It is very common for students to be assigned a reflective essay towards the end of a semester. This is because it is designed to help students look closely at their own academic progress and examine how they have developed over the course of the semester. It is a great way to encourage students to analyse their strengths and weaknesses.
These types of assignments are a staple in courses which require students to build up a portfolio of written work. Reflective essays are also considered to be an excellent way for students to improve on their critical thinking skills. Let’s take a closer look at how to write a reflective essay.
What is a Reflective Essay?
A reflective essay is usually a fairly short paper where you are expected to look back on an experience and describe what sort of impact it has had on you and your life. It is common when students are asked to examine their academic progress. However, depending on the class you may be asked to write about a life experience rather than your academic life. A reflective essay gives you the opportunity to look at your strengths and weaknesses both before and after the event you are focusing on and also to look to the future.
How to Structure a Reflective Essay
If you are used to writing academic essays, then you may find it a little overwhelming the first time you have to write a reflective essay. This is because the tone is so drastically different from what you are probably used to. A reflective essay can be compared to writing in a journal. You will have to write about your thoughts and feelings using descriptive language that you may not usually use. It is because of this that the resulting paper can end up being very personal. In fact, whereas most academic papers are written in third person, you will be encouraged to use the first person when writing a reflective essay. Once you get used to this change in tone you will find that it is easier to write about your own experiences.
While the tone of a reflective essay may be very different to anything else you have written, the overall structure of your paper is going to be fairly similar to the other papers that you have turned in. Like any other type of essay question, reflective essays are made up of three main sections: an introduction, the main body and that all-important conclusion. Let’s take a look at some tips for actually writing each of these sections.
Writing Your Introduction
When writing your introductory passage for a reflective essay, you need to offer your readers a preview of what you will be writing about. You will need to start by developing an appropriate thesis statement which will demonstrate the most important points of your reflection. You don’t want to give away too much detail, but you should offer a brief overview. You introduction does not need to be any longer than a paragraph.
Building the Body of Your Essay
The body of your essay is where you will do most of your discussion and analysis. In order to make sure that you cover all of the points that you need to it is wise to have a plan of actions. Many students find it easier to start out by asking themselves a few personal questions. Think about what you have learned from the experience that you are writing about. Has it changed the way you think? Has it prompted you to learn a new skill? How has this affected your life today? You will find that by answering these questions you will begin to build up some useful notes which can be used to expand on your key points. You may also find it useful to look at the strengths and weaknesses that were highlighted by the events that you are reflecting on.
Drawing Your Conclusion
In writing your reflective essay, you should demonstrate how the experience you discuss has impacted you. As you write your conclusion you should summarize the points that you have made in the body of your paper in much the same way as you would for any other type of essay. However, one way the conclusion of a reflective essay often differs is that you can also choose to discuss the future. You can do this by describing what you have actually learned from the experience and mention how you will apply this to situations in the future.
When it comes to writing a reflective essay, breaking away from using formal academic language can the biggest challenge. Reflective essay assignments are very personal and should discuss your thoughts and feelings in regard to a particular event. You need to be able to analyse what sort of impact the event in question has had on your life and how it will shape your future. However, beyond that it should be structured and approached just like any other essay.