Reflective Writing Assignments
PREPARED BY REBECCA SHAW, WRITING
COACH, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Contents
Why reflective writing?
Types of reflective writing assignments
Elements to include in reflective writing
Preparing for a reflective writing assignment
The reflective cycle
Organization of a reflective essay
Using evidence in your reflective essay
Language use in reflective writing
Other resources
Why reflective writing?
Your professor/teacher may ask you to complete a reflective writing assignment:
o
To examine your learning processes, including not only what you have learnt, but how you
learnt it.
o
To make connections: between what you already know and what you are learning; between
theory and practice; between course material and personal experiences.
o
To clarify your understanding – identifying the questions you have, and what you have yet
to learn.
o
To think carefully about what you are doing, how you are doing it, and why you are doing it.
o
To learn from mistakes and lessons: avoid repeating mistakes and identify successful
principles and strategies to use again.
o
To become an active learner: engage in the learning process by asking questions, raising
doubts, and thinking critically about one's own ideas.
o
To encourage you to become a reflective practitioner in your future field. This is the
key to life-long learning, growth and meaningful change.
Source: http://learnonline.canberra.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=180720&chapterid=463
Reflective writing assignments may
include:
• Journal or diary entries
• Portfolios
• Narratives
• Reflections on practice or placements
• Blogs
Reflective writing may also be part of
assessments such as:
• Online discussion forums
• Group work and group or peer evaluations
The reflective essay is gaining popularity in
university classrooms. This type of assignment
combines reflection and academic evidence
usually to examine practice based learning.
Types of Reflection
Reflection-in-action, e.g. journaling
Works on getting to the bottom of what is
happening in the experiencer’s processes,
decision-making and feelings at the time of the
event or interaction.
Reflection-on-action, e.g. reflective essay
Works of sifting over a previous event to take into
account new information or theoretical
perspectives available in conjunction with the
experiencer’s processes, feelings and actions.
Elements to include in a reflective writing assignment
Your professor will likely outline the expectations of what should be included in your reflective writing assignment. Some
common elements are listed below:
Perceptions
Processes and
observations
Speculations and
conclusions
Experiences
Inspirations and ideas
Comparisons and
connections
Questions
Challenges and
confusions
Actions
Preparing to write a reflective writing assignment
1. Focus on an experience or event
• What was outstanding or meaningful, negative or positive?
• Brainstorm ideas for five minutes
• Then consider each idea for follow up
• Other ideas may emerge, so consider them too
• Talk about the experience to stimulate a range of perspectives
2. Describe the experience
• Consider the sequence, outcomes, feelings
• Use free writing for 10 minutes
• Create a draft that is filled with your thoughts; that explores some ideas more than others
• Use this as a basis for a later draft that will bring in more conclusions as you continue to reflect
3. Conduct an evaluation / critical analysis
• Why did the event(s) occur in that particular way?
• What factors contributed to the outcome?
• Did you achieve your goals?
• Did your goals change?
• Did other people achieve the set goals?
• Were there any problems with resources?
• How did your actions influence the situation?
• How did other people impact on the situation?
• How did the situation affect you?
• Could you have reacted differently?
• If you had, what might have happened?
• Why did you react in that way?
• How might this experience affect you in the future?
4. Seek out your key points and the issues of significance
• The data you collected in step 3 allows you to identify the important aspects of your reflection on
your learning
• You may find that you have formed new attitudes or values.
• Did you learn anything about yourself that was unexpected?
• What changes do you expect to make in yourself or your work?
5. Identify solutions for similar events
• Develop a new perspective by conceptualising the situation differently
• Communicate the results of your reflection clearly
The reflective process is also often seen as a cycle as it is through this process that people use their learning
and strive to improve by making deliberate changes to their behaviours or trying new approaches. It is very
much part of the professional development process in many workplaces.
Source: http://owll.massey.ac.nz/assignment-types/reflective-writing.php
Reflection Cycle
Description
What happened?
Action Plan
If it arose again
what would you
do?
Feelings
What were you
thinking and
feeling?
Conclusion
What else could
you have done?
Evaluation
What was good
and bad about the
experience?
Analysis
What sense can
you make of the
situation?
Basic organization of a reflective essay
Reflection essays are personal and subjective, but they must still maintain a somewhat academic tone and be thoroughly and
cohesively organized like any other essay.
Introduction
•What the essay is about (broad)
•What exactly the essay focuses on (specific)
•Why it is important to analyze this
•How the essay will be developed
Body
What?

What happened?

Who was involved?
So what?

What is most important/relevant
aspect of the event/idea/situation?

How can it be explained?

How is it similar to/different from
others?
Now what?

What have I learned?

How can it be applied in the
future?
Conclusion
• Restate you main point
• Should reflect your individual viewpoint
• Do not describe unrelated events
• Do not revisit or summarize narrative events
Using evidence in your reflective essay
A common misperception is that reflective essays do not require academic evidence. Remember, you are
aiming to draw out the links between theory and practice. You will need to keep comparing the two and
exploring the relationship between them.
There are two sources of evidence which need to be used in reflective writing assignments:
 Your reflections form essential evidence of your experiences. Keep notes on your reflections
and the developments that have occurred during the process.
 Academic evidence from published case studies and theories to show how your ideas and
practices have developed in the context of the relevant academic literature.
Analyze the event and think about it with reference to a particular theory or academic evidence.
• Are your observations consistent with the theory, models or published academic evidence?
• How can the theories help you to interpret your experience?
Also consider how your experience in practice helps you to understand the theories.
• Does it seem to bear out what the theories have predicted? Or is it quite different? If so, can you
identify why it's different?
Source: http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/StudyResources/Practicebasedlearning/stareflectivewriting.aspx
Language use in a reflective essay
As a large proportion of your reflective account is based on your own experience, it is normally appropriate to use the
first person ('I'). However, most assignments containing reflective writing will also include academic writing. You are
therefore likely to need to write both in the first person ("I felt…") and in the third person ("Smith (2009) proposes that
…").
Produce a balance by weaving together sections of 'I thought… 'I felt,…' and the relevant academic theories. This is
more effective than having a section which deals with the theory and a separate section dealing with your experiences.
Try to avoid emotive or subjective terms. Even though you are drawing on your experiences (and they may well have
been emotional), you are trying to communicate these to your reader in an academic style. This means using descriptions
that everyone would understand in the same way. So rather than writing, "The client was very unhappy at the start of the
session", it might be better to write, "The client was visibly distressed", or "The client reported that he was very unhappy".
This shows that you are aware that the client's understanding of 'unhappiness' may be quite different from yours or your
reader's.
When writing about your reflections use the past tense as you are referring to a particular moment (I felt…). When
referring to theory use the present tense as the ideas are still current (Smith proposes that...).
http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/StudyResources/Practicebasedlearning/sta-reflectivewriting.aspx
Also see, http://writingcommons.org/open-text/genres/academic-writing/use-academic-language/617-using-firstperson-in-an-academic-essay-when-is-it-okay
Other Resources
Click on these recommended websites below for further guidance on
reflective writing and some useful tools for capturing your reflective thoughts.
Thinking Writing - developing reflective thinkers from University of London
Reflective journal - Learning Lab from RMIT University
Reflective Writing from UNSW