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Self Assessment Essay Examples

How to write a self-assessment essay.

If you're tasked with writing a self-assessment essay, it's essential to start with a clear understanding of the topic. Here are some prompt samples to help you grasp the key aspects:

  • Prompt 1: Reflect on your personal growth and development over the past year, highlighting your strengths and areas for improvement.
  • Prompt 2: Describe a significant life event or experience that has had a profound impact on your self-awareness and decision-making.
  • Prompt 3: Analyze your academic or professional achievements and setbacks, discussing the lessons learned and future goals.
  • Prompt 4: Explore the role of self-assessment in career planning and personal development, providing real-life examples.

Brainstorming and Choosing a Compelling Essay Topic

Now that you have some prompts to work with, it's time to brainstorm and select a captivating essay topic. Consider the following points:

  • Personal Significance: Choose a topic that holds personal significance and allows you to delve deep into your experiences and self-reflection.
  • Relevance: Ensure your topic is relevant to the prompt and showcases your ability to critically assess your own journey.
  • Transformation: Highlight moments of growth, change, or self-discovery that can engage your readers and provide valuable insights.
  • Uniqueness: Avoid clichéd or superficial topics. Aim for authenticity and originality in your self-assessment.

Unique Self-Assessment Essay Topics

Here's a list of unique essay topics that go beyond the ordinary:

  • The Impact of Solo Travel on Self-Discovery and Personal Growth
  • Navigating Adversity: How Overcoming Challenges Shaped My Self-Assessment
  • The Evolution of My Leadership Skills: A Self-Assessment of My Journey
  • From Student to Professional: Assessing My Transition into the Working World
  • Self-Assessment Through Art: How Creative Expression Reflects My Inner World
  • Exploring the Intersection of Cultural Identity and Self-Reflection
  • My Digital Persona: Analyzing the Effects of Social Media on Self-Perception
  • Self-Assessment in Pursuit of Wellness: Balancing Mental and Physical Health
  • Reinventing Myself: A Self-Assessment of Career Changes and Adaptability
  • Rediscovering Passions: How Hobbies and Interests Reflect Personal Growth
  • The Role of Mentorship in My Professional and Personal Self-Assessment
  • Through the Lens of Literature: Analyzing Characters and Personal Growth
  • Breaking Barriers: My Journey to Self-Confidence and Assertiveness
  • From Introvert to Extrovert: An Introspective Look at My Social Transformation
  • Parenting and Self-Assessment: Navigating the Challenges and Rewards of Parenthood
  • The Influence of Travel on My Cultural Awareness and Global Self-Assessment
  • Embracing Failure: How Mistakes Have Shaped My Self-Understanding
  • The Intersection of Passion and Profession: A Self-Assessment of Career Satisfaction
  • My Role in Community Service: Self-Assessment of Impact and Personal Growth
  • The Quest for Work-Life Balance: A Self-Assessment of Priorities and Well-Being

Paragraph and Phrase Inspiration

When crafting your essay, here are some sample paragraphs and phrases that can inspire your writing:

  • Introduction: "The journey of self-assessment is a winding path that leads us through moments of clarity and introspection."
  • Main Body: "One pivotal moment in my self-assessment journey was when I realized that..."
  • Counterargument: "While some may argue that self-assessment is self-indulgent, it is, in fact, a vital tool for personal growth and development."
  • Conclusion: "In conclusion, the process of self-assessment is an ongoing endeavor, an exploration of the self that brings us closer to understanding who we are and who we can become."

With these tips and unique ideas, you're well-equipped to write an engaging self-assessment essay that offers valuable insights into your personal journey and growth. Remember to be authentic and reflective throughout your writing.

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Self Analysis Essay

Fool-Proof Tips & Examples To Write A Self-Analysis Essay

Creating a self-analyzing essay structure requires one to ponder over the previous year’s performance, whether for academic or professional advancement. They are considered an important tool to promote self-awareness, enhance productivity, and accomplish personal goals for both employees and learners. However, writing a successful self-assessment essay sample in the accurate self-analysis essay format can be tricky for many self-writing essay writers. Most self-analysis essay writers struggle to examine their strengths and weaknesses.

Do thoughts like how to write a self-assessment paper, how to write a self-evaluation essay, how to conclude an essay about yourself, how to start a self-evaluation essay help , or what a personal analysis takes away your night's sleep? Nonetheless, this problem is about to come to an end. Tag along to learn the minute details of creating an unparalleled self-assessment paper example.  

What is a Personal Analysis Essay?

The objectives of writing self-analysis papers are to attest to the quality or deficiency of a specific department about particular things precisely. A self-analysis essay can be on any item, business, administration, administration series, book, movie, etc. It is evaluated through a variety of tests conducted in an unbiased, impartial, and sensible way, depending on the type of content. Students are usually assigned to create self-assessment essay samples as a part of group projects to measure their personal contribution to the assignment. Every self-analyzing essay follows a structure varying from the academic institution.

For self-writing an essay evaluation, it is important for one to follow the basic standards and guidelines that judge the evidence and meet the criterion benchmark to craft high-quality content. A student must ensure that each section of the critical analysis essay outlines only one point, clarify the facts in detail, and share the writer's judgment based on the proofs.

Read more: Analytical Essay

How to Craft a Critical Analysis Essay Outline?

The self-analyzing essay structure mentioned in this diagram is widely used by students and professionals in self-analysis writing essays. Each point that is to be discussed in the self-assessment essay sample must be attended to in the ordered reference for analyzing essay structure best.

Critical Analysis Essay Outline

Analyzing the essay structure of the self-assessment essay about yourself is important since it helps in making the self-writing essay more convincing to the reader. According to the referenced analysis essay format, an essay must include the following:

  • INTRODUCTION

Wonder how to begin an analysis essay? The best way is to give a glimpse of the subject in the introduction of the self-assessment essay sample. Use the complete section of the personal analysis essay to present the subject. Present a higher standpoint of the subject in the self-analyzing essay structure.

Explore how the subject impacts the individual and why it is worth assessing in the given analysis essay format. It will help the writer of the self-analysis papers to develop the measures that one will take in the given critical analysis essay outline to showcase the thesis.

At the end of the introduction of the self-assessment essay introduction include a thesis statement that will include the overall opinion and the reasons that support the statement of the personal analysis essay.

  • BODY PARAGRAPHS

Body paragraphs of every essay about yourself must outline at least three reasons that support the statement made in the self-assessment essay about yourself.

First Reason

  • First Argument :

Begin the first argument of the personal self-assessment essay with a topic sentence that highlights the subject around which the topic revolves. Then include the principal judgment and elaborate on the subject in the first body paragraph of the self-assessment essay sample. Adding transitional words in the self-analysis papers helps readers to understand the change in the context from the introduction to the conclusion. It also makes analyzing the essay structure smooth.

  • Support the first argument :

Ensure that the self-analysis papers have genuine facts that justify the claims made in the argument. It can be in the form of statements, illustrations, acknowledgments, measurements, tests, etc.

  • Deal with any complaints and nullify them : 

The argument of analysis essay format becomes more concrete when the writer adds a perspective that objects to the argument mentioned in the self-analysis example and then addresses it with befitting combating fact. It instills the value of the argument more deeply in the reader's mind.

Second Argument

  • Second decisive factor :

When confused about how to write my essay self-evaluation essay’s second argument, follow the method adopted to begin the first argument of the analyzing essay structure. Add a topic sentence highlighting the subject the subsequent paragraphs will deal with. Then elaborate the judgment on the topic in the following lines of the self-writing essay taking assistance of transitional words to move from one paragraph of the essay on self-analysis to another.

  • Support for the succeeding explanation :

Add considerable sustaining facts as statements, representations, acknowledgments, insight, examinations, etc.

  • Address any objections and disprove them : 

Just like the first argument of the critical analysis essay outline, add a point that contradicts the second argument of the essay on self-analysis and nullify it with justifiable proof.

Third Argument

  • Third argument :

The third criterion must follow the self-analysis essay format of the first and second arguments. It must explain the third set of points that validate the self-analysis essay statement after pointing out the subject that will rule the following lines or paragraphs in the self-assessment essay sample. Using transitional words and phrases are must for the smooth movement of the propositions.

  • Support for the third explanation :

Genuine sustaining data in the essay about yourself outlined in the form of statements, examples, master praises, insight, examinations, etc., to support the argument of the self-assessment essay about yourself.

  • Address any complaints and invalidate them :

The aim of addressing complaints at the end of the third argument is the same as that for the other arguments. One must ensure not to include any complaints against the stated argument that has more value than that of the argument itself. Otherwise, the argument stated in the self-assessment essay sample will be viewed as vulnerable.

Students often get confused about how to conclude an essay about themselves. Restate the self-writing essay statement first to build the best self-analyzing essay structure in the conclusion. Keep in mind never to repeat the same word of the essay statement in the conclusion. Brush on the arguments and end the conclusion of the self-assessment paper example by connecting with the crowd. Make a statement or offer suggestions that will leave a mark on the reader's mind.

How to Conclude an Essay about Yourself?

Calculating how to conclude an essay about yourself wisely is important to leave a lasting impact on the reader’s mind since it is the last chance one has to impress the reader with the personal analysis of the best essay writer's qualities or success in achieving the objective set in the essay statement. One has several options while considering how to write a self-evaluation essay to end it successfully.  

It can be done by convincing the reader how successfully the essay writer has performed the acts to achieve the aim. It may also feature the writer's perspective on the subject, or the writer may finally show in the analyzing essay structure that the writer is a specialist in the subject.

It is important to note that the conclusion is the end of the self-assessment made in the body of the self-assessment paper example. The writer must also feel that they have received all the information from the body of the self-assessment paper example to have come to a conclusion, or they may feel excited to explore more on the subject.

To add a sense of finality:

To add a sense of closure to the personal essay  about yourself, take the following steps:

  • To conclude, the self-assessment paper example links the last passage of the essay about yourself to the first statement of the essay on self-analysis. Restate the central issue of the self-analysis example using different words.
  • End the concluding sentence with simple single-syllable words. It leaves a deeper impact on the reader.
  • To open space for an additional idea:

One may also want to end the conclusion of an analyzing essay structure on a conversational note, leaving space for the readers to develop further ideas on the topic. To do the same, one must use the following ideas:  

  • Conclude with a statement or reference in the self-analysis papers from a different reference. It will help in repeating the argument or adding a different point of view.
  • Draft the conclusion of the self-analysis example by reanalyzing any significant terms used in the argument of the self-assessment essay sample.
  • End the critical analysis essay outline exploring the consequence of the examination. For example, a student can talk about the inference of the contention made in the essay on self-analysis.

How Not to Conclude an Essay about Yourself?

The conclusion of any self-assessment essay sample is one of the most complicated parts of the content. It is the last scope for any writer to showcase their qualities in the self-writing essay. Hence writers often look for detailed guidelines on how to conclude an essay about themselves and what they must not do. Different choices for beginning a self-analysis essay example are already discussed, but the don'ts of concluding a self-assessment per example are not highlighted. Here are the most significant ones:

Repeat the important points:

When students or professionals get confused about how to write a self-evaluation essay conclusion, they use the inclusion of an analysing essay structure to sum up, their evaluation or restate them.

It is true that a conclusion must bring together all the points of the personal analysis essay, especially if it lengths over 20 pages. However, if the critical analysis essay outline does not exceed ten pages or it is much shorter than that, in that case, it is important to stop repeating the primary thoughts in the self-analysis papers.

Avoid concluding transitional words and phrases

Phrases like ‘in shutting, ‘in summation’, 'in outline', 'to sum up', and 'in conclusion' are clichéd for beginning the conclusion of the paragraph of self-analysis paper examples. Moreover, they look great in presenting a subject orally but do not work equally well while writing a personal analysis essay conclusion.

To draft a conclusion for a self-assessment essay about yourself, allow the writing and the discussion to naturally decide when the argument ends, and the conclusion begins. It does not force the reader to get that the writing is about to end or find the argument is ending abruptly. The flow of the text becomes naturally evident, and the conclusion section of the personal self-assessment essay is about to begin.

Don’t feel apologetic

Sometimes students have much more knowledge on a topic of self-analysis papers, but the self-analysis essay format restricts them from presenting their complete knowledge on the paper. Then the writer feels apologetic for not being able to put all the information on paper.

At times, the opposite incident happens when students feel doubts about their capability to put information in the paper because of their lack of time to explore the subject they discussed in the self-assessment essay sample. Writers must control their inclination to surrender themselves to such self-doubts.

 Doing so, they might reflect their thoughts in the presentation of the paper and divert the attention of the reader from the main content with unrelated words.

How to Start a Self-Evaluation Essay?

Beginning any composition is always the hardest part; self-analysis paper examples are no different. Whether a self-writing essay is a part of any academic writing  assessment or not, it is quite difficult to craft the first few lines of a personal self-assessment essay. Many students often feel clueless about how to begin an analysis essay.

One can also not deny that understanding the degree of self-reflection that a student must conduct to craft a composition on a 'self-analysis essay about yourself’ is the basis of self-writing the essay analysis.

This understanding of the essay on self-analysis answers all questions that may come to the writer’s or the student's mind, like how to write a self-assessment paper, how to write a self-evaluation essay, or how to start a self-evaluation essay.

Hence, one can recognise that composing an essay on self-analysis is an exceptional way of distinguishing how a specific idea or thought is formed and what features it has. A self-assessment paper example must begin with offering the basic knowledge on the subject and then lead on to taking measures to assess and present sensible proof. The self-assessment essay introduction must show the way the writer decides to shape their assessment and craft a persuasive paper.

Simply put, deciding how to begin an analysis essay is all about choosing the right approach to showcase oneself as a responsible person and the steps taken towards meeting specific goals and convincing the readers to agree to the same and applaud for the extent the English essay writer has come in the journey towards the goals. Here are some foolproof ways to begin self-analysis papers.

Step 1: Collect evidence of achievements and failures

While writing an essay about yourself, outline your achievements and failures. A personal analysis essay need not always be about a specific task done in an individual or group assignment.

Instead, it may include the list of daily chores, highlighting the ones that were achieved successfully and the ones that were missed out on the self-analysis papers. For example, one may talk about sending a thank you card to somebody or emailing someone to criticise their work. It may also include stacking up the late bills that are to be addressed later.

However, it is important to ensure that the proofs gathered are pertinent to the form of self-appraisal.

Step 2: Make a list of the rules you will use for the appraisal

It is essential to make a set of rules in the analysis essay format for self-appraising the work. The best way to get it done is by creating a list of two sets of information in the self-analysis papers – the expected set of responsibilities and earlier assessments. However, analysing essay structure and purpose is important to create a set of rules or lists. For example,

  • Appraisal of work- For creating self-analysis papers to appraise a work, it is beneficial to use a set of expected responsibilities that the writer must perform and past evaluations to make the benchmark in the self-assessment essay sample.
  • Self-improvement appraisal- If the critical analysis essay outline is for a self-improvement appraisal, it is important to create two separate records for writing the essay on self-analysis.
  • The first record must include the fascinating attributes one has attained to contribute to the job.
  • The second one must highlight theannoying features that the writer of the self-assessment paper example has survived throughout the appraisal period and is working hard to overcome.
  • Surveying advancement towards a variety of objectives– While one writes a self-writing essay that reviews the writer’s progression towards different objectives, and record the goals using transitional steps.

Step 3: Create another list

What is the worth of a personal analysis essay writing if it does not highlight the contrasting activities performed during the analysis period and showcase the writer’s talent completely? Hence, when confused about how to begin an analysis essay, it is important to note the activities that contrast with the ones on the primary list. However, while crafting a self-analysis essay titled – ‘self-assessment essay about yourself,’ one must be careful to note that every contrasting activity undertaken during the period of assessment has the same objective as that of the primary one.

Step 4: Outline the paper

The self-analysis  essay structure  must be made of separate parts; all of them must explore the writer’s objective of creating the self-assessment essay sample and the writer’s effort towards attaining it. There are several ways to build a self-analysis essay introduction  format .  

Method 1:   Disintegrating the objectives  - Breaking the single objective into parts like lesser objective and greater objective will help in creating a detailed outline, and hence, the queries regarding how to begin an analysis essay get answered in a better way.  

Method 2:   Grouping the related objectives  – Sometimes, a self-assessment paper example is created with multiple objectives in mind. In that case, arranging the critical analysis essay outline by segmenting the essay into parts that have relatable objectives helps in resolving any confusion that one may have, like - how to start a self-evaluation essay. Break the paper into areas that will each examine a fundamental objective and your advancement toward it.

For example, suppose an individual is writing   a self-analysis paper with examples of foolish inclinations that one needs to break. However, the writer may also want to discuss four other dreams in the self-assessment paper example that he wants to achieve to overcome the inclinations. Hence, it is clear that the self-assessment essay sample wants to discuss two separate objectives –

  • Get away with the foolish inclinations.
  • Make four other dreams come true.

To include both these objectives and the analysis of how far they are achieved in a personal analysis essay, one can group the related objectives into two primary segments and include subheadings. Then one can just choose a sensible plan to work and make it work to write the essay.  

Step 5: Compose a starter introduction

The final step that one can take to answer the budding queries - how to begin an analysis essay is to compose the analysing essay structure. The presentation of the self-assessment paper example may discuss the reasons why meeting the recorded objectives is crucial to the writer, or it may give a glimpse of how the writer has achieved the objectives and what it has brought to him.

What to Include in a Self-Assessment Essay Sample?

When a student or professional approaches expertsasking how to write a self-evaluation essay, they may get guidance on the chronology of steps to take to craft a solution. However, learning the steps to take to build a self-assessment paper does not teach enough about how to write a self-assessment paper. One needs to pay attention to the components to include in the self-analysing essay structure. Self-analysis papers must include the following elements:

List All Achievements

Before beginning an essay on self-analysis , save some effort to create a list of achievements that comes to mind.

Then while crafting a self-assessment essay introduction, select the most significant ones. Ensure that information can be estimated in terms of hours, numbers and rates. It will help to measure the contribution made in quantifiable terms.

If the self-writing essay is for professional assessment, one can talk about the work done on behalf of other employees or outside of the job duties that were not explored in the last self-assessment paper examples. Authorities of an organization audit all types of accomplishments while they consider the promotion of an employee.

List Areas of Improvement

Writing a self-assessment essay about yourself is not all about highlighting the qualities that one has to craft an excellent paper. It is also about the shortcomings of the individual. Hence it is better not to give any chance to the supervisor to present questions on the greatest shortcomings and better answer the misleading question in the personal self-assessment essay itself. However, finding the answer is tricky.

One way out is to ask colleagues to criticize the qualities and the shortcomings. Professionals will be amazed to find out many of their flaws that they did not notice. Then need to select the ones that they consider to be serious faults and combine them in a list to be included in the self-analysis example, along with significant plans for improvement. The senior executive of the organisation will then recognise the professional's readiness to take the initiative to solve the issue.

Don’t drag others

Own up to the mistakes. Dragging others into the game and highlighting what others could have done in the self-assessment essay sample never appeals to the examining officers. Instead, they will be more impressed if one offers a genuine response. However, if one feels that an associate is overloading others with work or working less, in that case, it is important to bring it in front of the supervisor but not through a personal analysis essay.

Highlight the goals

When someone is asked to craft a self-assessment essay, the essay does not mandate justifying past actions, but instead, it also asks the writer to talk about future goals. Supervisors examine the future objectives set for a given time frame and look for ways to provide opportunities for the employee to attain the objectives. One can figure out that their additional preparation, shadowing and referencing other materials in the outline of the essay about yourself can help them in creating a better impression.

Focus on significant qualities

A personal self-assessment essay does not require one to write a novel on the qualities the writer possesses. One may just simply center the essay on the significant qualities and achievements that are relatable to the academic curriculum or the professional work profile. Listing them by order of importance, beginning with the most significant one, gets the job done. It’s likewise a smart thought to list your achievements ordered by importance, beginning with the greatest ones first.

It is no wonder that developing the analyzing essay according to the structure is no child's play. Though the document will not pass for outside examination, only the supervisor or the teacher will inspect it, but self-analysis papers’ impact will chase the writer for a long time. Hence it is important to revise the solution before submission. Ensure that the sentences and paragraphs are connected. If writing an essay on yourself is not a forte, take the help of others for assistance.  

Self-Assessment Essay Sample

Still, confused about how to write a self-evaluation essay? Read self-analysis papers like the one stated below to understand the details. A simple reminder – it is just the body paragraph of a self-assessment paper example.

Theme -   Self-analysis of Writing an Essay

Title – Analysing my writing styles

My writing styles and habits for crafting a  personal analysis essay  or any academic and creative script were very wobbly prior to enrolling on this course. I would typically wait till the night before the document was due and start writing it at the last moment. Hence I was unable to conduct proper research on the subject or proofread the copies before and after the writing process. The papers got submitted full of errors in grammar and punctuation. As a result, my academic grades would subsequently lower. However, after taking up this course, my writing style has strengthened immensely, and my weaknesses have been reduced.

FAQs On Self Analysis Essay:

Q.1. how do i start a self-analysis essay.

You can start a self-analysis essay by brainstorming and listing the different aspects of your life that you want to reflect on, and then choosing one or two that you want to focus on in your essay. You can also start by writing an outline of your essay, which will help you organize your thoughts and ideas.

Q.2. What should I include in a self-analysis essay?

You should include your personal experiences, achievements, strengths, and weaknesses in your self-analysis essay. You can also include your personality traits, values, beliefs, and attitudes, among other aspects of your life that you want to reflect on.

Q.3. How do I organize my self-analysis essay?

You can organize your self-analysis essay in different ways, depending on the aspects of your life that you want to reflect on. One way to organize it is to write about each aspect of your life separately, such as your personal experiences, achievements, strengths, and weaknesses. Another way is to write about each aspect of your life in relation to each other, such as how your strengths and weaknesses have influenced your achievements.

Q.4. How do I reflect on my strengths and weaknesses?

You can reflect on your strengths and weaknesses by thinking about the things that you are good at and the things that you struggle with. You can also ask for feedback from others, such as friends, family members, or colleagues, to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Q.5. How do I write about my personal experiences?

You can write about your personal experiences by describing the events, people, and emotions that were involved. You can also reflect on what you learned from these experiences and how they have influenced your life.

Q.6. How do I write about my achievements?

You can write about your achievements by describing the goals that you set for yourself, the actions that you took to achieve them, and the outcomes that you achieved. You can also reflect on what you learned from these achievements and how they have influenced your life.

Q.7. How do I write about my values and beliefs?

You can write about your values and beliefs by describing the things that are important to you, the principles that guide your behavior, and the things that you believe in. You can also reflect on how your values and beliefs have influenced your decisions and actions.

Q.8. How can I make my self-analysis essay more effective?

You can make your self-analysis essay more effective by being honest and reflective, using specific examples to support your ideas, and being clear and concise in your writing. You can also proofread and edit your essay to ensure that it is well-organized and free of errors.

  • Published On 25 Oct, 2022 | Updated on 12 Dec, 2023

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Bella Phillips As a passionate blogger for Essay Help USA by #1 Writing Expert 50% Off.I am currently employed at a leading Business Law firm in White Plains. I am associated with Allessaywriter.com for several years and helping the Law students with their essays.

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Self-Evaluation of Essays

A Brief Guide to Evaluating Your Own Writing

  • Writing Essays
  • Writing Research Papers
  • English Grammar
  • Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
  • M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
  • B.A., English, State University of New York

You're probably used to having your writing evaluated by teachers. The odd abbreviations ("AGR," "REF," "AWK!"), the comments in the margins, the grade at the end of the paper--these are all methods used by instructors to identify what they see as the strengths and weaknesses of your work. Such evaluations can be quite helpful, but they're no substitute for a thoughtful self-evaluation .*

As the writer, you can evaluate the whole process of composing a paper, from coming up with a topic to revising and editing drafts . Your instructor, on the other hand, often can evaluate only the final product.

A good self-evaluation is neither a defense nor an apology. Rather, it's a way of becoming more aware of what you go through when you write and of what troubles (if any) that you regularly run into. Writing a brief self-evaluation each time you have completed a writing project should make you more aware of your strengths as a writer and help you see more clearly what skills you need to work on.

Finally, if you decide to share your self-evaluations with a writing instructor or tutor, your comments can guide your teachers as well. By seeing where you're having problems, they may be able to offer more helpful advice when they come to evaluate your work.

So after you finish your next composition , try writing a concise self-evaluation. The following four questions should help you get started, but feel free to add comments not covered by these questions.

A Self-Evaluation Guide

What part of writing this paper took the most time.

Perhaps you had trouble finding a topic or expressing a particular idea. Maybe you agonized over a single word or phrase. Be as specific as you can when you answer this question.

What is the most significant difference between your first draft and this final version?

Explain if you changed your approach to the subject, if you reorganized the paper in any significant way, or if you added or deleted any important details.

What do you think is the best part of your paper?

Explain why a particular sentence, paragraph, or idea pleases you.

What part of this paper could still be improved?

Again, be specific. There may be a troublesome sentence in the paper or an idea that isn't expressed as clearly as you would like it to be.

* Note to Instructors

Just as students need to learn how to conduct peer reviews effectively, they need practice and training in carrying out self-evaluations if the process is to be worthwhile. Consider Betty Bamberg's summary of a study conducted by Richard Beach.

In a study specifically designed to investigate the effect of teacher comment and self-evaluation on revision , Beach ["The Effects of Between-Draft Teacher Evaluation Versus Student Self-Evaluation on High School Students' Revising of Rough Drafts" in Research in the Teaching of English , 13 (2), 1979] compared students who used a self-evaluation guide to revise drafts, received teacher responses to drafts, or were told to revise on their own. After analyzing the amount and kind of revision that resulted with each of these instructional strategies, he found that students who received teacher evaluation showed a greater degree of change, higher fluency, and more support in their final drafts than students who used the self-evaluation forms. Moreover, students who used the self-evaluation guides engaged in no more revising than those who were asked to revise on their own without any assistance. Beach concluded the self-evaluation forms were ineffective because students had received little instruction in self-assessment and were not used to detaching themselves critically from their writing. As a result, he recommended that teachers "provide evaluation during the writing of drafts" (p. 119). (Betty Bamberg, "Revision." Concepts in Composition: Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing , 2nd ed., ed. by Irene L. Clarke. Routledge, 2012)

Most students need to conduct several self-evaluations at different stages of the writing process before they're comfortable "detaching themselves critically" from their own writing. In any case, self-evaluations shouldn't be regarded as substitutes for thoughtful responses from teachers and peers.

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Self-Evaluation Essay Exercises For Better Writing

EssayEdge > Blog > Self-Evaluation Essay Exercises For Better Writing

Admissions officers want to get to know you personally through your essays. How can they get to know who you really are if you yourself are not really sure? Here are some self-discovery tools and techniques that will help ensure that the schools are meeting the real you through your essays.

Table of Contents:

Interview Your Friends And Relatives

This can be a tough but very useful exercise. Use the following five questions, and encourage your interview subjects to be brutally honest:

  • How have you described me to people who have not met me?
  • What is the best thing anyone has ever told you about me?
  • What is the worst thing anyone has ever told you about me?
  • What do you think is my most unusual or unique character trait?
  • What was your initial impression of me when you first met me? How has that changed?

Write Down Your Thoughts And Feelings About Issues That Are Most Personal And Immediate

Most sixteen- and seventeen-year-old students are usually not as concerned with geopolitics and medieval literature as they are about more personal issues such as:

  • Self-esteem (approval and validation of self, ideas, and values)
  • Independence from parents
  • Academic and extracurricular success
  • Popularity and acceptance by a peer group
  • Loyalty, trust, and honesty

Set aside some time every day to be alone and reflect on your own thoughts and feelings about these issues. If you keep a diary or journal, excerpts from these writings may very well provide the genesis of a highly effective essay.

Self-Assessment Exercises

Chronological Method

This is the easiest and most basic exercise to use to develop ideas for your essay. Think back to your earliest memories and recount your experiences since childhood. What stands out in your mind? In the minds of family members and friends? Record the details around these experiences: what you achieved, what you learned, how you succeeded, and how you failed. This exercise will serve as a springboard for most of your essay question topics, since your experiences will involve personal growth, future goals, role models, accomplishments, failures, hobbies, etc. Whatever you choose to write about, make sure it has personal meaning to you. Do not write about what you think admissions officers want to hear. An honest, personal essay about how your first successful bicycle ride without training wheels served as the catalyst for your marked independence can be better than discussing how volunteering at your local soup kitchen has moved you to save the world.

Accomplishments

Admissions officers will want to see that there is more to you than your SAT scores and GPA. Therefore, it is important for you to find a way to differentiate yourself from the other qualified applicants. You can demonstrate that you are not just another pretty transcript by showing a completely different side of yourself through the nonacademic experiences, interests, and values that make you the person you are.

The key here is to get your reader to know and like you. Focus on what your experiences mean to you and how you have grown. Tie in relevant aspects of your personal or family life—without unloading embarrassing or intimate details on your reader. Show your strengths in new ways without restating the obvious. If you can demonstrate unusual maturity, sensitivity, and direction in your essay, you will be ahead of the game.

Skills/Personality Traits

Whether you apply to one or several colleges, the odds are quite high that you will be asked to discuss your strengths and weaknesses. Think of all different kinds of strengths. If you are good at math, consider discussing your keen analytical abilities. However, do not simply limit yourself to your technical ability. Show how you are also good at helping others understand math by tutoring your friends or leading group projects. Outside of school, think about your extracurricular activities. Write about your excellent writing skills by relating an anecdote about a front-page story you wrote for the school newspaper. Think about personal qualities, too. Most of all, do not be modest, since you are using the essay to sell yourself to people who have never met you.

Now for the hard part. When an essay prompt asks about your weaknesses, admissions officers want you to be candid and honest. However, remember that you are trying to be positive. Therefore, any time you write about a weakness, you should be able to state what you are doing about it. Do not make excuses for a weakness. Instead, tell the reader about what you are doing to fix it.

Before you choose to draw attention to a special interest or talent, be sure the school wants what you have to offer. Your finesse with a lacrosse stick will buy you nothing if you are applying to a college with no lacrosse team. Similarly, a college may have an orchestra but no need for cellists this year.

When you write about your talent, show your strengths without restating the obvious. Instead of rehashing the facts about the special lessons you take or the awards you have won, give the reader insight into your passion. For example, you can discuss:

  • What appeals to you about playing football, the flute, etc.
  • What you have learned about yourself as you have pursued your talent
  • How you have faced challenges and disappointments
  • How you plan to incorporate your talent into your life in college and beyond

In some instances, you may be able to demonstrate your talent firsthand. For example, you may want to send slides of your artwork or a taped recording of your musical ability. A trusted teacher in your area of special talent can help you prepare your demonstration.

Influences and Role Models

Begin by brainstorming with the people in your life that have impacted you the most. Chances are, you will have some obvious individuals on that list, including your mother, father, sister, brother, or teacher. Maybe you had a football coach who taught you to push yourself harder to succeed. Perhaps your minister helped you realize how worthwhile organizing a Thanksgiving food drive was to your community. The point is to stay away from people you think admissions officers will be impressed by, such as a noted politician or businessman who happens to be a family friend. Unless that person has made a significant impact on you, stay away from name-dropping.

Some applications will prompt you to discuss an influence or role model directly. For example:

  • If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, living or dead, whom would you choose and why?
  • What famous person do you esteem highest and why? This could be a remarkable statesman, scientist, businessperson, or anyone else.
  • What person that you know personally do you admire the most? What person in your life has most inspired you?

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Whatever person or people you choose, the point is the same. There are obvious answers that anyone could come up with, and it can be hard to find an original take on a familiar subject. As much as you admire Abraham Lincoln, did he really influence you in a personal way? Focus on how the person has impacted you, not on what he or she has done for others or for society in general.

EssayEdge Extra: Words of Wisdom from Admissions Officers

“The college admission process forces a student, probably for the first time, to be self-reflective. The admission process can be exciting because of the self-discovery and self-exploration it requires. You are provided with an opportunity to think carefully about yourself and to assess who you are and what you think you are becoming. Self-assessment and self-discovery are not easy, however. Recognize that this process is going to take time. Approach the admission process not as a hurdle but rather as an opportunity to learn about yourself.”— Admissions Officer, Grinnell College

If you don’t have an opportunity to hire a writing tutor to assess your writing skills, make use of the exercises we gave you. Practice them regularly to see the effect. Remember one key tip: always proofread your writing, especially when submitting a dissertation. If you lack the skills to do it, hire one of our experts. Our dissertation editing rates won’t hit your wallet.

Next:   Research the School

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Assessing Yourself, Honestly

It is necessary to appraise oneself to assess our path in life. here are some guidelines to make sure you are on the right track..

By Nando Pelusi Ph.D. published April 1, 2004 - last reviewed on June 9, 2016

Self-appraisal is a necessary activity for navigating a course through life. A conscious assessment of our goals , our behavior, our relationships, our performance in all domains ultimately enables self-improvement. It allows us to expand our options in life.

It does more. It’s another way of leading the examined life. You deepen the experience of the life you have.

Coming clean with your errors and learning to forgive yourself for them can become a lifelong habit. Through it, your relationship with yourself gets better and better.

After all, to whom does one go for self-help ?

But self-appraisal can be a treacherous enterprise. Most often, we avoid honestly assessing ourselves. There are several reasons. We tend towards inertia. Or we too easily allow ourselves to be distracted.

Further, we mortals are not really designed to objectively appraise ourselves. It can be painful, especially if we do it improperly. In the course of doing it, we definitely feel miserable. Add in the risk that we can overly self-appraise and get stuck there, endlessly evaluating everything we do.

Still, I recommend that you push to overcome inertia so that you can confront yourself. Only then can you seriously work to change what you can.

The things that are amenable to change normally include:

• How you spend your time and with whom,

• The quality of the time you spend with others

• Other choices you can make about your self, such as how you eat and how you drink

• Your performance in general and your performance towards your goals.

So, welcome to the art of self-appraisal.

As you push yourself to overcome inertia, you need to work against the tendency to feel discouraged and hopeless. Here are some action strategies that are geared toward success.

• The trick is to assess your behaviors and traits honestly—but not rate your inherent worthiness as a human being.

• Focus on corrections. Cognitively reframe correction as just that—corrections, rather than as failings.

• Look upon self-appraisal as identifying a new path for yourself and persistently trotting down it.

Psychologists describe relearning, or changing your emotions and behavior, as similar to retraining a horse along its route. If you ride a horse the same through a path every time, he will only reluctantly go down a new path. And every time the horse gets to that juncture, he will hesitate. It’s only with consistent stopping and guiding the horse down the path that he will unlearn the old and relearn the new.

• Talk sanely and forgivingly to yourself. Do not beat yourself up.

• Recognize the difference between yourself and your behaviors. Too often people make the error of thinking that because they beat themselves up, it’s better not to critique their performance at all. You won’t beat yourself up if you focus on the things that you do, not what you are.

• Pay attention to the labels you apply. The labels we use are often convenient symbols, but they don’t connote your entire existence.

Sometimes we allow a person’s whole being to be summed up in a label like “ alcoholic ,” even if the last drink he had was 30 years ago. Then, if he has a drink today, he’s seen as a failure, rather than someone who might be successfully controlling his behavior.

• Notice how you unwittingly label yourself when you are down and discouraged—but don’t let that mean lightening up on criticism of your performance. The worst thing you can do is let yourself slide and not engage in self-appraisal or label yourself as a bad person. Instead, aim for a third dimension—critiquing your performance while accepting yourself.

• Recognize that even bad performance is not totally bad.

• Don’t overvalue acute pain. Be aware of acute temporary feelings that bad events are permanent and awful.

Acute pain is commonly given undue weight. But often chronic persistent errors lead to far more pain in the long run. If, for example, you keep on gambling, that behavior will lead you to have more and larger problems than if you sat through the acute pain of changing now.

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How to Write an Effective Self-Assessment

  • Marlo Lyons

assess yourself essay

Don’t assume that your manager is aware of all you’ve accomplished. Here’s how to artfully highlight what you’ve done this year.

Writing a self-assessment can feel like an afterthought, but it’s a critical part of your overall performance review. Managers with many direct reports likely won’t have visibility into or remember all of your notable accomplishments from the year, and they don’t have time to read a long recap. The author offers five steps for drafting a self-assessment that covers your most impactful accomplishments and demonstrates self-awareness through a lens of improvement and development: 1) Focus on the entire year; 2) consider company and functional goals; 3) look for alignment with those goals; 4) seek feedback from colleagues; and 5) draft a concise list of accomplishments.

It’s performance review season for many companies, which means it’s time to reflect on the year and draft a self-assessment of your accomplishments. Writing an impactful self-assessment will set the tone for your manager’s evaluation of your work, which can affect your compensation (e.g., merit increase, bonus, etc.).

  • Marlo Lyons career, executive, and team coach and the award-winning author of Wanted – A New Career: The Definitive Playbook for Transitioning to a New Career or Finding Your Dream Job . You can reach her at www.marlolyonscoaching.com.

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How to Write a Self Evaluation (With Examples)

assess yourself essay

Self evaluations are performance assessments that bring you and your manager together to rate your performance over a given time span (quarterly, semi-annually, annually) either using a scale (one to 10 or one to five) or by answering open-ended questions. You complete the evaluation and so does your manager. During the performance review , the two of you compare notes to arrive at a final evaluation.

What Is a Self Evaluation?

Self evaluations are performance assessments that both employees and managers complete. They can be done quarterly, semi-annually or annually, and range from open-ended questions discussed to ratings given on a numeric scale.

Writing about yourself, especially if those words are going to be part of your permanent work record, can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, self evaluations give you a voice in your performance review , and they’re opportunities to outline your career goals and get help in reaching them.

Below, we’ll examine self evaluation benefits, tips and examples, plus how both employees and managers can complete them successfully.

More on Self Evaluations Self-Evaluations Make Stronger Leaders. Here’s How to Write One.

Benefits of Self Evaluations 

Benefits of employee self evaluations include:  

1. Help Employees and Managers Prepare for Performance Reviews

Completing a self evaluation can help guide the eventual performance-review conversation in a structured, but meaningful, way. It also helps both parties get an idea of what needs to be discussed during a performance review, so neither feels caught off guard by the conversation.

2. Give Employees an Opportunity to Reflect on Their Progress

Since self evaluations are inherently reflective, they allow employees to identify and examine their strengths and weaknesses. This helps employees both know their worth to an organization and what they still have left to learn. 

“Self evaluations enable employees to see their work in its entirety,” Jill Bowman, director of people at fintech company Octane , said. “They ensure that employees reflect on their high points throughout the entire year and to assess their progress towards achieving predetermined objectives and goals.” 

3. Help Managers Track Employee Accomplishments

Employee self assessments help managers more accurately remember each employee’s accomplishments. “As many managers often have numerous direct reports, it provides a useful summary of the achievements of each member,” Bowman said. 

4. Improve Employee Satisfaction

Academic literature indicates that employees are more satisfied with evaluations that involve two-way communication and encourage a conversation between manager and employee, according to Thomas Begley, professor of management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute . 

The thing is, employees have to trust that the process is fair, Begley added. If they believe it is, and they’re treated fairly and respectfully during the process, employees react positively to self evaluations.

5. Can Decrease Employee Turnover

Some companies see tangible results from self evaluations. For example, Smarty , an address-verification company, enjoys low staff turnover, said Rob Green, chief revenue officer. The self-evaluation method, coupled with a strong focus on a communication-based corporate culture, has resulted in a 97 percent retention rate, Green told Built In.

Related 6 Ways to Be More Confident in Performance Reviews

How to Write a Self Evaluation

The ability to write a self evaluation is a critical career skill.

“Self evaluations give you a platform to influence your manager and in many cases, reframe the nature of the relationship with your manager,” Richard Hawkes, CEO and founder of Growth River , a leadership and management consulting company, said. “And all results in business happen in the context of relationships.”

Below are some tips on how to complete a self evaluation.  

1. Track Your Work and Accomplishments

Daily or weekly tracking of your work can help you keep track of your progress and also prevent last-minute “what on earth did I do the last six months?” panic at performance evaluation time, said Peter Griscom, CEO at Tradefluence . “Strip down the questions to two or three, and just ask yourself, ‘How well did I communicate today?’ ‘How well did I solve problems today?’ ‘What have I achieved today?’” Griscom said. “Get in the habit of writing those things out and keeping track and over time.”

2. Answer Honestly  

For his first self evaluation, Griscom remembers wondering how to best answer the questions. After he asked his manager for guidance, Griscom answered the questions as accurately as he could. “What came out of it was really valuable, because it gave me a chance to reflect on my own achievements and think about where I can improve,” he said. “It forced me to do the thinking instead of just accepting feedback.”  

3. Highlight Your Achievements

If your boss has a handful of direct reports, chances are good they haven’t noticed each of your shining moments during a review period. This is your chance to spotlight yourself. Quotas exceeded, projects finished ahead of schedule, fruitful mentoring relationships, processes streamlined — whatever you’ve done, share it, and don’t be shy about it, said Alexandra Phillips , a leadership and management coach. Women, especially, tend not to share achievements and accomplishments as loudly or often as they should. “Make sure your manager has a good sense of where you’ve had those wins, large and small, because sometimes they can fly under the radar,” Phillips added.

Related What Are Short-Term Career Goals? (With 12 Examples)

4. Admit Weaknesses and How You Have Grown 

If you’ve made a whopper mistake since your past review, mention it — and be sure to discuss what you’ve learned from it. Chances are good your manager knows you made a mistake, and bringing it up gives you the opportunity to provide more context to the situation.

5. Acknowledge Areas of Improvement

Be prepared for your manager to point out a few areas for improvement. This is where career growth happens. “If you want something,” whether it’s a promotion or move to another department, “you need to know how to get there,” said Phillips.

Related Long-Term Career Goals: How to Set a Successful Development Plan

Self Evaluation Examples and Templates Answers

Still not sure what to do when you put pen to paper? Here are six open-ended self evaluation sample questions from the Society for Human Resource Management, as well as example answers you can use to prepare for your own self evaluation.  

Job Performance Examples

List your most significant accomplishments or contributions since last year. How do these achievements align with the goals/objectives outlined in your last review?

How to answer with positive results: In the past year, I successfully led our team in finishing [project A]. I was instrumental in finding solutions to several project challenges, among them [X, Y and Z]. When Tom left the company unexpectedly, I was able to cover his basic tasks until a replacement was hired, thus keeping our team on track to meet KPIs. 

I feel the above accomplishments demonstrate that I have taken more of a leadership role in our department, a move that we discussed during my last performance review.

How to answer with ways to improve: Although I didn’t meet all of my goals in the last year, I am working on improving this by changing my workflow and holding myself accountable. I am currently working to meet my goals by doing [X, Y and Z] and I plan to have [project A] completed by [steps here]. I believe that I will be able to correct my performance through these actionable steps. 

Describe areas you feel require improvement in terms of your professional capabilities. List the steps you plan to take and/or the resources you need to accomplish this.

I feel I could do better at moving projects off my desk and on to the next person without overthinking them or sweating details that are not mine to sweat; in this regard I could trust my teammates more. I plan to enlist your help with this and ask for a weekly 15-minute one-on-one meeting to do so.

Identify two career goals for the coming year and indicate how you plan to accomplish them.

One is a promotion to senior project manager, which I plan to reach by continuing to show leadership skills on the team. Another is that I’d like to be seen as a real resource for the organization, and plan to volunteer for the committee to update the standards and practices handbook.  

Leadership Examples

Since the last appraisal period, have you successfully performed any new tasks or additional duties outside the scope of your regular responsibilities? If so, please specify.

How to answer with positive results: Yes. I have established mentoring relationships with one of the younger members of our team, as well as with a more seasoned person in another department. I have also successfully taken over the monthly all-hands meeting in our team, trimming meeting time to 30 minutes from an hour and establishing clear agendas and expectations for each meeting. Again, I feel these align with my goal to become more of a leader.

How to answer with ways to improve: Since the last review period, I focused my efforts on improving my communication with our team, meeting my goals consistently and fostering relationships with leaders in other departments. Over the next six months, I plan on breaking out of my comfort zone by accomplishing [X, Y and Z]. 

What activities have you initiated, or actively participated in, to encourage camaraderie and teamwork within your group and/or office? What was the result?

How to answer with positive results: I launched the “No More Panicked Mondays” program to help on-site and remote colleagues make Mondays more productive. The initiative includes segmenting the day into 25-minute parts to answer emails, get caught up on direct messages, sketch out to-do lists and otherwise plan for the week ahead. NMPM also includes a 15-minute “Weekend Update” around lunch time, during which staff shares weekend activities. Attendance was slow at first but has picked up to nearly 90 percent participation. The result overall for the initiative is more of the team signs on to direct messages earlier in the day, on average 9:15 a.m. instead of the previous 10 a.m., and anecdotally, the team seems more enthusiastic about the week. I plan to conduct a survey later this month to get team input on how we can change up the initiative.

How to answer with ways to improve: Although I haven’t had the chance to lead any new initiatives since I got hired, I recently had an idea for [A] and wanted to run it by you. Do you think this would be beneficial to our team? I would love to take charge of a program like this. 

Professional Development Examples

Describe your professional development activities since last year, such as offsite seminars/classes (specify if self-directed or required by your supervisor), onsite training, peer training, management coaching or mentoring, on-the-job experience, exposure to challenging projects, other—please describe.

How to answer with positive results: I completed a class on SEO best practices and shared what I learned from the seminar during a lunch-and-learn with my teammates. I took on a pro-bono website development project for a local nonprofit, which gave me a new look at website challenges for different types of organizations. I also, as mentioned above, started two new mentoring relationships.

How to answer with ways to improve: This is something I have been thinking about but would like a little guidance with. I would love to hear what others have done in the past to help me find my footing. I am eager to learn more about [A] and [B] and would like to hear your thoughts on which courses or seminars you might recommend. 

Related How to Find the Right Mentor — and How to Be One

Types of Self Evaluations

Self evaluations can include rating scale questions, open-ended questions or a hybrid of both. Each approach has its own set of pros and cons to consider.  

1. RATING SELF EVALUATION 

Rating scale self evaluations give a list of statements where employees are asked to rate themselves on a scale of one to five or one to ten (generally the higher the number, the more favorable the rating). 

For example, in Smarty’s self evaluations, it uses a tool called 3A+. This one calls for employees and managers to sit down and complete the evaluation together, at the same time. Employees rate themselves from 3, 2 or 1 (three being the best) on their capability in their role; A, B or C on their helpfulness to others, and plus or minus on their “diligence and focus” in their role. Managers rate the employees using the same scale. A “perfect” score would be 3A+, while an underperforming employee would rate 2B-.

At the performance evaluation meeting, managers and employees compare their ratings, and employees ask for feedback on how they can improve.

But rating systems can have their challenges that are often rooted in bias . For example, women are more likely to rate themselves lower than men. People from individualistic cultures, which emphasize individuals over community, will rate themselves higher than people from collectivist cultures, which place a premium on the group rather than the individual.

2. OPEN-ENDED QUESTION SELF EVALUATION

Open-ended questions ask employees to list their accomplishments, setbacks and goals in writing. The goal of open-ended questions is to get employees thinking deeply about their work and where they need to improve. 

Open-ended questions allow employees a true voice in the process, whereas “self ratings” can sometimes be unfair , Fresia Jackson, lead research people scientist at Culture Amp , said. 

With open-ended questions, employees tend to be more forgiving with themselves, which can be both good and bad. Whatever result open ended questions bring about, they typically offer more fodder for discussion between employees and managers.  

3. HYBRID SELF EVALUATION

Hybrid self evaluations combine both rating questions and open-ended questions, where employees assess their skills and accomplishments by using a number scale and by answering in writing. This type of self evaluation lets employees provide quantitative and qualitative answers for a more holistic reflection. 

Self-Evaluation Questions for Performance Reviews

If you’ve never done a self evaluation, or if you just need a refresher before your next performance review, looking over some examples of self evaluation questions — like the ones below — can be a helpful starting point.  

Common SELF-EVALUATION QUESTIONS FOR PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

  • What are you most proud of?
  • What would you do differently?
  • How have you carried out the company’s mission statement?
  • Where would you like to be a year from now?
  • List your skills and positive attributes.
  • List your accomplishments, especially those that impacted others or moved you toward goals.
  • Think about your mistakes and what you’ve learned from them.
  • What are your opportunities to grow through advancement and/or learning?
  • How do the above tie to your professional goals?

SELF-EVALUATION QUESTIONS FOR CAREER PLANNING AND GROWTH 

  • What are you interested in working on?
  • What are you working on now?
  • What do you want to learn more about?
  • How can I as your manager better support you?
  • What can the company do to support your journey?
  • How can the immediate team support you?
  • What can you do to better support the team and the company? 

SELF-EVALUATION QUESTIONS FOR PERFORMANCE AND CAREER GOALS

  • How did you perform in relation to your goals?
  • What level of positive impact did your performance have on the team?
  • Did your performance have a positive impact on the business?
  • What was your level of collaboration with other departments?
  • What corporate value do you bring to life?
  • What corporate value do you most struggle to align with?
  • Summarize your strengths.
  • Summarize your development areas.
  • Summarize your performance/achievements during this year.
  • How would you rate your overall performance this year? 

Related How to Set Professional Goals

How Should Managers Approach Self Evaluations?

It’s clear here that self evaluations, as a type of performance review, are more employee- than manager-driven. That said, managers are a key ingredient in this process, and the way managers handle self evaluations determines much about how useful they are and how well employees respond to them. To make sure they’re as effective as possible, consider these suggestions.  

Train Managers on How to Use Evaluations

“If you don’t, there’s no point in doing them, because the manager is going to be the one driving the conversations,” Elisabeth Duncan, vice president of human resources at Evive, said. “Without training, the [evaluations] will be a checkbox and not meaningful.”

Don’t Use Ratings Formulaically

The results of self evaluations that employ a scale (say, one to five) can vary wildly, as one manager’s three is another manager’s five. Use the scale to identify and address discrepancies between the manager’s and employee’s answers, not to decide on raises or promotions across the company. 

Hold Self Evaluations Often

They work best as career-development tools if they’re held semi-annually, quarterly or even more often. “It’s about an ongoing, consistent conversation,” Duncan said. 

Tailor Them For Each Department

Competencies in sales very likely differ from competencies in tech, marketing and other departments. Competencies for junior-level employees probably differ wildly from those for senior managers. Self evaluations tailored to different employee populations will be more effective, and fairer. 

Stress That the Rating Is Just the Start

The rating or the open-ended questions are the beginning of the evaluation process; they are not the process itself. “These are tools to trigger a conversation,” Duncan said.

Overall, think of self evaluations as a way to engage with your manager and your work in a way that furthers your career. Embrace the self evaluation and get good at writing them. In no time at all, you’ll find that they can be a productive way to reflect on yourself and your skillset. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a self evaluation.

A self evaluation is a personal assessment used for employees to reflect on their strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments and overall progress during an allotted time on the job.

Self evaluations are often completed quarterly, semi-annually or annually, and can include numbered rating questions or open-ended written questions.

How do you write a good self evaluation?

An effective self evaluation is one where you highlight your achievements and instances of growth as well as areas for improvement during your given period of time at work. Tracking specific accomplishments and metrics can be especially helpful for writing a good self evaluation.

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Essay About Assessment: Top 5 Examples Plus Prompts

Assessment is crucial for improving oneself or one’s work; if you are writing an essay about assessment, these examples should inspire you.

What does the word “assessment” mean? Whether in an educational, social, or business setting, assessment involves an evaluation or judgment of someone or something. Whether you are being assessed or the assessor, trying to achieve a goal is essential. It is an opportunity to practice your abilities and learn from the outcome.

If you are writing an essay about assessment, look at the examples, and helpful writing prompts featured below for inspiration. 

Are you looking for more? Check out our guide packed full of transition words for essays

Grammarly

1. Why You Should Make Time for Self-Reflection (Even If You Hate Doing It) by Jennifer Porter

2. grief therapy: how to identify loss in psychological assessments by edy nathan, 3. when feeling trapped, assess the situation by rita watson, 4. self assessment paper by naomi moody, 5. to promote inclusivity, stay away from personality assessments by quinisha jackson-wright, prompts on essay about assessment, 1. what is the importance of assessment, 2. can assessment have a negative impact on students, 3. what are some critical applications of assessment, 4. what’s the difference between reflection and assessment, 5. how can you better assess yourself, your peers, and your surroundings.

“At its simplest, reflection is about careful thought. But the kind of reflection that is really valuable to leaders is more nuanced than that. The most useful reflection involves the conscious consideration and analysis of beliefs and actions for the purpose of learning. Reflection gives the brain an opportunity to pause amidst the chaos, untangle and sort through observations and experiences, consider multiple possible interpretations, and create meaning.”

Porter explains the importance of the occasional self-assessment. She also gives tips about properly assessing your thoughts and actions, including keeping a schedule and asking for help from others. By assessing yourself, you can be more productive, give your life purpose, and improve on your weaknesses. 

“Ten of my colleagues shared how they didn’t mention grief but instead discussed the presenting issues, like anxiety or depression, and helped clients stay focused on responding to the symptoms through self-talk and staying present in the face of their issues..”

This essay relates to psychological assessments. Nathan gives her fellow therapists tips on assessing patients’ feelings of grief, loss, anxiety, loneliness, and depression. When talking to someone affected by these, it is helpful not to mention these words outright. Nathan also recommends reminding others that you are there for them, and they can talk to you anytime. Therapists need to be able to assess people well, help them address their issues, and handle grief calmly, professionally, and charitably. 

“Assessing the situation is like looking at a roadmap after making a serious effort at information gathering. It is a time to examine facts, emotions, and every bit of practical advice in order to make the best decision you can at the time.”

Watson’s essay discusses the importance of assessing one’s situation and surroundings: it can help you become more confident and prepared for the future. Like Porter, she gives tips for assessment, including self-reflection, doing research, and looking at the situation from all perspectives. In addition, she provides excellent insight on assessing situations and how it is helpful to do so, including one in which students feel lonely in college without their childhood/teenage friends.

“My area of strength is my drive and determination to complete anything I start and my willingness to keep persevering. I have always held on to the statement that nobody has to become the product of their environment.”

Moody assesses her strengths and weaknesses in this brief essay. She has improved communication, time management, assertiveness, and assertiveness. She wants to work on writing and composition skills. As a career in mental health services, she aims to be able to translate her thoughts onto paper.

“When trying to gauge an employee’s work style and how they will fit in and work with others, a personality assessment offers little more insight than a “Which Game of Thrones Character Are You?” Facebook quiz.”

Jackson-Wright discusses why “personality assessments” are inaccurate criteria for hiring; they are supposedly biased towards attributes prevalent in some cultures and not others. In addition, personality differences lead to only certain types of people getting hired. 

She points out the unfairness of this system: people are rejected without any opportunity to prove themselves. It is not a test that proves someone’s worth; it is the work they contribute. 

This essay will delve into the importance of assessment in different scenarios—Research the importance of assessment in school, in the workplace, and when learning any new skill. 

Provide analysis of how assessments can help a person grow in learning and provide an understanding of areas that require improvement. Pick a side of the argument and decide if assessment helps or hinders learning. Use research statistics to back up your opinion for a compelling essay.

One opinion of assessment is that it can be detrimental to students’ success. This essay examines the negative effects of assessment in school or college. Gather opinions and data showing if environments with higher or lower assessment levels create more successful students. An interesting topic to look into is whether assessment creates perfectionism and anxiety in students or perhaps it creates healthy competition and drive.

Essay About Assessment: What are some critical applications of assessment?

An assessment can be made almost everywhere for yourself or your surroundings. Critical assessment describes the evaluation of a theory, situation, or statement. For example, you can critically assess a scientific theory that is yet to be proven. In addition, critical assessment is vital for the analysis of hypotheticals and situations. Another example of critical assessment is a judge ruling in court. The judge critically assesses the situation and decides the ruling based on their analysis.

In your essay, write about the benefit of critical assessment, research its applications, and delve into why it is essential in society.

The essay examples show that reflection and assessment can be used. Reflection refers to looking at a situation, assessing if there are ways to improve it, and taking action yourself. 

Assessment refers to a test of sorts- where you are graded, evaluated, and given feedback.

In your essay, compare reflection and assessment, and decide which is more critical for self-improvement. Back up your opinion with research, data, or interviews for a compelling essay,

Assessment helps you find room for improvement in specific areas. In this essay, think about the ways assessment could improve your life. Look into how assessment could help you grow as a person and how your peers and surroundings could also benefit from this.

You can write about certain practices people can use to assess themselves better, others, situations, and surroundings. However, note that “too-high” standards are not ideal. 

If you’d like to learn more, in this guide, our writer explains how to write an argumentative essay .

assess yourself essay

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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15 Self-Assessment Examples for Students

self-assessment examples and definition, explained below

Self-assessment is when we analyze our own behavior. It is a way for us to understand how we are doing at something.

People who self-assess will examine their current level of performance on a given dimension in order to see how they can improve.

We can compare our performance to a known standard or our own set of goals. That evaluation will enable us to identify our strengths and weaknesses, and help us chart a path of progress.

Self-assessment can be applied in just about any context. For example, we can assess our level of fitness, how we perform during a job interview, or if we are easy to work with, or not.

Definition of Self-Assessment

Brown and Harris (2013, p. 368) defined self-assessment in a school context as a “descriptive and evaluative act carried out by the student concerning his or her own work and academic abilities” . 

Making a judgment regarding our own abilities is easier said than done. If we want to know the truth, then we need an objective assessment.

That’s not easy to do when it comes to our own performance, because:

  • Some people may have a positive bias about their abilities and give themselves high ratings when that might not be deserved.
  • Other people are very critical of themselves and may be overly harsh.  

Ideally, evaluations should come from professionals with a lot of training and experience. However, that’s not always convenient and it can also be expensive. So, although self-assessments are not ideal, they are very practical.

Student Self-Assessment Examples

1. keeping a diary.

If you’re not sure how to self-assess, the first step could be to keep a diary of what you’ve been doing. This is a form of personal reflection that allows you to pause and assess your progress.

There are also some great self-assessment diaries out there, such as the various reflective teaching diaries, that provide prompting questions such as “what is your mood right now?” and “what’s something you did that you were proud of today?”

These moments of self-reflection also act as moments of self-assessment . While you reflect, you also pause to assess your actions and what you could have done differently to change outcomes next time. In this process, you can learn to more effectively self-regulate and incrementally improve.

2. Self-Reflection After a Meeting

None of us want to be labeled as “difficult” or “lazy”. So, after a meeting, it is a good idea to take a few moments and reflect on how we did. Were we attentive? Did we participate enough, or did we talk too much? Were we argumentative and unreasonable, or did we make constructive comments?

One of the most difficult challenges of work is getting along with colleagues. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone wants to pursue their own agenda.

In addition to that, everyone has a different personality. Some of those personalities might be difficult to deal with, day in and day out.

So, understanding how we are to work with is important.

Work consumes most of our lives. Having a successful career is essential to so many other aspects of our happiness. Therefore, reflecting on how we act in meetings can go a long way to helping us be more respectful and conciliatory.

See More: Self-Reflection Examples

3. Recording Your Presentation at Work

One form of self-assessment that can be extremely valuable is to record our presentations. It can be a sales pitch or product proposal, or just about anything else. There is probably no better way to evaluate our performance than recording it.

We can make observations about our intonation and rate of speech, in addition to our posture and any odd mannerisms we might exhibit. Of course, we can ask a trusted colleague to watch and give us a few insights as well.

Surprisingly, based on some research findings, there may not always be agreement between our self-assessment and what our peers think (Campbell et al., 2001).  

4. Filming your Sports Performance

In the same way that you can record a business presentation, you can also record yourself participating in sports to watch it back.

In fact, professional sportspeople and their coaches like tennis players, football players, and baseball batters will all film themselves to see how they performed.

They might be looking at their stance in tennis to see if they’ve got the right posture. In baseball, they may be looking at the position of the shoulders and elbows when the batter swings his bat. These observations can help shape a sportsperson’s self-concept so they have a realistic idea of their abilities.

By watching their actions, the sportspeople can assess their own actions and see themselves from a new perspective. It gives them the opportunity to see things about their actions that they couldn’t see in the moment.

5. Tracking Your Gym Workouts

Recording your daily workouts at the gym is another form of self-assessment. This will help you assess your current status and also help you become aware of your rate of progress.

Back in the old days, people used to carry clipboards around with them at the gym. After finishing each set, they would write down how much weight they lifted and the number of reps. It was also a good excuse to take a breather.

Of course, in this century, there’s an APP for that. Instead of using a paper worksheet and wooden pencil that was made by killing trees and destroys the environment, you can use an electronic version on your smartphone that was made with rare earth minerals and child labor.  

6. Tracking Personal Growth 

Personal growth is a long-term process. The goal is to make continuous progress over time. That can mean months or even years.

Over time, we can continuously make improvements in our sense of well-being, state of mind, or even our spirituality. 

Assessing your personal growth can be on any dimension of life you want. It can be about our sense of well-being, our level of knowledge, level of spirituality, or anything else that is deeply important to you.

First, you determine where you are now and where you want to be in the future. This will help you identify your goals and set targets. Make sure that your targets are realistic and feasible, and phrased in a way that is measurable. For example, don’t just say that you “want to learn more about history.” Instead, say that your goal is to take a university course or read two books on the Roman Empire.

Phrasing your personal growth goal in a concrete manner makes them easy to determine if they have been accomplished or not. Furthermore, when they are accomplished, you can see it, and this will help you build your own self-efficacy .

7. Using a Fitness App

There are so many fitness apps available today that you can find one, or a couple thousand, that will suit your needs just fine.

Generally speaking, these apps fall into one of three categories: nutrition, workout, and activity.

These apps will allow you to become more aware of your nutritional intake, chart your progress at the gym, or record how long and how far you walk or run. Fitness apps are a great way to assess if you are making progress on any of these health dimensions, or if you are just maintaining the status quo .

It’s an example of elf-assessment in the palm of your hand.

8. Participating in a Mock Job Interview

Before going into a job interview, people will often practice in a mock interview to self-assess their performance in order to improve before the big event!

Job interviews can be a bit stressful. There is a lot riding on your performance, especially if it is for a job that you really want. Plus, you only have one shot. If you fail the first interview, you will not get called back for another.

Many universities have career centers that offer students an opportunity to receive valuable coaching regarding their job interview performance. This involves going through a mock interview with an experienced professional.

Afterward, the coach and student will discuss the results together. Participating in a mock interview is a fantastic way to assess your strengths and weaknesses, and just might help you land a great job.

9. Comparing Your Work with Others  

One of the best ways to know how good you are is by comparing your performance with others. This is a kind of self-assessment by way of social comparison.

For example, after spending a ton of time on an essay, it is easy to be so immersed in it that you lose objectivity. You may think that you have really nailed it. However, instead of waiting to get the essay back from your teacher, it is a good idea to see an example of a paper that was already completed and evaluated as being very good.

You can then compare and contrast that essay with yours . Maybe the literature review in the really good essay went into much more detail than you thought was necessary. Or, maybe it contained charts and graphs that yours did not.

This form of self-assessment can be very informative.

10. Hiring a Life Coach

A life coach is an expert on helping people get the most out of their lives. A life coach can help someone improve their career, romantic relationship, or even offer advice on how to handle day-do-day affairs.

Every life coach is different, but generally speaking they will construct a very holistic assessment of a client by conducting in-depth conversations with them and maybe even make direct observations over an extended period of time. This will give them enough information to make suggestions and provide guidance. They will even take their services one step further and help the client implement those changes.  

So, if you are looking for a comprehensive assessment of your life, something that is also very practical and forward-looking, then a life coach may be exactly what you need.

11. Career Aptitude Test  

A career aptitude test is a simple questionnaire that asks about your interests, values, skills, and personality characteristics. It then uses that data to identify different careers that would be a good match to your profile.

It is a great self-assessment tool that can offer some career guidance. You can discover which professions are most suited to your unique profile. The results can be surprising. You just might discover that people like you do very well in a certain job you would have never considered before.

These sorts of self-assessments are often given to students graduating from high school. High school students are at a phase in their life where a decision about what sort of career they want to do is at the front of mind. So, it’s the perfect time to take one of these tests.

12. Taking the Big Five Personality Traits Inventory

A personality trait is a consistent way that a person acts and feels. The Big Five personality traits are considered to be the most commonly occurring. They consist of: extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness , and neuroticism. Everyone has these 5 traits to one degree or another.

Research has investigated how these traits relate to an incredibly wide range of subject matter, from leadership style to quality of romantic relationships and everything in between. Not only are the Big Five consistent across diverse cultures, but they have considerable stability across the lifespan as well (Rantanen et al., 2007).

Fortunately, there are many versions of this inventory available online. Most have reasonable reliability and validity. So, if you wish to conduct a personality self-assessment, there are many options to choose from.

13. Using a Wellness Wheel

A Wellness Wheel is a form of self-assessment that examines all aspects of our life. Most wheels include seven dimensions: spiritual, emotional, professional, intellectual, social, physical, and environmental.

Wellness wheels are very popular because they can provide a snapshot of our current status from a broad perspective.

By examining the status of our life on these seven dimensions, we can increase our self-awareness . If that analysis leads to the conclusion that we need change, then the wellness wheel will show us wear to focus most of our effort.

The Wellness Wheel is an example of a very holistic approach to self-assessment. It doesn’t require a trained professional either, and many versions are available online.

14. Metacognitive Strategies

Metacognition refers to the act of thinking about thinking. It requires you to reflect on how you went about a task and identify pros, cons, and alternatives to the way you went about the task.

For example, if you had just had an argument with a friend, metacognition might involve reflecting on how you lost your cool and started saying things you regretted. You can think about why you followed that thought path, and how you might have been able to de-fuse the situation in the future.

Another example is reflecting on your own learning style. You may have tried to study for a test using reading, leading to a poor test score. Upon reflection, you may realize you were getting very tired when reading; and as a result, next time you are going to try to study by watching lecture videos instead of reading.

15. Taking a Myers-Briggs Test

A Myers-Briggs test is a personality test that can help you to understand your own personality and the personalities of others.

The test assesses you against 16 different personality types, and each type has its own strengths and weaknesses.

The Myers-Briggs test can help you to find out your own personality type, and it can also be used to improve communication and team work by understanding the different strengths and weaknesses of each personality type.

Thus, while the tool is doing the assessment, by self-administering this test, you’re actually self-evaluating in order to learn more about yourself and how you interact with the people around you.

Self-assessment can help us get a better handle on where we are in life or in our profession. Examining our status quo can help us identify our strengths and the areas that we should try to improve.

Self-assessment comes in many forms. It can include modern technology such as fitness apps, or old-school tech like making a video recording. There are also forms that don’t involve any technology at all. Hiring a real live person to be your life coach may be a bit pricey, but it is a long-term strategy that can be personal and totally centered on your needs.

No matter your preference or goals, there are many self-assessment methods available.

Andrade HL (2019) A Critical Review of Research on Student Self-Assessment. Frontiers in Education, 4(87). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00087

Brown, G. T., and Harris, L. R. (2013). Student self-assessment. In J. H. McMillan (Ed.), Sage Handbook of Research on Classroom Assessment , pp. 367-393. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452218649.n21

Campbell, K. S., Mothersbaugh, D. L., Brammer, C., & Taylor, T. (2001). Peer versus self- assessment of oral business presentation performance. Business Communication Quarterly , 64 (3). https://doi.org/10.1177/108056990106400303

John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big-Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (Vol. 2, pp. 102–138). New York: Guilford Press.

Muntaner-Mas, A., Martinez-Nicolas, A., Lavie, C.J. et al. (2019). A systematic review of fitness apps and their potential clinical and sports utility for objective and remote assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness. Sports Medicine, 49 , 587–600. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-019-01084-y

Rantanen, J., Metsäpelto, R. L., Feldt, T., Pulkkinen, L. E. A., & Kokko, K. (2007). Long‐term stability in the Big Five personality traits in adulthood. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology , 48 (6), 511-518. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.2007.00609.x

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Dave Cornell (PhD)

Dr. Cornell has worked in education for more than 20 years. His work has involved designing teacher certification for Trinity College in London and in-service training for state governments in the United States. He has trained kindergarten teachers in 8 countries and helped businessmen and women open baby centers and kindergartens in 3 countries.

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This article was peer-reviewed and edited by Chris Drew (PhD). The review process on Helpful Professor involves having a PhD level expert fact check, edit, and contribute to articles. Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. Dr. Drew has published over 20 academic articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education and holds a PhD in Education from ACU.

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The Lasting Value of the Personal Essay

This writing form has a value that goes beyond the college application as it nurtures self-reflection and inspires creativity.

Teenager working on a laptop while looking out a window

I still remember my own personal essay that I wrote decades ago during my college admissions process. My essay focused on movies and how movies were a conduit of curiosity. It was also about the death of my father and how movies, in part, had provided a common ground for us—a connection. Although my essay, of course, was not the sole determining factor in my admission, it’s a predominant memory from that time of my life. To this day, I feel it had a persuasive effect on my admittance.

In fact, now looking back, I can’t recall my grade point average or my class rank or the final grade that my English teacher gave me on my literary analysis of Heart of Darkness. Even my exact SAT score, back then a real measure of academic aptitude, remains fuzzy to me all these years later, “shaded in wistful half-lights,” as described by Norman Maclean. I can, however, remember nearly every sentence, if not quite every word, of the personal essay I submitted to my first-choice college, which has undoubtedly, for me, over the years remained one of the most important pieces of writing I have ever produced.

The personal essay is an enduring literary genre and an art form that provides often-challenging material in English classes. In my Advanced Placement Language and Composition course, we frequently read works from an array of authors from various eras, including Michel de Montaigne, Virginia Woolf, E. B. White, Joan Didion, André Aciman, Brian Doyle, Dr. Oliver Sacks. These writers function as exemplars for my students to both analyze and model not only for their rhetorical value but also for their stylistic technique and philosophical ruminations.

Power of Personalization

One of the most predominant rhetorical strategies we recognize in these texts is personalization. And so Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth” has impacted my students throughout the years with its frank depiction of psychological tension, addressing philosophical themes on an existential level that never fail to capture their attention—so much so, that a group of students painted a mural on the wall outside my classroom, a visual interpretation of Woolf’s essay that they titled Memento Mori .

The candor and intimacy of Dr. Oliver Sacks’s depiction of his final days before his death from cancer have engendered numerous touching and insightful comments from my students during our Socratic seminars analyzing his almost unendurably moving personal essay, “My Periodic Table.” 

Students respond viscerally, it seems, to the personal. Sadly, many students have been touched by some of the same tragic subject matter that we analyze through these texts. During our seminars and journal assignments, my students have revealed their own personal connections to some of the personal essays we read in class, connecting, I think, to the shared experiences that we have all had throughout human history. 

Our students often find themselves facing a vortex of standardized tests, AP exams, and benchmarks throughout the school year, which often emphasize the formulaic. The active process of personal choice on topic and subject seems lost. So often my students ask me questions when writing an essay, seeking a particular answer, as if literary analysis were calculus. Missing is the creativity, the exploration of writing free from academic constraints like rubrics and scoring guides. Writer-editor Steve Moyer asserts in  Edsitement , “Nuanced thought... requires a greater gestation period than the nearly instant gratification made possible on Twitter.” I have witnessed this impatience from my own students.

There can be a restlessness in the writing process, a hesitancy for revision or drafting. Personal essays require self-reflection and a free-flowing freedom from rigid form that my students embrace in a way that they don’t with an argument or research-based essay. On more than one occasion during parent-teacher conferences, I have had parents tell me that their child used to love creative writing, but somewhere along the way, the rigor of school seemed to have killed it.

Personal essays, then, restore that creativity, since they encourage a freedom from form. Students can experiment with style and figurative language and syntax in ways that the traditional academic five-paragraph essay often thwarts.

Personal essays also allow teachers to really get to know our students, too. The inherent intimacy of a personal essay, the connection between the writer and the reader—in this case, a student and a teacher—provides insight into the concerns, the dreams, the emotions of our students in addition to allowing us to assess how they exercise their compositional skills, including imagery, syntax, diction, and figurative language. Here, then, a teacher has the best of both worlds. We’re able to both connect to our students on an emotional level and evaluate their learning on an academic level. Personal essays also serve as an emotional outlet. 

There seems to be a common assumption that personal essays for high school students serve only the college application process, so the process begins during their senior year. Personal writing, however, should occur throughout a student’s academic experience. The narrative essays that most elementary school students encounter evolve into the more ruminative, philosophical, and reflective personal writing they will encounter during their senior year from many of Common App essay prompts.

Many teachers implement journal writing in their classrooms that provides a firm foundation for the type of personal writing that the college admissions essay requires. In my own class of juniors, the last assignment we complete for the year is a personal essay. My intent is to help prepare them for the college essay they will write, hopefully, during the summer so that they will have a solid draft before the application process begins. 

Teaching our students this strategy in their own writing benefits them in their futures, not only for the imminent college application process but also for job interviews. For example, I was mentoring a student, a senior who had no desire to go to college, about the job interview process he would soon face after graduation. We rehearsed and practiced the types of questions he might encounter from a future employer. I encouraged him to remember the personal details of his experience, personalizing everything in a way that would allow him to ideally stand out as a job candidate.

Through personal essay writing, my overarching, grand ambition is to instill in my students ultimately a love of reflection, looking back on their experience, reminiscing on significant memories that linger, carefully considering the seemingly little moments that, only upon reflection, have an enormous impact on us.

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  • How to structure an essay: Templates and tips

How to Structure an Essay | Tips & Templates

Published on September 18, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction , a body , and a conclusion . But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body.

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Table of contents

The basics of essay structure, chronological structure, compare-and-contrast structure, problems-methods-solutions structure, signposting to clarify your structure, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about essay structure.

There are two main things to keep in mind when working on your essay structure: making sure to include the right information in each part, and deciding how you’ll organize the information within the body.

Parts of an essay

The three parts that make up all essays are described in the table below.

Order of information

You’ll also have to consider how to present information within the body. There are a few general principles that can guide you here.

The first is that your argument should move from the simplest claim to the most complex . The body of a good argumentative essay often begins with simple and widely accepted claims, and then moves towards more complex and contentious ones.

For example, you might begin by describing a generally accepted philosophical concept, and then apply it to a new topic. The grounding in the general concept will allow the reader to understand your unique application of it.

The second principle is that background information should appear towards the beginning of your essay . General background is presented in the introduction. If you have additional background to present, this information will usually come at the start of the body.

The third principle is that everything in your essay should be relevant to the thesis . Ask yourself whether each piece of information advances your argument or provides necessary background. And make sure that the text clearly expresses each piece of information’s relevance.

The sections below present several organizational templates for essays: the chronological approach, the compare-and-contrast approach, and the problems-methods-solutions approach.

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The chronological approach (sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach) is probably the simplest way to structure an essay. It just means discussing events in the order in which they occurred, discussing how they are related (i.e. the cause and effect involved) as you go.

A chronological approach can be useful when your essay is about a series of events. Don’t rule out other approaches, though—even when the chronological approach is the obvious one, you might be able to bring out more with a different structure.

Explore the tabs below to see a general template and a specific example outline from an essay on the invention of the printing press.

  • Thesis statement
  • Discussion of event/period
  • Consequences
  • Importance of topic
  • Strong closing statement
  • Claim that the printing press marks the end of the Middle Ages
  • Background on the low levels of literacy before the printing press
  • Thesis statement: The invention of the printing press increased circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation
  • High levels of illiteracy in medieval Europe
  • Literacy and thus knowledge and education were mainly the domain of religious and political elites
  • Consequence: this discouraged political and religious change
  • Invention of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg
  • Implications of the new technology for book production
  • Consequence: Rapid spread of the technology and the printing of the Gutenberg Bible
  • Trend for translating the Bible into vernacular languages during the years following the printing press’s invention
  • Luther’s own translation of the Bible during the Reformation
  • Consequence: The large-scale effects the Reformation would have on religion and politics
  • Summarize the history described
  • Stress the significance of the printing press to the events of this period

Essays with two or more main subjects are often structured around comparing and contrasting . For example, a literary analysis essay might compare two different texts, and an argumentative essay might compare the strengths of different arguments.

There are two main ways of structuring a compare-and-contrast essay: the alternating method, and the block method.

Alternating

In the alternating method, each paragraph compares your subjects in terms of a specific point of comparison. These points of comparison are therefore what defines each paragraph.

The tabs below show a general template for this structure, and a specific example for an essay comparing and contrasting distance learning with traditional classroom learning.

  • Synthesis of arguments
  • Topical relevance of distance learning in lockdown
  • Increasing prevalence of distance learning over the last decade
  • Thesis statement: While distance learning has certain advantages, it introduces multiple new accessibility issues that must be addressed for it to be as effective as classroom learning
  • Classroom learning: Ease of identifying difficulties and privately discussing them
  • Distance learning: Difficulty of noticing and unobtrusively helping
  • Classroom learning: Difficulties accessing the classroom (disability, distance travelled from home)
  • Distance learning: Difficulties with online work (lack of tech literacy, unreliable connection, distractions)
  • Classroom learning: Tends to encourage personal engagement among students and with teacher, more relaxed social environment
  • Distance learning: Greater ability to reach out to teacher privately
  • Sum up, emphasize that distance learning introduces more difficulties than it solves
  • Stress the importance of addressing issues with distance learning as it becomes increasingly common
  • Distance learning may prove to be the future, but it still has a long way to go

In the block method, each subject is covered all in one go, potentially across multiple paragraphs. For example, you might write two paragraphs about your first subject and then two about your second subject, making comparisons back to the first.

The tabs again show a general template, followed by another essay on distance learning, this time with the body structured in blocks.

  • Point 1 (compare)
  • Point 2 (compare)
  • Point 3 (compare)
  • Point 4 (compare)
  • Advantages: Flexibility, accessibility
  • Disadvantages: Discomfort, challenges for those with poor internet or tech literacy
  • Advantages: Potential for teacher to discuss issues with a student in a separate private call
  • Disadvantages: Difficulty of identifying struggling students and aiding them unobtrusively, lack of personal interaction among students
  • Advantages: More accessible to those with low tech literacy, equality of all sharing one learning environment
  • Disadvantages: Students must live close enough to attend, commutes may vary, classrooms not always accessible for disabled students
  • Advantages: Ease of picking up on signs a student is struggling, more personal interaction among students
  • Disadvantages: May be harder for students to approach teacher privately in person to raise issues

An essay that concerns a specific problem (practical or theoretical) may be structured according to the problems-methods-solutions approach.

This is just what it sounds like: You define the problem, characterize a method or theory that may solve it, and finally analyze the problem, using this method or theory to arrive at a solution. If the problem is theoretical, the solution might be the analysis you present in the essay itself; otherwise, you might just present a proposed solution.

The tabs below show a template for this structure and an example outline for an essay about the problem of fake news.

  • Introduce the problem
  • Provide background
  • Describe your approach to solving it
  • Define the problem precisely
  • Describe why it’s important
  • Indicate previous approaches to the problem
  • Present your new approach, and why it’s better
  • Apply the new method or theory to the problem
  • Indicate the solution you arrive at by doing so
  • Assess (potential or actual) effectiveness of solution
  • Describe the implications
  • Problem: The growth of “fake news” online
  • Prevalence of polarized/conspiracy-focused news sources online
  • Thesis statement: Rather than attempting to stamp out online fake news through social media moderation, an effective approach to combating it must work with educational institutions to improve media literacy
  • Definition: Deliberate disinformation designed to spread virally online
  • Popularization of the term, growth of the phenomenon
  • Previous approaches: Labeling and moderation on social media platforms
  • Critique: This approach feeds conspiracies; the real solution is to improve media literacy so users can better identify fake news
  • Greater emphasis should be placed on media literacy education in schools
  • This allows people to assess news sources independently, rather than just being told which ones to trust
  • This is a long-term solution but could be highly effective
  • It would require significant organization and investment, but would equip people to judge news sources more effectively
  • Rather than trying to contain the spread of fake news, we must teach the next generation not to fall for it

Signposting means guiding the reader through your essay with language that describes or hints at the structure of what follows.  It can help you clarify your structure for yourself as well as helping your reader follow your ideas.

The essay overview

In longer essays whose body is split into multiple named sections, the introduction often ends with an overview of the rest of the essay. This gives a brief description of the main idea or argument of each section.

The overview allows the reader to immediately understand what will be covered in the essay and in what order. Though it describes what  comes later in the text, it is generally written in the present tense . The following example is from a literary analysis essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

Transitions

Transition words and phrases are used throughout all good essays to link together different ideas. They help guide the reader through your text, and an essay that uses them effectively will be much easier to follow.

Various different relationships can be expressed by transition words, as shown in this example.

Because Hitler failed to respond to the British ultimatum, France and the UK declared war on Germany. Although it was an outcome the Allies had hoped to avoid, they were prepared to back up their ultimatum in order to combat the existential threat posed by the Third Reich.

Transition sentences may be included to transition between different paragraphs or sections of an essay. A good transition sentence moves the reader on to the next topic while indicating how it relates to the previous one.

… Distance learning, then, seems to improve accessibility in some ways while representing a step backwards in others.

However , considering the issue of personal interaction among students presents a different picture.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

  • Ad hominem fallacy
  • Post hoc fallacy
  • Appeal to authority fallacy
  • False cause fallacy
  • Sunk cost fallacy

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The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

An essay isn’t just a loose collection of facts and ideas. Instead, it should be centered on an overarching argument (summarized in your thesis statement ) that every part of the essay relates to.

The way you structure your essay is crucial to presenting your argument coherently. A well-structured essay helps your reader follow the logic of your ideas and understand your overall point.

Comparisons in essays are generally structured in one of two ways:

  • The alternating method, where you compare your subjects side by side according to one specific aspect at a time.
  • The block method, where you cover each subject separately in its entirety.

It’s also possible to combine both methods, for example by writing a full paragraph on each of your topics and then a final paragraph contrasting the two according to a specific metric.

You should try to follow your outline as you write your essay . However, if your ideas change or it becomes clear that your structure could be better, it’s okay to depart from your essay outline . Just make sure you know why you’re doing so.

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Leadership Self-Assessment: How Effective Are You?

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  • 21 Nov 2019

Knowing yourself is critical to being an effective leader . Building self-awareness and understanding your tendencies and motivational drivers can enable you to unlock the potential in yourself and your team.

“Self-awareness is about developing your capacity to sense how you’re coming across—to have undistorted visibility into your own strengths and weaknesses—and to be able to gauge the emotions you’re personally experiencing,” says Harvard Business School Professor Joshua Margolis in the online course Leadership Principles . “If you’re going to mobilize others to get things done, you can’t let your own emotions get in the way.”

This especially reigns true for professionals with experience in leadership roles. Leaders must be level-headed and capable of making critical decisions for the good of their organizations. Successful leaders must also be in tune with their leadership capabilities before acting on them. There’s reason to suggest that self-aware leaders directly correlate to happier employees and healthier companies.

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Why Is Self-Evaluation Important For Leaders?

According to an analysis by Korn/Ferry International , companies with higher rates of financial return tend to employ professionals with high degrees of self-awareness. Relatedly, research by the Association for Talent Development shows that self-aware leaders report having:

  • Greater effectiveness in the workplace
  • Better relationships with colleagues
  • Improved abilities to identify and manage their emotions
  • Reduced stress

Reaping these rewards can be achieved through honest self-assessment. By examining patterns in how you view yourself and how others experience you, you can identify ways to learn and develop as a leader.

If you want to maximize your career trajectory and improve how you guide and manage teams, here are four ways you can assess your leadership effectiveness.

How to Self-Evaluate Yourself as a Leader

1. complete a self-assessment.

Questionnaires can be useful for identifying your motivations and strengths. In the online course Leadership Principles , participants complete two self-assessments: the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI) and the Personal Values Questionnaire (PVQ) .

By taking these assessments, leaders can recognize behavioral patterns and gain insight into how they manage themselves and their colleagues.

This self-awareness is critical to effective leadership because it develops emotional intelligence —an ability that’s possessed by 90 percent of top performers in the workplace . Through looking inward and answering questions with honesty and candor, you learn how to better command your emotions—as well as others’—and build a foundation for your leadership approach .

2. Observe Yourself

In addition to self-assessments, observing a video recording of yourself can be a valuable way to learn more about your current leadership tendencies. Taking part in this kind of exercise can enable you to gauge how you present yourself and exhibit attributes of different leadership styles , such as authenticity, humility, and faith. Maintaining these attributes can not only foster concern for your company’s success but employees' wellbeing—also known as “caring leadership.”

Engaging in critical self-observation can also help you overcome the vulnerability of putting yourself in front of others as a leader, providing the confidence needed to inspire and influence your team .

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3. Ask for Feedback

Beyond self-reflection, turn to those you interact and collaborate with for feedback on your effectiveness. Unlike management , leadership is less about administering and organizing and more about aligning and empowering employees to pursue organizational goals.

By turning to colleagues for thoughts on how they experience your leadership style, you can identify discrepancies in how you perceive yourself and chart a plan for more effective leadership. Soliciting and heeding feedback also helps develop clear lines of communication , which, according to the Center for Creative Leadership, is essential for building trust and driving performance.

For Juliana Casale , a marketing professional who took the online course Leadership Principles , completing self-assessments and receiving peer feedback led to a greater sense of awareness in her role and improved communication with her team.

“I'm now more mindful of how my colleagues are experiencing me and less averse to having difficult conversations,” Casale says.

Related: How to Give Feedback Effectively

4. Build and Maintain a Robust Network

Leadership is a skill that must be honed. As you progress throughout your career, it’s vital to cultivate a robust network you can rely on for coaching, support, and guidance.

“Your internal and external networks are important leadership assets,” says HBS Professor Anthony Mayo in the online course Leadership Principles . “They're how you gain access to resources like information, know-how, and funding that are crucial in enabling you to help those you’re leading. Networks also foster your learning by connecting you to people in organizations with different skills, perspectives, and contexts than your own.”

Through networking, you can build a powerful resource that exposes you to new opportunities and drives personal growth and success.

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Unleashing Your Leadership Potential

You can be an effective leader at any stage of your career . Whether you’re a mid-level manager or new to the workforce, honing your leadership skills can pay dividends for your professional development.

By building self-awareness, soliciting feedback, and networking, you can gain a better understanding of your personal leadership style and unleash the potential in yourself and others.

Do you want to enhance your leadership skills? Explore Leadership Principles —one of our online leadership and management courses —to discover how you can become a more effective leader and unleash the potential in yourself and others.

This article was updated on July 19, 2022. It was originally published on November 21, 2019.

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Your complete guide to self-assessments (with examples)

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Understand Yourself Better:

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Bettering yourself — and your organization — starts with a look inward.

Especially in today’s labor market, employers are looking for ways to optimize employee performance. Some companies have pressed pause on hiring while others have forfeited to layoffs .

No matter where your organization falls on the hiring spectrum, employers everywhere can agree: it’s time to make sure employees are tapping into their full potential. The success of your organization depends on it.  

At some point in everyone’s career, they'll likely have to participate in a performance evaluation.

In this post, we’ll talk about the benefits of self-assessments for both employers and employees. We’ll also give you some self-assessment examples to start using today. Plus, you’ll learn some best practices to help conduct effective and impactful self-assessments at your organization.

What is a self-assessment?

Typically, a performance evaluation, otherwise known as a self-assessment or performance review , begins with a series of notes from your employer or employers on how you have conducted yourself at work. They typically end with a self-assessment, where you share how much progress you believe you have made during a certain amount of time on the job.

8 benefits of self-evaluations for managers and employees

There are a number of reasons why self-assessments are a useful tool for both managers and employees. 

On its face, self-assessments can seem like a performance management tool to keep employees on track. But it isn’t just a tool to keep employees on track to meet organizational goals. It helps employees grow, develop, and ultimately reach their full potential. 

Here are some of the benefits self-evaluations offer employees and employers:

For managers 

For managers or employers, self-assessments can be a useful tool that comes with a range of benefits. Here are four benefits of self-evaluations for managers. 

  • Improved performance. But research tells us that self-assessments have a positive impact on personal and professional growth. In fact, one study found that implementing self-assessments drastically improved performance and self-directed learning skills. 
  • Increased employee engagement. Managers have an incredible influence over the employee experience. A Gallup study found that managers can account for up to 70% of the variance in employee engagement . A self-assessment can be the entry point to open, clear, and transparent communication between manager and employee. When employees know what’s expected of them and what they need to work on, it can increase employee engagement .  
  • Improved decision-making skills . Managers, you have to deeply know your employees’ strengths and areas of opportunity. When you’re managing a team, it’s critical to know when (and where) certain employees need to jump into a priority. Especially in a fast-changing world of work , the decisions that managers are making are increasing. But with help from a self-assessment by your employees, you have a window into where your employees can flex their skills. For example, let’s say a new data analysis project pops up. You need someone on your team to step up and lead the project. You also need another person to help crunch the numbers — and put together a narrative that the data tells. Because of your employees’ self-assessments, you can quickly identify and make decisions on who should lead what. 
  • Better goal-setting. Self-assessments also help managers get a better understanding of what an employee's goals are at work. Having a good grasp on what employees want from their work and what they feel are their strengths and weaknesses can help managers lead better. A self-assessment is a handy tool for managers to use in order to highlight workers’ achievements, set future goals , check in on employee weaknesses, and assess how they can help employees improve those skills. 

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For employees 

Just as managers benefit from self-assessments, so do employees. We’ve outlined four ways self-assessments help benefit the employee. 

  • Increased self-awareness. A self-assessment can act as a mirror or reflection point. At BetterUp, we use a Whole Person Model to help our Members accurately gain self-awareness and self-reflect. According to our Whole Person Model, we see a 172% increase in self-awareness for those who start out low as a result of coaching. But what does coaching have to do with self-assessments? It can help bring awareness to an employee's strengths — and areas of opportunity. 
  • Better learning and development goals. A self-assessment can help pinpoint different target growth areas. Designed to help prompt your employees to examine their skills, a self-assessment can be the tool you need to help identify a learning goal.
  • Improved self-confidence . A self-assessment, though it can sound intimidating, isn’t just for identifying what’s not working. For many employees, it’s also a reassurance of what’s working well, especially when your manager agrees. A self-assessment can help your employees realize strengths they might not have identified before. It can also show growth areas where they might’ve struggled before.
  • Opens up opportunities for further professional development. To go hand-in-hand with learning and development, self-assessments can help determine where employees should invest in professional development . For example, let’s say your employee takes a self-assessment and realizes they’re falling short on project management skills. Because of the assessment, you can offer project management workshops to help their professional development.  

self-assessment-examples-two-colleagues-talking-over-ipad

38 self-assessment example questions for managers to use

Here are 38 examples of questions that managers can ask their employees during a self-assessment. 

Self-evaluation questions on achievements

  • What areas do you think you could improve in?
  • What could you have done better at work over the past year?
  • What would you say your strengths are?
  • How do you think you have contributed the most to the company?
  • What has been your favorite project in the last year?
  • Do you think you did a good job fulfilling your responsibilities over the last year?

Self-assessment questions on goals 

  • What goals did you set for yourself this year? Month? Quarter?
  • How many of those goals did you achieve?
  • Were you happy with the results of meeting those goals you set for yourself?
  • What are your future goals for next year? Quarter? Month? What can I do to help you better meet those goals?

Self-evaluation questions on advancement and professional growth 

  • Have you taken part in any professional development programs the company offers?
  • Are there any leadership positions you would like to have in the future?
  • Is there any specific training that you feel you could use to help be more prepared to pursue a leadership role?
  • Are there any skills that you could develop outside of work that would help with your work performance?
  • Do you feel that there are any particular skills or talents of yours that you are not using?

Self-assessment questions on creativity 

  • Do you feel that you think “outside the box” when it comes to finding solutions to work-related problems?
  • What are some examples of when you thought “ outside of the box ” in order to solve a work problem? What could your manager do to make it easier for you to use creative problem-solving skills ?
  • Do you feel that your position allows you to use your creative problem-solving skills to the fullest?

Self-evaluation questions on communication skills 

  • Do you think that you communicate effectively with your manager and colleagues?
  • What do you think makes a good communicator?
  • How do you start difficult conversations with co-workers or managers? 
  • How often do you ask for help on an assignment? Or ask questions to help clarify something about a project?

self-assessment-examples-two-women-talking-in-meeting

Self-assessment questions on time management

  • Do you think that you use your time wisely while at work?
  • When was a time when you thought you managed your time well?
  • How could you improve your time management skills in the future?
  • Can you describe an example of when you could have used your time better?

Self-evaluation questions on values and behaviors

  • Do you think that you have worked in a way that aligns with our core values?
  • What could you do to improve how you embody some of the company’s core values ?
  • What do you value most about your work?
  • When do you feel the most valued by the company?
  • What are the qualities you have that make a valuable employee?
  • List five things you do that positively impact your productivity .

Self-assessment questions on weaknesses

  • Can you identify any weaknesses that you might have that could be hampering your productivity?
  • Do you feel comfortable asking for help if you run into a problem with work?
  • How could you work toward improving your work-related opportunities?
  • Is there anything that leadership could do in order to help you address these opportunities?

Self-assessment example responses for employees

While coming up with questions for a performance review can be tough for managers. Crafting responses to a self-assessment that portrays an employee in their best light is even tougher.

Looking at a few examples of self-assessment questions and responses can be helpful when preparing for your own review. If you are particularly nervous about your self-assessment, practice by writing out some responses to the listed example questions. Use the example response as a jumping-off point for your own practice responses. 

Here are some example responses to the self-evaluation questions listed above.

Self-evaluation responses on achievements

  • “I try to lead by example and feel that I put in my best effort every day. I am always the first person to arrive at work and always the last to leave.”
  • “I have extremely high standards for my work and have gone above and beyond my job description. I routinely set goals for myself and work late nights and over the weekend to complete assignments.” 
  • “Earlier this year, I decided I wanted to improve my public speaking skills and volunteered to give a company-wide presentation on a recently completed project. I’m proud of myself for taking that fear head-on, and the presentation was well received.” 

Self-assessment responses on goals

  • “I would like to be able to keep working on my leadership skills. In order to do this, I plan to double down on my commitment to keep pitching project ideas at meetings and taking the lead on group work. I am proud to say that I have grown as a leader over the past year and would love to continue to do so.” 
  • “One of the goals I set for myself this year was to become more organized. I have struggled a bit to learn how to better manage my time or delegate tasks but I am actively trying to learn from my mistakes .”

Self-evaluation responses on advancement and growth

  • “When I applied for my current position, I did so with the long-term goal of eventually obtaining a managerial role. I can see myself overseeing a team at the company given my interests, ability to delegate tasks, organization, and expert time management skills. I also really enjoy pushing my colleagues to do their best and explore new ways of tackling a project.” 
  • “ Now that I have worked at the company for a year, I have learned enough that I feel confident taking the creative lead on a project in the near future.”

Self-assessment responses about creativity

  • “Since starting with the company, I have often used creative problem-solving skills on assignments or used lateral thinking to find solutions to work-related problems.”
  • “I have been commended several times over the past quarter for my original ideas during pitch sessions, ability to think outside of the box, and come up with creative solutions to problems.”
  • “During my team’s weekly meeting, I am typically the first person to jump in with an idea for our next project.” 
  • “I often try to help my colleagues figure out solutions to problems when they are stuck.” 

Self-evaluation responses about communication skills

  • “I routinely ask questions to clarify expectations for assignments.”
  • “I am often the first one to speak up with a question or concern in a meeting.”
  • “I always speak respectfully when having hard conversations with managers and co-workers.”
  • “I know how to respectfully receive feedback on my performance from managers and co-workers.”
  • “I frequently talk to fellow team members about things that are going well or not so well on a project.”
  • “If I can not meet a deadline, I always give notice to my manager as early as possible with an explanation as to why I am behind.” 

Self-assessment responses about time management skills

  • “In the past year, I have made all of my deadlines and frequently submit my work ahead of time.”
  • “My ability to be organized has saved co-workers hours of time on collaborations.”
  • “My co-workers will sometimes come to me for advice on how to improve their time management skills. I am always happy to give recommendations to co-workers in the hopes of making our company run more efficiently.” 

Self-evaluation responses about values and behaviors 

  • “I believe that the best relationships between employees and employers are built on transparency.”
  • “ I value kindness in the workplace and make sure to be as welcoming and helpful to everyone I interact with.”
  • “I believe that every obstacle can be overcome with open and respectful communication.”
  • “I value my co-workers and strive to be as thoughtful about their well-being as I am my own.”
  • “I believe that a positive attitude is the best tool in the workplace and always look at setbacks as opportunities.” 

Self-assessment responses on weaknesses

  • “I am a high achiever and often struggle with telling a manager no to an extra work assignment even if I have a lot on my plate already. Unfortunately, this can impact my productivity as completing multiple tasks in a timely fashion can be a tough balancing act. As a result, I will sometimes miss a deadline or ask for a deadline to be changed. I have been learning how to let my manager know if I have too many tasks to take on a new assignment. I’m happy to say I have made some progress and will continue to work on improving.” 
  • “I sometimes find it hard to ask for help completing a task when doing so could help me finish an assignment more efficiently. Because of this, I can inadvertently waste time on an assignment that could have been completed quickly with the help of a manager or co-worker. I am trying to be better at anticipating when I will need help for a project and asking for it early.” 

self-assessment-examples-two-colleagues-huddling-in-office

Best practices when writing your self-assessment 

1. be honest.

When writing a review of your work performance, be honest with yourself. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and a self-assessment is meant to highlight those on-the-job strengths. They also allow employees to come up with solutions on how to improve in their weaker areas. Make sure to be honest in mentioning times that you fell short at work from something small like turning up a few minutes late to a meeting to something more consequential like missing an important deadline. 

2. Be confident

You should be proud of the work you do and there is nothing wrong with expressing that pride in a self-assessment. While being honest about work mistakes is crucial in a self-assessment, you should also mention the times that you went the extra mile or really shined. 

3. Be committed to improving 

A self-assessment is all about figuring out what you need to do to become better at your work, and there is always room for self-improvement . Make sure to express in your self-assessment how you want to keep growing. Expressing an interest in discovering new ways to improve on good work habits and strengths, as well as shortcomings, will make you appear to be an employee that will grow with the company. 

4. Be professional 

You should never make things personal in a self-assessment. That means no insulting your manager or boss for poor leadership skills or blaming a colleague for a less than stellar result on a collaborative project.  It also means taking responsibility for your own shortcomings in the workplace. Being professional also means taking the performance review and the self-assessment seriously. Make sure to take the time to write a worthwhile review that isn’t rushed or forced and is instead filled with insights and solutions. 

5. Take your time 

A self-assessment that is rushed won’t help anyone. Make time for self-reflection beforehand, and take your time when sitting down to write your self-assessment and put some thought into it. This is one of the few chances that you will have in the workplace to advocate for yourself and remind your employer why you are great at your job. This is also a great opportunity to let management know that you are struggling with something and to see if there are any professional development programs that your company offers to help you address these weaknesses.

6. Be specific 

During your self-assessment, use specific examples as much as possible. For example, if you are taking the time to write about how you consistently do the bulk of the work needed to complete group projects, make sure to list three or four examples. Don’t be afraid to say that you were the one that stayed up all night to make sure that a deadline was met. Or that you were the one that pushed your colleagues to make the project better. 

Something that can help you do this more easily is to track your accomplishments throughout the year. Keep a journal or a small notebook at your desk or on your person where you can jot down notes about the things you think you have done well every day or every week. Having a weekly or monthly list of your accomplishments will make it much easier to remind a manager or employer how valuable you are to the company. 

7. Use numbers 

Data can help convince an employer that your work has been beneficial to the company. When writing a self-assessment, back up claims about your achievements with numbers. If you write in your self-assessment that you are great at figuring out ways to shorten the amount of time your team spends on projects, make sure to reference how much time you have been able to cut. Including concrete numbers in your self-assessment will allow your manager or employer to develop a metric to measure your achievements.  

How to prepare for an employee self-assessment

Preparing ahead of time for giving or writing a self-assessment is central to having a constructive performance review. Managers should know what goals they would like employees to have completed and review themselves with some areas of weakness that employees can improve before talking about a self-assessment. 

If you are having trouble figuring out how to craft a self-assessment to give to employees there are a number of free self-evaluation templates online, like this one .

By using a template, you can streamline the self-assessment process and make less work for yourself in the future if you need to modify any questions on the evaluation. When sitting down to have a person-to-person discussion about employee performance, remember to give constructive feedback .

Tap into the potential of your workforce 

As a result, it’s important to make sure you’re maximizing the potential of your workforce. Self-assessments are the starting point to figuring out what potential lies within your employees (and your organization). 

Whether you’re looking at your own performance or your employees’ performance, BetterUp can help. An employee self-evaluation can be the ticket to building better teamwork , job performance, and work ethic. 

Get started with virtual coaching to help provide personalized support for your employees. The result? A mentally fit workforce that's better prepared for what the future holds.

See how BetterUp works - Watch Demo

Madeline Miles

Madeline is a writer, communicator, and storyteller who is passionate about using words to help drive positive change. She holds a bachelor's in English Creative Writing and Communication Studies and lives in Denver, Colorado. In her spare time, she's usually somewhere outside (preferably in the mountains) — and enjoys poetry and fiction.

What is a DiSC assessment and how can it help your team?

Teamwork skills self-appraisal comments: 40 example phrases, 24 employee engagement survey questions (and how to use them), use a personal swot analysis to discover your strengths and weaknesses, learn how to stop self-pity with these tips, overcome self-doubt (once and for all): 8 tips to move forward, what is self-efficacy definition and 7 ways to improve it, why you need a self-care plan (and 5 ways to get started), 50+ self-care practices to take better care of yourself, similar articles, 360-degree feedback: definition, benefits, and examples, your guide to individual development plans (with examples), your ultimate guide on how to be a good storyteller, the ultimate guide to hiring for behavioral competency (with examples), 18 questions to ask in a performance self-evaluation, self-concept: what is it, and can it change, 25 performance review questions (and how to use them), stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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Home / Essay Samples / Education / Class Reflection / A Reflection About Myself and My Personality

A Reflection About Myself and My Personality

  • Category: Education , Life
  • Topic: Class Reflection , Personal Experience , Personality

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