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Another worthy article on how to write good reflective essay.

How to Write Reflection Essay

Posted by Splice, Essay Tips Chief Writer

How to Write a Reflection Essay. Basically, writing a reflection essay is a good exercise to sharpen your critical thinking skills. You have to understand what it is that you have to reflect on before proceeding with the essay, otherwise you will only lose track of your ideas or, worse, you will not be able to write anything that will make sense. Keep in mind that a reflection essay is more like a journal where you jot down your thoughts or how you feel about a certain topic. Your topic may be a film, a book, an event, or just about anything.

Before starting with your reflection essay, ask yourself a couple of questions, such as: how do I feel about this topic? How does it affect me, if it does at all? If it doesn't affect me, why? Notice that the questions are all personal. That is because a reflection essay asks you to express your insights. Knowing the answers to these personal questions can help you begin your reflection essay. Do not limit yourself to these three questions. Explore more that asks you to state your opinion. Leave out the facts first. Concentrate on your insights.

After having the answers to the personal questions stated above, list your answers. Thereafter, summarize them into a single sentence. This will be your main controlling idea or central thesis which will guide you throughout the rest of your reflection essay. With your thesis statement, identify the arguments or ideas that will support it. You may expand or write more about each supporting idea in a paragraph. Each of these paragraphs will then be the body of your essay. Try to include factual statements in these body paragraphs, such as what you have observed, so that your claims are well supported. Sufficient reference to facts is a good way of giving substance to your reflections.

After you have finished writing the body paragraphs of your reflection essay, return to your personal questions. This time, however, ask yourself as if you are trying to confirm what you have written: is this how I truly feel about this topic? Is this how it did affect me, if it did at all? If it didn't affect me, why? This is a matter of reaffirming your honesty in writing your reflection essay. You should only provide your truthful reflections, otherwise writing down the things that are far from what you truly felt defeats the very purpose of reflecting on the topic. Also, write down how and why you arrived at your insights. Be consistent and avoid one idea in one paragraph clashing with another idea in another paragraph.

In your reflection essay's conclusion, briefly restate your main insight or thesis. You may end with a question, asking how others might have thought about the same topic. You may also end with a challenge to your readers, such as asking them to reflect on the same topic and ask the same questions. At any rate, what is most important to remember is that a reflection essay is generally a personal assessment of a topic that may or may not affect you and others.

Source: http://tipsforresearchpapersandessays.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-write-reflection-essay.html

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Finding it hard to write a reflective essay? Fret not, here's some comprehensive tips that i've gathered from the net for you.

Reflective Essays

Ernest L. and Zac E., writing center tutors

Please keep in mind that these are only general guidelines; always defer to your professor's specifications for a given assignment. If you have any questions about the content represented here, please contact the Writing Centers so that we can address them for you.

A reflective essay is a form of writing that examines and observes the progress of the writer’s individual experience. While reflective essays explain and analyze the development of the writer, they also discuss future goals. Reflective essays are often associated with academic portfolios and especially writing portfolios. As part of a writing portfolio, reflective essays will critically analyze your development as a student. This should include a discussion of the strengths you have developed as a writer as well as your weaknesses. Closely related to these weaknesses, writers could also discuss how they plan to improve in the future. When writing a reflective essay, it is important to use descriptive language. In doing so, your reader will understand that you are familiar with the subject matter and that you have thought critically about your development as a student. Reflective essays are based upon your own experiences, so it is expected that you write about yourself, your ideas, and your opinions. As a result, it is completely acceptable to use first person pronouns such as “I” or “me” in these essays. Since the reflective essay is built upon personal experience, the writer has the liberty of being as creative as necessary. At the same time, do not let a focus on creativity take precedence over the important task of proving to your reader how you have grown as a student.

Structure

The structure of a reflective essay is very similar to the structure of most academic writing. Unless you are trying to argue a point, position, or perspective through your reflection, it is not required that your essay contain a thesis statement. Reflective essays can be formatted in all writing styles, including MLA, APA, and Chicago Style. A common structure for reflective essays is as follows:

Introduction

Introductions to reflective essays do not need to be longer than one paragraph in length. When writing an introduction, present the purpose of your reflection without giving your reader too much detail about the body of your paper. In the introduction, it is also helpful to tell your reader if you met your goals or the goals of the class/project. Later, in the body of the reflection, you can explain how these goals were or were not met in greater detail. Think of the introduction as a brief preview to the rest of your reflection.

Body

The body should discuss in detail your development as a student. For instance, if writing a reflective essay at the end of the quarter for a certain class, how did you grow over the course of the class? What have you learned? Can you apply what you have learned to your future academic or life pursuits? How did you or did you not meet your goals or the goals of the class/project you were involved in? This is slightly different from what you should discuss in your introduction. Do not just tell the reader whether or not you met these goals. Rather, show the reader by using illustrations from class or other relevant experiences. Are there any skills you can improve on? If so, how do you plan on doing so in the future?

Conclusion

In the conclusion of a reflective essay, you should remind the reader of the ways in which you have developed as a student. This may seem redundant since you already discussed these things in detail in your essay’s body, but remember that the conclusion is the last thing your audience will read. As a result, leave no doubt in the reader’s mind that your essay clearly demonstrates how you have grown.

Source: http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/writers/Types_of_Writing/reflectiveessay.html

How to Write Reflection Essay

Reflective Essays

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