Course: English 1101 Instructor: Anthony Borrero Email: Aborrero@uncc.

edu

Major Assignment #1: Exploratory Reflection (AKA Auto-Inquiry) - Health, Wellness, & Me I. Introduction: Throughout our initial discussions of issues related to the theme of health, wellness, and society, we have explored what the media is, how public opinions are formed, and how these opinions are shaped and influenced over time. But now that we have cultivated an understanding of where the dominant values and beliefs of society emerge from, its time to explore your views, and some of values, beliefs, and experiences which have informed your understanding of health and wellness.

II. Assignment Description: For your first major assignment, you will conduct an auto-inquiry (or self-inquiry) to explore your values, beliefs, and experiences with at least three topics related to the theme of health, wellness, and society. To complete this task, you should examine the list of possible inquiry topics I provided on the syllabus, and/or any topics that you have considered on your own, and compose an exploratory reflection essay that conveys your experiences, thinking, and questions with the topics you selected. While the length and structure of your reflection are up to you, some means for exploring your thinking about these topics include: Storytelling Conveying specific personal experiences that have exposed you to or shaped your thinking about the topics you selected. Knowledge Sharing Conveying views, opinions, beliefs, and facts that you have been exposed to in the past that you agree with, or even points that you disagree with. Questioning Describing the questions surrounding this topic, questions emerging from your experiences, as well as questions which you are interested in exploring through your inquiry this semester. In all likelihood, your reflection can and will mix all three of these modes of exploration in order to convey the experiences, ideas, and questions which are informing your perception of the various topics you choose to write about in this essay. That said, in the case of storytelling and knowledge sharing, if you find that you do not have much personal experience with a topic or your knowledge is limited, it is still ok to write about it in this reflection and explore your thinking about the topic. The main point is to explore your thinking about the topics in as much detail as you can and to raise questions. (Please note that the formatting for this assignment, as well as all assignments for this course is standard MLA formatting: 12 Pt, Times New Roman Font, Double Spaced Lines, 1 Margins.) III. Additional Points to Consider: Since the purpose of the essay is to gauge your existing views, opinions, experiences, and questions, and to explore a routes of inquiry that stems from your personal curiosity, your reflection should not contain any outside research other than facts that you may have known prior to taking this course. Within your essay, feel free to truly explore the full implications of each topic Honestly consider both what you know and what you are uncertain of about each topic, where you views and values are coming from (i.e. personal experience, specific media, friends, etc.), the validity/authority of these views, the connection between your experiences and opinions, possible connections between topics, as well as who is being impacted (for better or worse) by the topics and questions you are interested in exploring. As you complete your reflection, I would also consider how you can frame your narrative in order to create an understanding of how the issues of health and wellness you are exploring are shaping or have shaped you as an individual, a consumer, and a member of society.

Course: English 1101 Instructor: Anthony Borrero Email: Aborrero@uncc.edu

IV. What I Will be Looking for: The strongest exploratory reflections are those which Explore topics from multiple angles and through multiple modes of reflection (i.e. storytelling, knowledge sharing, questioning). Move beyond general observations and claims in order develop discussions in detail. Pose critical questions that are worth exploring through additional research and inquiry. Connect ideas and questions to yourself as well as to various sects of society. Compose and organizes ideas in a manner that is engaging, logical, and well proofread. While this piece of writing may seem informal due to the fact that it is being positioned as a reflective piece, please note this assignment should not be completed in a quick, cursory, or informal manner. The piece should be treated as a formal essay, not as an informal journal or forum post. Since this is the first developed piece or writing I will receive from you, it will serve as the basis for me to evaluate your skills as a writer, and accordingly, you should try to exhibit the best writing that you can. Also keep in mind that in the upcoming weeks, we will meet one-on-one to decide a route of inquiry for your work this semester as well as what skills you need to focus on to improve as a writer. This piece of writing will serve as a focal point during that discussion. Finally, while it is not a required component of this project, if you happen to do any pre-writing or planning for this essay, I ask that you save this work since it can be used for discussions about your writing process and can be included in your portfolio. IV. Due Date: If you have class on Mon/Wed: Wednesday, January 23rd If you have class on Tues/Thurs: Thursday, January 24th Your work should be submitted on Moodle before class on date listed above. Feel Free to contact me if you have any questions.