Reflection Paper

Reflection Paper

PROV 502 - Introduction to Graduate Study II

Andrea K. Rutan

Fan Zhao

fzhao2@gmu.edu

10243 Evesham Lane, Fairfax, VA 22030

571-420-0922

During this short but intense semester, I am taking four courses: EAP 507, PROV 502, Financial Accounting and EAP 097 Graduate Communication across the Disciplines which helped me a lot in overcoming my fear of communicating in English with friends in other countries and in developing some useful strategies for academic writing.

First of all, the most helpful class to me is Financial Accounting. It covered the knowledge of preparing financial statements of a business and conducting analysis of financial statements to assist in business decisions. The course also explores the formativeness of accounting numbers and the contexts in which these numbers are more (or less) informative. This class provides me an understanding of the principles of financial accounting, which demonstrate how to analyze uncertain complex management situations using appropriate tools, techniques, and information systems for decision-making. And this helpful for you in your future studies, especially when I do my own business, I feel more confident in making decisions.

The second one is EAP 507, which helps me with language skills, especially academic writing. The whole class focuses on how to avoid plagiarism and properly include citations in academic writing. In this class, we discussed and learned how to follow the Honor Code of the GMU, as it is outlined in the university catalogue. The hallmarks of the profession are integrity, objectivity, and independence. Cheating in the class will result in a failing grade, being reported to the Honor Code Committee, and being prevented from graduating or possible expulsion from the school. Universities in China do not follow such an honor code. On the contrary, as an undergraduate student in China, I usually copied and pasted from other articles without providing any...