Writing

Counseling 5 DEALING WITH CONFLICT

Final Paper

You will write a four to five page, double spaced final paper. Remember to look back at your draft paper you turned in during Week/Module Four. You can use that same topic or choose a new topic.

Final Paper Guidelines

Selecting the Topic

On the journey we call, “life,” where do you see yourself and your relationship with others? Are there areas you want to improve and develop a greater awareness of your own patterns of behavior? Is it your self-esteem, your identity, your emotional expression, your communication style, or how you handle conflict? Select at least two-three areas that are most significant to your own growth and development, e.g., your identity development and its impact on personal and interpersonal relationships, or how you manage conflict and your communication style and their impact on your relationships, or how you manage your emotions and their role in developing your personality traits. You have total freedom to choose any of the areas discussed in your textbook. Make this assignment worthwhile to you.

Structure and Organization:

It would be best to include an introduction and to organize your paper in terms of past, present, and future to give it a logical order and a smooth flow.

• Introduction:

Introduce your theme (s) and why you chose this topic. State clearly what your paper is going to be about. Make sure to highlight your topic sentence. You are expected to elaborate on this area (s) of your life throughout the paper.

• Past:

Reflect back on your life story and early childhood experiences. Include details that are only pertinent to your theme. When you introduce an idea, ask yourself: How does it relate to my topic sentence? What am I trying to show? This is a good place to introduce and show how have you dealt or been affected by the theme(s) in your life.

• Present:

Who are you now in relation to the issue(s) you introduced earlier. How are you dealing with this issue(s) now compared with how you dealt with it in the past? What are some of the current event(s) that are impacting the issue(s) presented? Are there any changes to how you view yourself now?

• Future:

What techniques or coping skills from “Becoming Aware” textbook that you might use to deal with the issue(s) that you presented earlier? What would you do differently now to enhance the quality of your life in regard to this issue(s)? What are your goals, hopes and visions of yourself? In other words, if you were to re-write your life story, what would you do differently? This part of your paper is about bringing a resolution to the issue (s) of your earlier concern (s).