GUIDELINES:
1. A reflection paper is your identification of the main themes of the readings
integrated with your classroom experience and how both affect your
thinking and practice.
2. A reflection paper is your chance to add your thoughts and analysis to what
you have read and experienced. It is meant to illustrate your understanding
of the material and how it affects your ideas.
3. Unlike research papers, reflection papers are written in a less formal
style, with the author’s ideas and perspective being the focus of the essay.
To substantiate these ideas, you must also incorporate supporting evidence
from the article you have chosen and/or outside sources into your
reflection paper.
5. Using the first person singular (I), relate the readings and classes to your
previous knowledge and experience and consider if and how what you have
read and learned changes your thinking on the particular topic. How so?
6. In your first two paragraphs, you must identify the readings that you will
be reflecting on (state name of authors and title of readings). Briefly discuss
the subject of the articles and talk about your preconceptions of the subject,
as well as a brief summary of your initial reaction.
7.In the body of the essay, you can discuss the articles one at a time. You can
discuss the first article and then in your discussion of the second, make
connections or engage with the first article. Or, you can choose to discuss 2
to 3 main points that are made in both articles that are similar or maybe
they are different arguments. What do you agree/disagree with? You can
make links with your own personal lives, events in your communities,
events in the news etc. You can also draw on a class film/documentary.
Remember, a good compare/contrast essay doesn’t only point out how
the subjects are similar or different (or even both!).It uses those points
to make a meaningful argument about the subjects.
8. As you conclude your essay, discuss what you learned from the readings?
What questions did the readings raise? What are the implications of what
you have read?
Readings
Reaction Paper will focus on the following assigned readings and film. Select a minimum 2
1. Manning Marable, Let No Body Turn Us Around African American Anthology:
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Crusader for Justice Section 2Chapter 13William Edward Burghardt Du Bois 195 Section 2 Chapter 14 Excerpts from The Conservation of Races Excerpts from The Souls of Black Folk The Niagara Movement, 1905 Section 2Chapter 15 Booker T. Washington and the Politics of Accommodation Atlanta Exposition Address My View of Segregation Laws Section 2 Chapter 10
2. Manning Marable, Let No Body Turn Us Around African American Anthology ,-
Edward Wilmot Blyden and the African Diaspora, Section 2 Chapter 5 The National Association of Colored Women: Mary Church Terrell and Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin Section 2 Chapter 8. Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association Section 3 Chapter 4 Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World An Appeal to the Conscience of the Black Race to See Itself Women as Leaders, Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey, 1925 Section 3 Chapter 5
3. Film: Slavery by Another Name
Hakim Adi, Pan Africanism: A History, Chapter 2.
