Final Reflection Essay Example for Free

Final Reflection Essay 1. Upon embarking on writing about my Autobiography/Self-Discovery piece, I did not really expect it to become an enlightening journey of introspection. For me, it was a typical school day and I was just about to do a requirement. The incident I cited in my writing piece happened way before and yet I never forgot its profound impact on my life. It had me acquainted with an aspect of my true self that is, that I could also be a better and more appreciative person, and come to think of it, that anybody is capable of improving himself/herself so long as the desire to change is present. The Significant Event Essay which I wrote and submitted reveals only an aspect of my personality since the short anecdote plucked from my life story merely focused on my realizations on the values of compassion and appreciation. A person’s life has a lot of aspects and an essay or even a book would not be enough to capture everything about a man’s life. 2. My purpose in writing my essay was for others to appreciate the blessings they had because not everyone is as fortunate as his fellowman. It is intended for a general audience and is meant to be helpful to anyone who has not realized the value of blessings in his/her life. The essay is presented in the form of a short anecdote where there is an introduction, a building up of the story, a climax and a conclusion. As a writer, I learned that I had to present my story in a way that it is structured and systematic so that only the incidents related to the story were included and other details were left out. In this manner, focus was maintained and the main storyline was given more significance. I also made use of an outline so that I would not deviate from my projected direction, hence, the results of which are reflected in my essay. A profile is supposed to capture and present to the reader a glimpse on the life of a personality. The problem however, is that sometimes, the profile of a person that is presented is a skewed version, and that is where write-ups such as these are often questioned. More often than not, the more dramatic, exciting and odd aspects of an individual’s personality are those which are glamorized and sensationalized because these are the stories which usually sell. It is what piques the interest of the readers, hence, these are the materials which are highlighted, and the less dramatic and boring topics are relegated to the background or worse, not even mentioned. With regards to my own profile, I encountered the same problem because I found that it is not really possible to compress into one essay that which has taken so many years to achieve. Hence, theoretically, it is not really possible to create a â€Å"complete† profile because eventually, some details will ultimately be left out. 2. The omissions in a profile for general readership consumption connote that readers engage in reading more to be entertained than informed. A complete profile would mean that all aspects in a personality’s life will be included with all the boring stuff attached to it. Of course, this will not be allowed by the editors of magazines where the profiles will be published because this â€Å"boring stuff† can be done without and the excess writing space could be allocated for more ad space which can be sold to earn more income. Even if a writer wants to present the profile of a subject in a complete manner with everything included, it is not the writer who determines what becomes published because it is the reader who will choose. This is a lamentable fact, and yet what is in practice since the mass media operates on these guiding principles, however distorted the stories may be. Answers to Chapter 4 Questions: 1. I particularly believe that most if not all of the academic materials which present their concepts as uncontested truths do so because they are already based on widely-known and acknowledge facts and ideas. Basically, the whole chapter on Explaining a Concept is one such typical example because as of now, the ideas presented here are what are considered as true and accurate – for the moment. As new discoveries will be unearthed, new theories and concepts will correspondingly emerge and the present truths we have now will most likely be replaced later eventually. 2. Knowledge is established by way of a meeting of minds. Usually, the prominent academicians, researchers and professors in specific disciplines conduct meetings to agree/disagree on the concepts that are still considered up-to-date or obsolete. Once decided upon, obsolete ideas noted but not totally discarded. In some books, it is noticeable that references to such ideas are still mentioned but the reason for shelving the idea is always given. 3. The essay I did was about the practice of contraception. The idea that I pursued has long been established and accepted in society. It could be said that there are some sectors that still uphold religious beliefs over these medical practices which seem to challenge such beliefs. Yes, at some point, I felt that the ideas I am presenting may be questioned by my readers, but then, I had references to point to for the more technical stuff and I was confident with my own knowledge about the subject. I decided on doing a topic that would be helpful, practical and interesting and had more contemporary novelty, hence the subject of contraception. In writing my paper, I was not really comfortable in being a giver of knowledge at first but later on, I warmed up to the idea because I would be sharing some things that my peers may not really know about.