If you think that a “reflective essay” is a college paper written on a mirror, this post is for you. That’s because we’re here to explain exactly what a reflective essay is and how to write one. And we can tell you from the outset that no mirrors are required to follow our advice.
The kind of “reflection” we’re talking about here is personal. It involves considering your own situation and analyzing it so you can learn from your experiences. To do this, you need to describe what happened, how you felt about it, and what you might be able to learn from it for the future.
This makes reflective writing a useful part of courses that involve work-based learning. For instance, a student nurse might be asked to write a reflective essay about a placement.
When writing a reflective essay, moreover, you may have to forget the rule about not using pronouns like “I” or “we” in academic writing. In reflective writing, using the first person is essential!
There are many approaches to reflective learning, but one of the most popular is Gibb’s Reflective Cycle. This was developed by Professor Graham Gibbs and can be applied to a huge range of situations. In all cases, though, it involves the following steps:
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If your reflective essay addresses the steps above, you are on the right track!
While reflective essays vary depending upon topic and subject area, most share a basic overall structure. Unless you are told otherwise, then, your essay should include the following:
Finally, once you’ve written your essay, don’t forget to get it checked for spelling and grammar errors!
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