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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 writers
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 essays body, but remember that the conclusion is the last thing your
audience will read. As a result, leave no doubt in the readers mind that your essay clearly
demonstrates how you have grown.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Think of an event that could become the topic of your essay. When you have
chosen an event, ask yourself how you feel about it, how it affected (did not affect)
your life and why? This will help you create a thesis that will be the focal point of
your essay.
Make a mind-map. Write down your thesis and draw a circle around it. Now identify
your main arguments and ideas that will support it and help readers follow the
evolution of your thoughts and experiences, group them into paragraphs that you
will write later, and connect them to your central circle. Creating this type of flow
diagram will help you see the overall structure of your essay more clearly. Finally,
decide on the logical sequence of these paragraphs and order them accordingly.
Write a strong opening paragraph. Your introduction must be eye-catching, so that
the readers become engaged immediately.
State your supporting arguments, ideas and examples in the body paragraphs.
Emphasize only one point or experience, as well as reflections on it, within each
paragraph.
In the first sentence of the conclusion, briefly summarize your thoughts. Think
about what you have learned and how your experience might be useful to others.
Finish your essay with a rhetorical question to your readers about how they might
act in a similar situation. Alternatively, ask them to think about a related topic on
their own.
Topic Selection
Since writing a reflective essay supposes that you will write about a personal experience,
you can choose whatever event you like. It is almost like a diary, where you write down
your thoughts about a significant happening in your life. It can be about reading a special
book, a difficult situation that you faced, a person that you encountered the main point
is to state your opinion. For example, you can write about:
Your introductory paragraph could give a hint about the conclusions in your essay.
For example, it could state: When I first saw a desert with my own eyes, I thought
that it is was possibly the most lifeless place in the world. However, as I studied it in
more detail, I found that my surroundings were not quite so desolate as I had
imagined.
2.
Since a reflective essay is particularly based on personal experience, it is
acceptable to use the personal pronoun I.
3.
Usage of one or more quotations in the introduction can make your writing more
authoritative.
4.
In most reflective essays, apart from describing what went right, you may also
describe what went wrong, or how an experience could have been improved.
Do and Dont
Do
Dont
Do write your ideas in a
descriptive manner. Your
thoughts must be stated
clearly, so that your readers
understand exactly what you
wanted to say.
Do remember that despite
your essay being of a
reflective type, it is still an
academic paper, so try to
keep it as formal as possible.
Do follow the classical
structure: an introduction,
main body paragraphs, and a
conclusion.
Do keep in mind that you
should write your essay
basing it not only on a
personal experience, but also
using some factual material.
First Person
You should use the first person -- I, me, my -- in your reflective essay. This is an account of
something that actually happened to you, as well as your thoughts on the event.
However, it is still possible to overuse the word I in a first person account. Avoid
distancing language, such as I saw or I heard, in which the I comes between the
reader and a direct account of what happens. In most cases, directly stating what you
saw or heard, without the I, makes for much stronger writing.
Past Tense
Most reflective essays should be written in past tense, about an event that the author has
already experienced. The reflection portion of the essay may be in present tense -- I
think, I believe -- if the author is presenting new or current thoughts, or it may be in
the past tense -- I realized, I understood -- if the author is presenting reflections that
occurred in the past. In either case, the difference in time between the event and the
reflections should be clear.
Personal Writing
This is writing about something that has happened in your life and has really impacted on
you for good or bad.
For example:
Something that has changed your life - birth, death, illness or an issue.
Reflection
This is perhaps the more difficult segment. When reflecting you really need to think about
yourself and how the personal experience changed you.
A reflective essay:
A small anecdote.
A quote.
Starting with end of the story and working backwards.
A flashback.
Interest: The main body of the essay needs to be interesting. Some
pupils spend so much time on the introduction that the main essay
becomes boring and flat.
Motif: Have a motif or symbol running through your essay. For
example:
For any piece of writing you have looked at, use one colour to
highlight the explicit feelings and a second colour to highlight
implicit feelings.
Punctuation: Use a variety. Everything that you see in a Close
Reading paper should be present in an essay: colon, parenthesis,
ellipsis, semi-colon, dash etc.
Imagery: Use a variety of imagery to describe your emotions.
Compare your sadness, tears, happiness, excitement, nerves, panic
etc. to something else.
Turning point: Every personal experience has to have a turning
point. This is a point in which your line of thought or perspective
changes.
Reflection: Perhaps the most vital element. You need to think about
how the experience has changed you or others. Look back at the
turning point and think:
Engaging introduction.
Topic outlined.
Sentence structure building to a climax.
"Looking into the mirror I could see it. My long flowing hair causing me hours
and hours of misery. Closing my eyes I prayed it would disappear or even
fade. No amount of make up, hairstyles or different clothes masked my feelings
of hate for the hair I had been genetically inflicted with."
The mirror is a symbol that is referred to again at the end of the essay.
Hey Ginger, can I get a heat is a phrase commonly repeated to people inflicted
with red hair.
A humorous tone is established.
"From an early age the comments made to me about the colour of my hair has
irritated me to my inner core. On my first day at Secondary School it was a
scorching summer's days. I felt so hot and nervous that beads of sweat formed
on my forehead as I stood waiting in the playground. My heart was pounding
and a strong feeling of trepidation strongly lingered as I wondered what my
new teachers would be like. However, when I entered the school, that's when
everything changed. I could hear them. I could hear the hyena like laughs. I
could hear the comments of check the state of her hair. That's horrible. At this,
I felt like I had been ripped apart. I was in pain and just wanted to escape and
not return. Tears began to obscure my vision as I desperately tried to escape
and hide. I frantically rushed to the toilet and dreaded the rest of the day. Why
did they have to say this to me? Why would they say such a thing? I just
couldn't understand. I have never been able to erase this feeling from my
memory."
"A long time has now passed since these initial comments; unfortunately they
continued on a regular basis. I would regularly beg and plead with my mother
to dye my hair so that I could feel more normal. The hair styling aisle at the
local supermarket would call to me as soon as it entered and mocked me as I
left-minus any hair dye. Even my Uncle-at the birth of his daughter, said
Phew... for a minute I thought she had red hair, thank God it's not. It is these
types of remarks that really infuriate me. People may only utter these words for
a few seconds, but these words resonate within your mind for years to come
and eat away at you like a vicious case of woodworm; eventually leading you to
feel unworthy of functioning in the real world.
"Now that I have grown older, I still have red hair but I no longer feel so
distressed about it. Looking back, I now understand that these people (or
bullies) found something that-in their opinion - was my flaw."
This is the reflective element.
They pounced upon me like a piece of prey and succeeded in crushing my
confidence. More importantly though, I recently faced a huge turning point. Last
year a close friend of my family was diagnosed with cancer. I remember
meeting her at the local supermarket and she had lost all of her hair; yet was
still smiling. The pain and suffering that this gentle woman was experiencing
was excruciating and much more extreme than any feelings that I had ever
endured. She later died. She had passed away.
Died.
This is the turning point, and the isolated sentence is used for effect.
"Her death was so unfair. When I received the news... I was dazed and
confused; this is what it really felt like to be ripped apart. My ludicrous, shallow
worries about my hair colour were dramatically put into perspective and really
made me re-evaluate what was important in life. For too long I have wasted
time thinking about hair colour and appearance. I have now learned that it's OK
to be different. I know that I was not the first person with red hair to be picked
on, and I will not be the last."
Reflection on what has been learned.
"If I am truthful, I actually don't want to blend into the background-I just want
to be me. The society we live within in is looks obsessed but it doesn't mean
that I have to be. I now like the fact that my hair is: odd, weird, freaky and dare
I say... GINGER! Looking into the mirror, I now know that I am so worth it!"