I wrote a relatively informal reflection statement for my ext2 work and I was very happy with it. For me the word 'reflection' emphasises that it is a personal comment on the process of learning and constructing *your* major work. If, then, humour is natural to your writing style then by all means go for it. A marker who has just read your near-on-ten-thousand-word new epilogue for Jane Eyre (in which Jane too becomes a madwoman, Rochester decides to commit suicide complete with ten page suicide note, and Jane’s cousins inherit the property only to die in a mysterious fire) will probably enjoy reading something a bit lighter hearted when it comes to your reflection statement.
Phew.
Having said that, though, let me tear you to shreds.
1Time4thePpl said:
I know that you all want to know the reasons for my involvement with English Extension 2. Well, initially they involved me doing as little units as possible, while minimising my workload.
Wait, I said ‘relatively’ informal, didn’t I? Don’t talk to them like they’re your mate from school, because they’re not. They are still markers and you have to treat them as (even if you don’t think they are!) superiors. Yes, its funny to think that most people doing the course are at first trying to get brownie points for an ‘easy’ subject, but try not to push the point too much (your subject is soooo easy it’s suuuuch a stupid idea EVERYBODY does it cause they think they’re gonna do well – a marker is going to read that and, well, first impressions count). Speaking of the word ‘well’ – keep that for the process diary. Better first sentence would go along the lines of:
English Extension 2: how my friends mocked me for deciding to pick up this subject. “It’s so much work!” they cried. “As if that’s an easy subject. You have to do a whole major work!” I, on the other hand, thought it seemed a rather simple concept… seven thousand words, why, I wrote five times that when I was a thirteen year old angst-ridden teenager pouring my eyes out over a diary of lost loves.”
(Ok, so I went over the top – c’mon, I’ve been testing a database for the last three days.)
1Time4thePpl said:
Unfortunately, this was not the case as I found myself struggling to produce a video, which later became a short story. Let me start with the video. The channel of my creative and ... artistic? desire.
Yeah, this sort of thing – try to include that in your first sentence (or at least hint at it!) – you probably want to be a little more detailed, and a bit more eloquent. You are, after all, writing something that should be coming from the mouth (fingers) of an *elite* English student (that’s where my hatred of the word ‘well,’ in reflection statements comes from). Ellipses are cool, but not in this context. Use colons, semicolons, parentheses if you’re feeling particularly Victorian (or postmodern), but avoid ellipses, hyphens, lists (‘well, like, see, there was this guy, right,…’) because they do not convey quality writing.
1Time4thePpl said:
Well, actually I wanted to do the video because I thought it'd only take 2 days to complete. But then there was the process of getting the equipment, the actors and the fact that the only term I knew in filmaking besides "Ben Afleck can't act" is "cut". And "Cut" I did. I cut the whole idea of making a video and decided to subvert a genre or rekindle a overused genre in fiction.
A few more points: write out numbers less than a hundred (this is my general rule, anyway). ‘2’ becomes ‘Two’; ‘63’ becomes sixty-three or three-and-sixty
. Spelling is very important (although I assume you just typed this out and didn’t run it through a spellcheck or a spelling Nazi like me), so ‘film making’, ‘Affleck’. Again you can probably afford to be a bit more verbose – explain your points, elaborate, show them that you can control your writing. The last sentence of this passage is probably the one I liked most in your entire paragraph.
1Time4thePpl said:
Do you think the markers won't like this?
Yes and no. As I said, don’t treat markers like they’re eighteen, because (trust me on this one) they’re not. The reflection statement may be the last piece of writing they read from you before deciding on your mark (don’t trust me on this one). Humour is great: I never understand why people don’t use more of it in reflection statements, personal journals, speeches, letters. It creates repartee with the audience and it is a wonderful tool for you to flex your witty muscle (not to be confused with your ‘fatmuscle’). By all means go ahead and use it in your reflection statement, but keep your audience and purpose in mind.
(Sorry about the length of this)
