MECM90003 Chap.12 Writing the Reflective Essay
Writing the Reflective Essay
The reflective essay is the subject's largest task: 3,000 words worth 60% in the 2026 Handbook, answering one question from the subject guide's list. It must show awareness of relevant literature, assess that literature's strengths and weaknesses, explore how your thinking evolved over the semester, and use case studies where they advance the argument. Week 12 is set aside for reflection and discussing the essay.
This chapter maps the questions to weeks, sets out a planning sequence, models a reflective paragraph and gathers the rules on hurdles, extensions and late work. It closes with the practical rules on attendance, extensions, late penalties and grades that protect your mark.
What this chapter covers
- 01
The task: one question, literature, critique, evolution of thinking, cases
- 02
The question list and where each question begins
- 03
Planning from question to draft
- 04
Writing a turn in thinking inside an argument
- 05
Assessing readings for strengths and weaknesses
- 06
Grade bands, hurdles, extensions and late penalties
- 07
Submission through Turnitin and the subject's rule on AI
Worked example · free
Turning a summary into reflection for the surveillance question
- 1State a starting view: early in semester, surveillance seemed to be something states do at borders.
- 1Introduce the turn: Latonero and Kift show refugees' own phones carrying the border with them, which unsettles that view.
- 1Weigh the readings: note one strength and one limit of each for this question rather than summarising.
- 1Add a case: a home camera or messaging group tests the revised claim that personal media and surveillance grow together.
Key terms
- Reflective essay
- A reflective essay in this subject is an argued answer to one set question that also shows how the writer's thinking changed across the semester.
- Assessment hurdle
- An assessment hurdle is a requirement that must be met to pass, here submitting every task as a complete, genuine attempt.
- Special consideration
- Special consideration is the University process for adjusting assessment when documented circumstances affect a student.
- Case study
- A case study is a specific example used to test or advance the essay's argument rather than decorate it.
Writing the Reflective Essay FAQ
How do I show the evolution of my thinking without writing a diary?
Make the change part of the argument. State an earlier view, name the reading or case that challenged it, and explain the sharper claim you now hold. One or two such turns, each tied to evidence, meet the requirement better than a running account of what you did each week.
Can the coordinator change the essay questions?
The subject guide allows the coordinator to add further questions, and an older LMS overview page lists a different set. Use the subject guide's list as your starting point and confirm the final list on the LMS before you commit to a question.
What grade scale is used for the essays?
The subject guide lists H1 for 80 to 100%, H2A for 75 to 79%, H2B for 70 to 74%, H3 for 65 to 69%, P for 50 to 64% and N below 50%. Essays come back with brief comments, and all failed essays are double-marked before being returned.
What does critical assessment of the literature mean here?
It means judging how well each reading helps answer your chosen question, not summarising it. Name what a reading lets you see, then where it falls short, perhaps because it predates a technology, studies one setting or assumes a national frame. A reading can be strong for one argument and limited for another.
Assessment move
Choose your question by Week 10 and build a one-page plan: the question's key terms, readings from at least three weeks, one strength and one limit of each, your starting view and the reading that changed it, and two candidate cases. Use Week 12 to test the plan in discussion. Draft the turn-in-thinking paragraph first, then write outward from it, and leave time to read the essay aloud before submitting through Turnitin.
Keep the comments from your site analysis essay beside your plan; they are specific advice from the people who mark the reflective essay too.
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