About the Reflective Essay
For this assignment you will need to:
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Review the learning outcomes for the course below because you will be writing about them for this assignment:
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Can collaborate and work as part of a team to solve a common problem or work toward a common goal;
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Can demonstrate leadership and civic responsibility;
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Can show preparation for professional employment or graduate studies;
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Can think critically about important issues, and locate and use research materials appropriately to answer questions, solve problems, or support an argument;
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Can communicate effectively in writing for different purposes, in different genres to different audiences.
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Write an essay in which you reflect upon and evaluate how your work as a CPLS major demonstrates your mastery of the learning outcomes listed above.
Your reflective essay should point to specific places in your portfolio documents that indicate where and how these goals have been met.
It is not enough just to list the places in the portfolio where the different learning outcomes were met.
You should provide some analysis and reflection on your work and how it meets the goals below, your thoughts on the importance of your work and the goal itself, and some self-reflection on your ability to carry this particular goal professionally after graduation. -
Refer to the major writing assignments (resume, reports, research paper) you have included in your portfolio as evidence to support your self-evaluation.
Be as specific as possible when referring to your writing assignments in the reflective essay; use the assignment name and a page number whenever possible. -
Use the learning outcomes as headers in your essay to help you organize it and make sure you cover all of them. Not covering all of the learning outcomes will result in a significant lowering of your grade.
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Most successful Reflective Essays are 1000 - 2000 words.
If yours is significantly shorter than this, you probably need to add more analysis and reflection.
An essay that is shorter than 1000 words will likely result in a lower grade. -
Use double spacing, first line indent, and a standard 12 pt. font on your reflective essay.
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There is a sample Reflective Essay at the end of this module.
While I don't want you to copy it word for word, feel free to use it as a template for your essay.
The answer
Reflective Essay:
Demonstrating Mastery of CPLS Major Learning Outcomes
Introduction
As a senior in
CPLS, writing this reflective essay has pushed me to step back and really think
about all the skills I’ve picked up along the way in my academic journey. This
reflective exercise is more than an academic requirement; it is an opportunity
to celebrate growth, acknowledge challenges, and critically assess how well I
have prepared myself for a professional future. Looking back at the portfolio
I’ve put together, I can honestly see how much I’ve grown in relation to the
five main learning outcomes of this course. Each one has played a big role in
shaping not just my academic experience, but also the kind of person I’m
becoming—both professionally and in terms of how I want to show up in my
community after graduation.
1. Collaboration and Teamwork Toward a Common Goal
Working with
others has been a big deal in my CPLS program. From group assignments to
jumping into community stuff, I’ve figured out what makes a team work and why
it matters so much.
One project I’ll
never forget was in our Leadership in Organizations class. We had to find a
leadership problem at a nonprofit and pitch some fixes. My group looked at a
local food bank where communication was a mess. It was a lot—tossing around
ideas, splitting up the work, and sometimes butting heads over what to do. I
ended up pulling our research together into a report and taking charge of part
of the presentation (you can check it out in the Group Leadership Project
Report, pp. 7–14).
That whole thing
showed me how much trust and stepping up for each other really count. It’s not
just about finishing the job—it’s about actually hearing people, knowing who’s
doing what, and sorting out arguments without making it a big deal. Those are the
kinds of things I know I’ll use in jobs where teams have to mesh different
skills.
I also got to try
this out in a civic engagement club, helping put together a neighborhood
clean-up. Dealing with locals to figure out who’d bring what and keep things on
track was tough but taught me a ton about teamwork. Looking back at all these
projects—school and community—I’m feeling pretty ready to dive into workplaces
where everyone’s got to pull together to make things happen.
2. Leadership and Civic Responsibility
I used to see
leadership as just being in charge, but the CPLS program completely shifted my
view. Now, I think of leadership as stepping up, doing what's right, and
prioritizing others' well-being. This clicked for me in classes like Civic
Engagement and Ethics, where we dove into the deeper meaning of acting with
integrity.
In my capstone
semester, I got to co-lead a group project digging into how spotty public
transportation messes with folks in Memphis. Everyone in our team had smart
stuff to say, but I stepped up to keep us on track—setting up regular check-ins
so we didn’t drop the ball and making a shared Google Drive to keep our notes
from turning into chaos. I also reached out to locals who deal with buses that
never show, making sure their real stories shaped our work. You can see it all
in our report, “Bridging Transit Gaps in Underserved Communities” (Capstone
Research Report, pages 19–32).
That whole
experience made me see leadership as less about calling shots and more about
lifting up voices that don’t get heard enough. It was about doing something
real to make things fairer. I got to share what we found at a community
roundtable the university put on, and let me tell you, standing there trying to
explain our ideas with heart and keep everyone included? That’s the kind of
leader I want to be. I’m carrying that vibe into grad school and any advocacy
work I tackle later.
Then there was
this Social Justice Writing module that hit me hard. We wrote letters to
policymakers about food insecurity, and it clicked—being part of your community
isn’t some vague idea. It’s about using what you know to push for change that
matters. All those lessons about leading and caring for others cemented my
dream to work in public service or nonprofits, where I can live those values
every single day.
3. Preparation for Professional Employment or Graduate Studies
The whole time
I’ve been in CPLS, it’s felt like they’re really trying to get us ready for
life after college, not just piling on more homework. Between workshops where
we hashed out resumes, fake interviews that made my palms sweaty, and writing
projects that felt like the real deal, I’ve built up this grab-bag of skills
that I know will help me once I’m out of here.
Check out my
resume (Resume Document, pp. 1–2)—wow, what a process that was. It started as
this boring jumble, like I was just mimicking everyone else’s style. But after
messing with it over and over and hearing what my classmates thought, I finally
got it to feel like me. Now it’s got specific stuff I’m proud of, like numbers
to show what I’ve done and skills I picked up from school and volunteering, all
shaped to fit the jobs I’m eyeing.
One thing I’ll
never forget was writing a grant proposal in my Technical and Professional
Writing class. I had to pitch funding for a made-up after-school program for
kids, and let me tell you, it was intense (Grant Proposal Project, pages 9–20).
I was thinking hard about what the reader would want, picking words to really
sell it, and making sure it looked legit, like something a nonprofit would
actually send out. That project was a total lightbulb moment—it’s exactly the
kind of thing I want to do in my career.
Then there was
this assignment where I got to sit down and chat with a program coordinator at
a local nonprofit about how they went from college to where they are now. That
conversation hit me hard—it made me so sure I want to go for a Master’s in
Public Administration. I poured those thoughts into my Graduate School Goals
Statement (portfolio, pages 3–5), laying out how I want to keep learning and do
work that actually matters.
All these
moments—writing, talking, reflecting—have me feeling way more gutsy about
applying to grad school or hunting for internships in community planning. The
best part? The course got me to dig into not just what I’ve done, but why.
4. Critical Thinking and Use of Research
Thinking hard and
picking things apart has been a huge deal in CPLS, and honestly, it’s probably
what’s going to carry me through school and whatever job I land next. The
program kept pushing me to dig into ideas, piece stuff together, and not just
take things at face value. That really hit home in some of the tougher,
research-heavy classes I took later on.
One project I’m
super proud of is my big research paper for Contemporary Issues in Social
Policy, called “Digital Divide and Education Disparity in Rural America”
(Research Paper, pages 11–28). I dove into studies, census numbers, and even
talked to teachers out in rural Tennessee to figure out how spotty internet
screws over kids’ education. I didn’t just stick to one angle—I looked at
everything from tech obsession to fairness in schools and ended up arguing for
a mix of better Wi-Fi and community programs to fix it.
It took a lot of
work to find all that information and weave it into a compelling case. I was
switching between databases, making sure the sources were reliable, and
attempting to construct a coherent argument. This paper was unique not only
because of the research but also because I didn't simply accept what I read. I
didn’t just accept the conclusions I read; I questioned them, compared
perspectives, and built my own argument from the ground up. I pushed back on
some of the usual ideas and threw out suggestions that could actually work, not
just summed up what was already out there.
Smaller
assignments, such as answer papers in Media and Society, also gave me the
opportunity to practice this kind of thinking. Those made us dissect how the
media fabricates stories or insinuates prejudice. They improved my ability to
see what is not being stated, read between the lines, and juggle concepts in a
way that felt authentic. Whether I was figuring out how someone’s words were
trying to persuade or sizing up whether a policy really held water, I learned
to come at problems from all sides—a trick I know I’ll need for grad school or
any job where you’ve got to solve messy puzzles.
5. Effective Communication in Writing Across Contexts
Figuring out how
to say stuff in a way that lands right with different folks has been, like, one
of the biggest wins for me in CPLS. They had me writing all kinds of
things—dense research papers, posters for community events, you name it—and
every time, I had to tweak how I sounded or what I focused on to make it work.
Like, in this
Professional Communication Strategies class, we were banging out memos for
work, reports for behind-the-scenes stuff, and even newsletters to catch
people’s eyes. I did this one memo about making onboarding less of a headache
for new hires at a store—kept it snappy and practical for the higher-ups
(Professional Memo, pages 3–4). But then I wrote a newsletter for parents about
summer camps and stuff for their kids, and I went super cozy and friendly, like
I was chatting with them over coffee (Community Outreach Newsletter, pages
5–7).
Then there was
this Argument and Persuasion class that got me pumped about writing essays that
actually make people think. I wrote one about student loan forgiveness,
blending some cold-hard stats with stories that tug at your heart, and I made
sure to tip my hat to the folks who’d argue back (Persuasive Essay, pages
8–15). Those projects taught me how to switch gears with my writing, which
feels like a total must when you’re dealing with all the different vibes in
today’s workplaces.
Oh, and don’t get
me started on peer reviews—we’d pass around our rough drafts and throw out
ideas to make each other’s work better. That whole thing showed me how to
polish my own writing and also how to read someone else’s stuff with a sharper
eye. Now, whether I’m tossing together a policy idea, shooting off a quick
email, or summing up some research, I’ve got this gut sense of how to shape my
words to match who’s listening and what I’m trying to pull off.
Conclusion
When I flip through all those assignments now—every group project I scrambled to finish, every essay I wrote half-asleep at 2 a.m.—they’re not just schoolwork to me anymore. They’re like little trophies showing I can take on real-world stuff, not just chase good grades. As I’m gearing up for grad school and daydreaming about a job where I can make a difference for people, I feel like I’ve got this toolbox packed with what I’ve learned here: the nerve to step up, the itch to ask tougher questions, the ease of working with others, and this fire to keep writing my own path with some real heart behind it.