requests the author to consider how experiences and observations shape your thinking and your acceptance of new ideas.
This is not a new type of assignment. You have written reflections on a reading. You have written personal stories. You have even summarized an experience. In these activities, instructors are encouraging you to explore your ideas about a text and to connect your analysis to the perspective of others. You are being asked to move beyond simple summary and explore how and why you think that way.
Some asks you to acknowledge that your thoughts are shaped by your assumptions and preconceived ideas; in doing so, you can appreciate the ideas of others, notice how their assumptions and preconceived ideas may have shaped their thoughts, and perhaps recognize how your ideas support or oppose what you read.
Types of Reflective Writing
Experiential Reflection (Personal, Narrative)
Popular in professional programs, like business, nursing, social work, forensics and education, is an important part of making connections between theory and practice. When you are asked to reflect upon experience, you do not only describe your experience, but you evaluate it based on ideas from class. This type of writing can be also referred to as .
You can assess new information based on your observations and practice and evaluate your own knowledge and skills within your professional field. Evaluate and your choices, your actions, your successes and your failures within a specific framework, for example course expectations or work objectives. Abstract concepts can become concrete and real to you when realize your own experiences, and reflect how this prior knowledge allows you to make plans for improvement.
Responsive Reflection (Reading)
To encourage thoughtful and balanced assessment of readings, many courses will request you to submit a reading reflection. Often there is a rubric with expectations for good, better, or best. However, the general purpose is to elicit your informed opinions about ideas presented in the text and to consider how they affect your interpretation. Reading reflections offer an opportunity to recognize – and perhaps break down – your assumptions which may be challenged by the text(s).
Your instructors expect you to critically engage with concepts from your course by making connections between your observations, experiences, and opinions. They expect you to explain and analyze these concepts from your own point of view, creating original ideas and encouraging active interest in the course material.
It can be difficult to know where to begin when writing a critical reflection. First, know that – like any other academic piece of writing – a reflection requires a narrow focus and strong analysis. The best approach for identifying a focus and for reflective analysis is asking yourself the right leading questions.
Consider these questions:
- Background: What are were goals? What are the objectives of the organization? How do these goals fit with the themes or concept you are writing about?
- Provide important information: What! What are you talking about? What is the name of the place this takes place? How did you get into this situation? What was your role? What did you do?
- Analytical Reflection: What did you learn from this experience? About the topic? What was most surprising? About working in the field? About society? About yourself?
- Lessons from reflection: Did your experience fit expectations? Whose exceptions? ? Why or why not? What are you going to change? What are you not going to change? What was successful? Why? What would you do differently? Why? Why is this relevant?
Consider the purpose of reflection: to demonstrate your learning. This could be about the course as a whole, a unit, or a single event. It is important to actively and directly connect concepts from class to your personal or experiential reflection.
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Adapted from “How to Write a Reflection Paper” Academic Skills, Trent University, ON Canada, 2021
serious thought or consideration.
Synonyms : thinking, contemplation, musing
Oxford Dictionary
Reflective essays describe an event or experience, then analyze the meaning of that experience and what can be learned from it. What makes an essay reflective is that the writer is analyzing a past event from the present.
