really need to. I had a lot of random lines I wrote at the beginning of the year that I loved and fit into the theme of my work, but not into the major work itself. However, they made it into the RS ;)

For anyone really stuck - approach all the criteria dot points one by one. Some of them might seem really stupid (especially the links to EE1 and Adv Eng), others you'll want to write pages on. You can always rework it later (provided you leave enough time for this) to flow smoothly later.

And remember: you only have 1500 words and will probably have to do quite a fair bit of condensing - don't give into ee1 waffle tendancies! It takes up valuable word space!

This is another reason not to leave it to the last minute :) Good luck guys!
 
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Hello again my ducks,

At kami's suggestion, here are three of my RS drafts (I did about 6 in total) for you to look at. Draft 1 is so incomplete and scattered it's not worth reading, and Draft 2 is also incomplete (but more readable). However, it may give you an idea of how to start (not to mention how much I had to condense) and *one* of the ways to approach the RS. There *may* in fact be spelling errors in the final draft, but I'll give them to you anyway ;)

My personal focuses were explaining my concept and underlying messages/themes, so you'll notice me talking about them a lot. Remember: This is not the only way it can be done! A lot of other people will talk about their research, their inspiration etc etc - whatever is most important to you and your major work.

In kami's own words, here is a brief synopsis: "2 was a blueprint to the syllabus, 4 was workable, and 6 was where you had polished"

*will reflect on my RS drafts later
**Thanks to illodous for pdf conversions
PS: Other past students, please feel free to add your own RS drafts/final copy! Variety is the spice of life! :)
 
J

jhakka

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Just to add onto Lynn's comments.


I don't mean to stress you out, but I think that the Reflection Statement is the toughest component of this course, apart from the major work itself. It's right up there with the Report in difficulty, mainly because you have to get a hell of a lot more in, in just as many or less words. Not only that, but with five dot points to address and no specific question, this is a very tough response to write, especially at this stage in the game where many are still struggling to get a final copy of their major work done.

Addressing the dot points:
There are five syllabus points that are listed in the first post of this thread, and you must address all of them. Each is just as important as the others, so don't focus mainly on the research aspect, for example, while only vaguely mentioning the intended audience. It just won't do. That's not to say you can't write more on one than the other, but there needs to be a decent amount of writing on each so that the marker cannot possibly believe that you have missed or didn't focus enough on any.

Because this statement is split into five points of examination, you should work out what you want to say about each before you try and make a lovely integrated response that doesn't even need a reworking (trust me, every response needs at least three reworkings). I would suggest starting a blank page for each dot point, writing it up the top in bold, italics or underlined, or any combination of the three. Try and write two or three decent paragraphs on each dot point (about 100 words per paragraph). Don't worry about structure at this point. Just get straight into it. You don't need introductions here.

If you can manage two or three paragraphs for each point, then you at least know what information you intend to cover in your Reflection Statement, and then you can pick and choose the most important stuff, and get rid of all the bullshit you added to fill up the 1000-1500 words I just told you to write.

Structure:

Ok, so I've gotten you to write 1000-1500 words, which is pretty close to, or right on, the word limit. But don't sweat. As I said, you have to cut out all the bullshit, and put in (and expand on) the important stuff. Most of the stuff you wrote in that first stage will be crap, or just be repeating itself or something from the other points, so cutting down should be relatively easy.

The hard part is making your Reflection Statement flow. And trust me, if you use what you wrote before, the transition between paragraphs will be jarring and nasty. The important thing is making your points link to each other and your major work. For example, you can relate your research to your intended audience by commenting on how you have examined texts for particular audiences, and link to your work by showing how it works in your story/response/whatever.

A good way to start your Reflection Statement, and end it for that matter, is to give an overview of how the criteria to for the Reflection Statement have influenced the development of your work, your knowledge and understanding of the composing process. It doesn't hurt to be a bit sucky-uppy, though don't take it too far. They will know.

After that, its a matter of going where your head leads you. If your research seems like the most relevant place to start, then start there. It doesn't matter. If you want to give an overview of the intent of your work, and how it links to the plot/focus, then do that. It's your call. Everyone takes a different path to this, so no one will have the same material to work off. That means that your Reflection Statement will not have the same structure as your friend's. Don't worry about it.

Remember that you don't have to examine everything about each of the criteria. Just an overview of how it fits. Specific examples from your work are always good for supporting your comments, but you don't have to list every instance of how your work justifies your audience.

My main issue with the Reflection Statement is how it flows, and it's not easy to get a smooth one, but if you at least know what you want to say, saying it right will (hopefully) come through experimentation with different styles, approaches and even content.

Good luck, guys. Get this done, and you're clear.
-Justin
 

tRiXsTa

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hmm

You guys were right when you said writing the reflection statment was the (or one of the) most difficult parts of the EE2 journey. I'm finding it exremely difficult to annalyse my own work...Regretably i wrote it without concepts or even techniques in mind... i got carried away...and now... well ...*crosses fingers* lets hope i can evaluate my own work with some sort of textual integrity
 

666_blessings

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The reflection is the hardest bit of the ee2 course. Even harder than the actual major because it's nowhere near as interesting.
 

tRiXsTa

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i'm sorry

umm i know everyone is probably sick to death about hearing this.... but i still dont quite understand what 'concepts' are... is it the sort of 'hidden meanings' within your text eg. the importance of family relationships, or trying to depict the causes that sometimes lead to alienation...?
any help would be greatly appreciated...
 

katesaurus

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hmm.. im kinda screwed. hahaha

just realised my mw is titled pieces of me as well... and it explores similar concepts to that of thingy maboby from last year..
is that bad?

i only just realised when i clicked on her reflective statement though

should i change my title?

well you know.. i could write another story..
its only due in what.. 2 days? hahah
 

katesaurus

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i'm having enough trouble as it is trying to put my reflective statement together in the last minute, imagine if i had decided to throw it all away and start again
that would be about 10000 words including the journal, the story itself as well as the reflective statement all in 48 hours of work.
who's crazy enough to do that?
 

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katesaurus said:
i'm having enough trouble as it is trying to put my reflective statement together in the last minute, imagine if i had decided to throw it all away and start again
that would be about 10000 words including the journal, the story itself as well as the reflective statement all in 48 hours of work.
who's crazy enough to do that?
I'm doing it in 1 week ^____^
 

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Its monday, and Im just putting finishing touches to my project. I'm starting my RS this afternoon and completing it by tomorrow morning. I think it will go alright.. I work MUCH better under this sort of pressure.
 

bJ_Bhoy 87

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its good to see that some1 else is working all nite with me. my RS, journal and MW all need work tonite.

i should probably start now.
 

Jayphen

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I have to re-do my Modules Trial exam tomorrow so I can't stay up too late to work on Extension :(
 

Pointy Ears

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OMG! That is just cruel! :( Gluck with those exams tomorow Jayphen!
 
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