{"id":74,"date":"2026-05-01T17:37:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T17:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/student.wp.odu.edu\/cgala002\/?page_id=74"},"modified":"2026-05-01T17:37:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T17:37:28","slug":"reflection-paper","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/student.wp.odu.edu\/cgala002\/reflection-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of my college experience, I have created various types of artifacts that have shaped my learning. They helped me understand my personal identity and allowed me to research topics I knew little about. These different artifacts I present on my ePortfolio help shape my career identity and help me find what jobs I would enjoy doing. My ePortfolio showcases different skills I have gained from my assignments. Attending classes can only give me so much knowledge; the projects extend it to a more comprehensive level. Leadership is one of these skills; after taking a Leadership and Society class, I learned the characteristics of great leaders. Another skill I have acquired is analytical and critical thinking skills; my Cybercriminology: Foundations course required us to do case studies that helped me develop these skills. Lastly, my research skills come from the course of my college experience, but specifically my criminal justice courses. These artifacts are inspired by different topics and articles that were presented to us in my courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autobiography Artifacts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ePortfolios allow future employers to see what an individual is capable of before hiring them. This is especially important for new graduates whose resumes show little to no experience. Nguyen (2013) described an ePortfolio as a \u201cliving portal\u201d to people\u2019s works. She explains how ePortfolios allow students to share their knowledge and ideas with their employers. This reading opened my eyes to the purpose of an ePortfolio; it is a representation of my identity, something that cannot be shown through an interview or a resume. I created my first ePortfolio in my sophomore year of college; I did not know how important it would be. At this time, I did not have many artifacts to present or ones I felt were strong enough to showcase. Once I started putting it together, I took my learning artifacts more seriously because in my head, the target audience went from only my professor to future employers as well. I started showing more personality in my works, making them more personable to the readers. It is important to have at least one autobiography in my ePortfolio to give readers insight into who I am as a person and my inspirations for my career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Criminal Justice Autobiography artifact reveals more about why I picked my major. Creating this artifact felt natural because it focused on my passion for the criminal justice system. Although it was difficult to organize all the points of my story, my family background played a huge role in my motivation. This autobiography emphasizes my growth as a person, my strengths, and my future ambitions in law enforcement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leadership Skills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/strong>Taking a leadership class opened my eyes to what it takes to be a leader. We read several articles that emphasized good leadership qualities. Leadership theories helped me understand communication and teamwork skills, but also taught me about the challenges people face when becoming a leader. These articles can prepare me for the future as I connect leadership theories to real-life situations in my career. I wrote about Martin Luther King Jr. and how his leadership was a great example of what it takes to be a leader. He led a mass group to fight for Black American rights. Similarly, I want to join law enforcement to be the change in the system. I want to fight against systemic issues, like police brutality and the negative stigma people have for police officers. For my Leadership Autobiography artifact, I was required to think back on moments I had to be a leader. I initially struggled to reflect on these times because I have not had many opportunities to step up as a leader, but there are definitely several moments I can be proud of myself. In my leadership autobiography, I examined the hardships of becoming a leader as a woman. Hoyt (2010) explains that women often face challenges in becoming leaders, often because of the stigma they face from society. In my artifact, I should have written about personal challenges I faced as a leader. People often do not take me seriously due to my appearance and height, but that should not take away from my ability to do my job correctly. Hoyt (2010) explains that it is harder for women to advance in companies because of a lack of experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I reflect on this article, I want to push myself to continuously grow in my future career. Gaining hands-on experience and learning different skills will help me advance in the company. Leadership theories cannot teach me to be a leader, but I can learn what skills I need and the challenges I will face in the real world. My growth will come from applying these theories to real-life situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critical thinking and Analytical skills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/strong>Case studies allowed me to showcase my analytical and critical thinking skills. It reflects how I can take superficial information and use it to understand deeper issues. It also requires analyzing evidence, such as affidavits, to interpret underlying issues. For my Cybercrime: Foundations course at Old Dominion University, we were required to perform a case study. We examined several affidavits on cybercrimes and chose one we found interesting. I picked one about a victim who was threatened with extortion. This project was the first time I deeply analyzed an affidavit for evidence. In class, Dr. Graham (2025) spoke about cyberpornography, specifically revenge porn. Revenge porn is the \u201cnon-consensual sharing of images that are sexual in nature,\u201d and women are the biggest target of this crime (Graham, 2025). This topic stood out to me because women are the top victims of cyberpornography, which is why I chose the specific case to do my project on. I will admit that it is disturbing to learn about this topic, but it gave me more motivation to pursue a career in law enforcement. This project introduced me to the investigative side of the police department, including how evidence is reported. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I enjoy doing case studies because it expands my classroom knowledge to real-life events. Affidavits also take me through each process the police department took in gathering data and evidence for the case. For future case studies, I would gather more information on the evidence collection process to further understand how they got their information. I would like to know what data collection programs and tools they used, but my case study covered all the points needed for the assignment. This case study taught me how affidavits worked, what evidence I could gather from one document, and how evidence is gathered. Analyzing documents will be important in law enforcement as they deal with documentation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, in my Introduction to Cybersecurity course, I had to do a case study on a recent cybersecurity breach. I picked the Allianz cybersecurity breach. Millions of sensitive data points were exposed, such as their phone numbers and social security numbers. For this topic, I had to do extensive research about the type of security breach and how the hackers carried out the plan. Since learning about these topics, I have been interested in the special investigations unit in the police department. I can only hope to remove these criminals from society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the middle of the semester, we examined job advertisements and wrote about how the wording reveals the company’s culture for my Electronic Portfolio Project course. It made me realize that all job advertisements are different; they are supposed to communicate the expectations that employers have of their employees, not just on their work ethic, but also on their attitude. Before this course, I thought job advertisements simply relayed the qualifications companies look for in their employees. Harper (2013) explained that employers constantly change in-demand skills for certain jobs. With society constantly changing, I understand why required skills must evolve as well. For example, I wrote about a probation parole officer job advertisement. It is important to have a strong personality in law enforcement because of the people I may encounter. He stated that job advertisements are \u201ca snap-shot of the current employment market\u201d (Harper, 2013). This research revealed that jobs are constantly evolving, and so should my skills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, job advertisements are not always realistic and do not reflect the actual work environment. Job adverts will not reveal the bad parts of the job, but they will warn you to prepare for the worst. For example, the job advertisement for the probation and parole officer it listed \u201cemotional intelligence\u201d and \u201cconflict resolution\u201d as soft skills (State of Virginia, 2025). They include this in the job description because having emotional stability is important to deal with certain people. Having to write about job advertisements made me realize the importance of reading between the lines. After learning about probation and parole, I decided to do an internship with them. I gained real-life experience of the emotional and mental challenges involved in the job, like probation officers receiving hateful messages from their probationers. It showed the importance of resilience and professionalism in the criminal justice field.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Skills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another artifact that I was passionate about was an essay I did on community policing. Research papers demonstrate analytical and research skills because it involves gathering various articles and evidence to create a descriptive or argumentative essay. In my Law and Social Control course, I learned about community policing and its purpose. Community policing is the technique of redefining \u201cthe relationship between Police and the Community to identify and solve problems\u201d (Collard, 2025). This topic stood out to me because public trust in law enforcement, especially after the police brutality issues, significantly decreased. Learning about community policing made me feel better about wanting to join law enforcement, despite the criticism I get for it. I enjoyed learning about this topic because when I am in law enforcement, I want the community to feel safe rather than working against them. I also had to research ways our community used the community policing technique. I wrote about ways the Norfolk Police Department collaborates with the community. I also wrote about Scientology for my Cults and Conspiracies Course. It was an argumentative\/research paper on whether or not Scientology is considered a cult. I gathered scholarly articles and other evidence to support my belief that Scientology is a cult. Although this is an opinionated essay, the supporting evidence reflects my research skills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research is important for law enforcement because it is beneficial to know the community I will be dealing with. Different places have different cultures; therefore, how I approach people who live in my own community may be different from how I should approach people in another community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my future career, I want to push for a change in law enforcement; I hope to speak out about systemic problems the community faces. It ties in to being a leader as well because the more corruption law enforcement has, the less trust the community will have in them. In future projects, I would like to include insights from police officers about community policing. This artifact truly inspired me to join the criminal justice system and gain the trust of the community by listening to citizens\u2019 issues and encouraging future coworkers to do the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the artifacts I present in my ePortfolio are more than just assignments. They represent my growth as a student, my developed skills, and my career inspirations. Each project dives deeper into my understanding of not only the criminal justice field, but also my critical thinking and analysis skills. Through extensive research, I found more reasons to pursue a career in law enforcement. My work also showcases leadership skills that will benefit me in the future. These artifacts were created through trial-and-error. They were revised until they were as perfect as possible. My courses prepared me for what I may face in my career in law enforcement; leadership, critical, and analytical thinking skills are useful to succeed in my future career. My ePortfolio showcases my academic growth and commitment to continuing my knowledge beyond college. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collard, C. (2025, October). Community Policing Overview<\/em> [Powerpoint]. https:\/\/canvas.odu.edu\/files\/55038563\/download?download_frd=1&verifier=kjqmVmi0pOPyRqkn5E4WNlRMcyBDHJXDn6aN605K<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graham, R. (2025). Cyberpornography<\/em>. https:\/\/docs.google.com\/presentation\/d\/1N0CtJDIANKDFLPjVJ5AlyGH5YcHyBPrHl89w81DNjF4\/edit?usp=sharing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harper, R. (2012). The collection and analysis of job advertisements: A review of research methodology. Library and Information Research<\/em>, 36<\/em>(112), 29-45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoyt, C. L. (2010). Women, men, and leadership: Exploring the gender gap at the top. Social and <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personality Psychology Compass, 4(7), 484\u2013498. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nguyen, C. F. (2013). The ePortfolio as a living portal: A medium for student learning, identity, and assessment. International Journal of ePortfolio<\/em>, 3<\/em>(2), 135-148.State of Virginia. (2025). Probation Officer<\/em>. https:\/\/www.jobzmall.com\/state-of-virginia\/job\/probation-officer-8dwelqef1h?utm_campaign=google_jobs_apply&utm_source=google_jobs_apply&utm_medium=organic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction Over the course of my college experience, I have created various types of artifacts that have shaped my learning. They helped me understand my personal identity and allowed me to research topics I knew little about. These different artifacts… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29875,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/student.wp.odu.edu\/cgala002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/student.wp.odu.edu\/cgala002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/student.wp.odu.edu\/cgala002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/student.wp.odu.edu\/cgala002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29875"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/student.wp.odu.edu\/cgala002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/student.wp.odu.edu\/cgala002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75,"href":"https:\/\/student.wp.odu.edu\/cgala002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74\/revisions\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/student.wp.odu.edu\/cgala002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}