What should reflection papers include

Instructors tend to assign one or offer a list of ideas that might not seem engaging. Moreover, even the topic that you choose yourself can sometimes end up being Do you have to write an essay for the first time? Someone might think that writing a word essay is a rather complicated and time-consuming assignment.

Others have no idea how difficult thousand-word essays can be. Well, we have We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. If you continue, we will assume that you agree to our Cookies Policy. Learn More. What did you do? How is it connected to your knowledge?

Are there any gaps in your knowledge? You study your actions under certain circumstances. In this case, you observe, feel, and analyze the situation you are engaged in. You study your actions after the situation has already occurred. You make connections between theory and practice by conducting an experiment. You connect the ideas from the texts and your interpretations to show your comprehension. Think about an experience that evokes particular emotions. Describe what happened: mention the participants and their actions.

Demonstrate your emotions and feelings. The trick is to make the reader feel the same. You can do it by using imagery and various descriptive techniques. Analyze your experiences and make connections with your present-day life.

You can relate them to your study material or relevant theories and concepts. Conclude with your plans. Description of an event. Art has always been my passion. When I saw the works of Claude Monet, I fell in love with them. It was a turning point because painting has become a significant part of my life since then.

Experiences depicted using evocative language. When I took the brush for the first time, it felt miraculous. When I started to paint, it was a feeling of happiness and freedom.

Analysis with references to other experiences. Painting has taught me patience and concentration. Conclusion with some plans for the future.

Now my paintings are much better than before, thanks to my persistence. I will continue developing my skills and applying them in my everyday life. Ask critical questions to find the core of the issue and your role in it.

Organize your ideas into a structured essay. During the first stage, you describe the details of the issue. So what? The second stage requires you to relate your theoretical knowledge to the situation you discuss. The way you do it depends on the questions you are going to ask yourself while writing. There are three major perspectives to choose from:. Academic perspective How did the situation help you comprehend the theory?

Did it confirm or challenge your ideas? Did it help you identify your strengths and weaknesses? Example: This situation has helped me understood that people rarely think about high-level needs if their basic ones are not met. Personal perspective What role did the situation play? How do the consequences matter for you? What about your assumptions and biases: were they confirmed or refuted? What was the most interesting, challenging, or unexpected part?

Example: I was convinced that people usually judge each other based on their abilities rather than their social status. However, the following situation has shown that status plays a crucial role in our social image. Systems perspective How did the situation influence the system of organization?

Did anyone benefit? How did it enhance your comprehension of the organization or system? Example: The following situation has changed my comprehension of the whole healthcare system. Their psychological and medical help is priceless. Now what? At this stage, you think about the future outcomes. What are the objectives of the organization? How do these goals fit with the themes or concepts from the course? Provide important information: What is the name of the host organization?

What is their mission? Who do they serve? What was your role? What did you do? Analytical Reflection: What did you learn from this experience? About yourself?

About working in the field? About society? Lessons from reflection: Did your experience fit with the goals or concepts of the course or organization? Why or why not? What are your lessons for the future? What was successful? What would you do differently? How will you prepare for a future experience in the field? Reading Reflection Critical reflection requires thoughtful and persistent inquiry. Assess the text s : What is the main point?

If your instructor demands a word count outside of this range, meet your instructor's requirements. Introduce your expectations. For a reading or lecture, indicate what you expected based on the title, abstract, or introduction. For an experience, indicate what you expected based on prior knowledge provided by similar experiences or information from others.

Develop a thesis statement. At the end of your introduction, you should include a single sentence that quickly explains your transition from your expectations to your final conclusion.

A thesis provides focus and cohesion for your reflection paper. Explain your conclusions in the body. Your body paragraphs should explain the conclusions or understandings you reached by the end of the reading, lesson, or experience.

You should provide details on how you arrived at those conclusions using logic and concrete details. The focus of the paper is not a summary of the text, but you still need to draw concrete, specific details from the text or experience in order to provide context for your conclusions.

Write a separate paragraph for each conclusion or idea you developed. Each paragraph should have its own topic sentence. This topic sentence should clearly identify your major points, conclusions, or understandings. Conclude with a summary. Your conclusion should succinctly describe the overall lesson, feeling, or understanding you got as a result of the reading or experience. The conclusions or understandings explained in your body paragraphs should support your overall conclusion.

One or two may conflict, but the majority should support your final conclusion. Part 3. Reveal information wisely. A reflection paper is somewhat personal in that it includes your subjective feelings and opinions.

Instead of revealing everything about yourself, carefully ask yourself if something is appropriate before including it in your paper. If you feel uncomfortable about a personal issue that affects the conclusions you reached, it is wisest not to include personal details about it. If a certain issue is unavoidable but you feel uncomfortable revealing your personal experiences or feelings regarding it, write about the issue in more general terms.

Identify the issue itself and indicate concerns you have professionally or academically. Maintain a professional or academic tone. A reflection paper is personal and objective, but you should still keep your thoughts organized and sensible. Avoid dragging someone else down in your writing. If a particular person made the experience you are reflecting on difficult, unpleasant, or uncomfortable, you must still maintain a level of detachment as you describe that person's influence.

Do not treat it as a personal journal entry. Check and double-check your spelling and grammar after you finish your paper. Review your reflection paper at the sentence level. A clear, well-written paper must have clear, well-written sentences.

Keep your sentences focused. Avoid squeezing multiple ideas into one sentence. Avoid sentence fragments. Make sure that each sentence has a subject and a verb. Vary your sentence length. Include both simple sentences with a single subject and verb and complex sentences with multiple clauses.

Doing so makes your paper sound more conversational and natural, and prevents the writing from becoming too wooden. Use transitions. Transitional phrases shift the argument and introduce specific details.

They also allow you to illustrate how one experience or detail directly links to a conclusion or understanding. Common transitional phrases include "for example," "for instance," "as a result," "an opposite view is," and "a different perspective is.

Reflections should be appropriate both for your boundaries and the boundaries of the person reading them. A place where you get marks for complementing the course or teacher assessing you Include the course and the teacher if they have affected you, but be sure to uncover what about them worked or did not work for you, and how you can use this knowledge in other contexts. A place where you reference learning uncritically You should evidence how you have learned something, what it means for you, and how it will be used in the future.

A nuisance or waste of time Done correctly, formalising and structuring reflection can help you surface and evidence your personal learning and development, which in turn can help you to communicate your abilities and experiences effectively.

Developed from: Ryan, M. Any kind of reflection that is expected to be presented for assessment in an academic, professional, or skill development context. Reflection you do where you are the only intended audience. A personal diary where you can say anything and use any language. Academic reflective writing require structure and formal language. A place where you get marks for self-disclosure — while reflection is personal, you will not get a good mark by merely sharing challenging experiences or personal trauma.

The experiences you share must be used actively to promote learning AND be appropriate for the audience. A place where you get marks for complementing the course or teacher assessing you. Include the course and the teacher if they have affected you, but be sure to uncover what about them worked or did not work for you, and how you can use this knowledge in other contexts.