Article: This will make you appear more confident and will help you speak more clearly than if you were to stay seated. It may feel awkward to stand up, but your introduction will be over more quickly than you think. If you are sitting in the middle of the room, you may want to turn your head from side to side occasionally as you speak so you can address the entire class. Even if you are super nervous, smiling will make your voice sound calmer and will help you mask that nervousness. It also shows your classmates and your teacher that you are friendly and approachable. Also, smiling stimulates the production of endorphins, so you are helping yourself to feel a little happier, too! Scientific studies have shown that making yourself smile when publicly speaking endears others to you as they naturally will want to smile back. Chances are that even if your voice is shaky, others won’t notice that. You want everyone to be able to hear you, so when you introduce yourself, do so in a clear, loud voice. Don’t mumble or stare down at the ground. It’s perfectly okay to be nervous—lots of people are when speaking in front of others! But if you can take a steadying breath and project confidence, you’ll be through your introduction before you know it.  Try practicing your introduction in a mirror to prepare yourself beforehand. A lot of the people in your class will be thinking about what they are going to say when it’s their turn and may not even be watching you the entire time you’re speaking. It’s helpful to give your first name, pause, and then give your first and last name, like “Hello, my name is June, June Thompson.” The repetition makes it more likely that others will remember your name. If you prefer to go by a nickname, this is the time to give that detail. Say something like, “Hi, my name is Marcella, Marcella Smith, but you can call me ‘Marcie.’” If you’re in a college course, you can share your intended major. Or if you’re taking a class for a certification for a job, you could share what it is you do for work. For example, you could say, “Hi, I’m Mark, Mark Palmer. I’m an Economics major, and this class is helping me get a certification I need to graduate.” If you are only in the class because you have to be (like a general education course that all students are required to take), you don’t need to say that—chances are a lot of other people are in the same boat. If you are involved in sports or have pets or like to travel, the end of your introduction is a good place to give this information. You could say something like, “When I’m not studying, I like to train for and run in half-marathons.” This gives your classmates and teacher a memorable activity to tie to your name. Avoid sharing overly personal details, like if you’re going through a divorce or recently lost your job. Try to keep things positive and upbeat—you don’t want your first impression to be negative or make other people uncomfortable.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Stand up when it’s your turn to introduce yourself. Smile when you speak. Speak with confidence. Give your name first. Share why you are taking the class. Offer personable details, like hobbies or interests you have.

A reflection paper is somewhat personal in that it includes your subjective feelings and opinions. Instead of revealing everything about yourself, carefully ask yourself if something is appropriate before including it in your paper.  If you feel uncomfortable about a personal issue that affects the conclusions you reached, it is wisest not to include personal details about it. If a certain issue is unavoidable but you feel uncomfortable revealing your personal experiences or feelings regarding it, write about the issue in more general terms. Identify the issue itself and indicate concerns you have professionally or academically. A reflection paper is personal and objective, but you should still keep your thoughts organized and sensible.  Avoid dragging someone else down in your writing. If a particular person made the experience you are reflecting on difficult, unpleasant, or uncomfortable, you must still maintain a level of detachment as you describe that person's influence. Instead of stating something like, “Bob was such a rude jerk,” say something more along the lines of, “One man was abrupt and spoke harshly, making me feel as though I was not welcome there.” Describe the actions, not the person, and frame those actions within the context of how they influenced your conclusions. A reflection paper is one of the few pieces of academic writing in which you can get away with using the first person pronoun “I.” That said, you should still relate your subjective feelings and opinions using specific evidence to explain them.  Avoid slang and always use correct spelling and grammar. Internet abbreviations like “LOL” or “OMG” are fine to use personally among friends and family, but this is still an academic paper, so you need to treat it with the grammatical respect it deserves. Do not treat it as a personal journal entry. Check and double-check your spelling and grammar after you finish your paper. A clear, well-written paper must have clear, well-written sentences.  Keep your sentences focused. Avoid squeezing multiple ideas into one sentence. Avoid sentence fragments. Make sure that each sentence has a subject and a verb. Vary your sentence length. Include both simple sentences with a single subject and verb and complex sentences with multiple clauses. Doing so makes your paper sound more conversational and natural, and prevents the writing from becoming too wooden. Transitional phrases shift the argument and introduce specific details. They also allow you to illustrate how one experience or detail directly links to a conclusion or understanding. Common transitional phrases include "for example," "for instance," "as a result," "an opposite view is," and "a different perspective is." You can incorporate information you learned in the classroom with information addressed by the reading, lecture, or experience.  For instance, if reflecting on a piece of literary criticism, you could mention how your beliefs and ideas about the literary theory addressed in the article relate to what your instructor taught you about it or how it applies to prose and poetry read in class. As another example, if reflecting on a new social experience for a sociology class, you could relate that experience to specific ideas or social patterns discussed in class.
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Reveal information wisely. Maintain a professional or academic tone. Review your reflection paper at the sentence level. Use transitions. Relate relevant classroom information to the experience or reading.