National 5 – Writing Folio
Personal
and
Reflective
Writing
What is it?
Personal
About you
About your experiences
About your thoughts, feelings, opinions,
ideas…
Reveals your character, personality and
thought processes
Main Requirements
• The essay will aim to interest or give pleasure,
rather than simply convey information.
• It will concern itself with, usually, a single idea,
insight or experience.
• Be thoughtful in tone and convey a sense of
the writer’s personality, authorial voice & stance.
• Reveal the thought processes of the writer and
engage the reader in the writer’s process of
reflection
An Reflective essay is NOT
simply an account of an
experience.
It must contain thoughtful
reflection and be entertaining
for the reader.
Summary
• Take a single personal experience, idea or
insight as a starting point or stimulus
• Show writer’s interesting and/or entertaining
thoughts on this central stimulus
• Develop thoughts and move out beyond
immediate starting point to REFLECT in wider
way on some aspect(s) of the experience, idea
or insight.
• Something of writer’s personality will emerge
from this process of reflection.
Process
• Pick an initial stimulus.
• Explore initial stimulus in an interesting
and entertaining way.
• Move out and beyond initial stimulus to
establish a thoughtful tone.
• Reveal aspects of the writer’s personality
and thought processes.
Reflective Writing is still CREATIVE
• Use your style and specific literary
techniques to create interest and effect
within your essay:
Imagery
Word Choice
Alliteration
Sentencing
Hyperbole
Onomatopoeia
Use of the
senses
Symbolism
Punctuation
All Reflective
essays should
focus on some
aspect of this
What is it?
The main
focus of
reflection
should
ultimately
make some
sort of point
about how we
live – what
makes us tick
You should try
to explore it in
a unique and
new way
The human
condition is
about how we
live our lives
and how
human nature
works
It can be
concerned
with positive
or negative
aspects – how
we behave,
obstacles or
challenges we
encounter,
how we react
Possible Stimuli/Tasks
Choose from the following:
• Reflect on the Future and what you
hope/want to achieve
• Reflect on the significance/importance of
technology in your life
• Reflect on your heroes
• Reflect on something you are passionate
about
• Reflect on a time you made a sudden
discovery/realisation (epiphany)
Our lives revolve around
past/present/future –
what is the importance of
each?
How do you
view/treat/feel
about the
future?
How important is the
future at your stage in
life?
The Future
Are we ever content in
the present? Young look
to future; old look to past.
We are always
looking ahead to
the future but can
we ever get there?
The future is unknown
(another country/world) –
does this make the
future a scary thing?
The Future
• Introduce by reflecting on the significance of the future to you and to
humans in general (use reflective ideas from last slide/quotation)
• Main Essay/Paragraphs:
– Reflect on your thoughts and feelings about different aspects of your
future (what you want to achieve/do – how you see your future) =
Work/education, Personal life, Family/friends, hobbies/ambitions
OR
- Select one significant aspect you your life and chart how the
past/present/future have set you up on a certain path
OR
- Look at an incident/occasion from your past which affected/changed the
direction of your future – reflect on the incident itself and what it caused
to happen
• Conclude by linking the focus of your essay back to a reflective point
about your thoughts/feelings in relation to the future
How quickly does
technology change? Has
it always changed at this
speed?
We live in an age of
technology – could we
live without it?
Are there any
dangers of
technology?
Why are some
people scared
of
technology?
Do we rely too
much on
technology?
Why/why not?
Are we better off
now than our
ancestors were
because of
technology?
Technology
What technologies were just
being introduced when you
were born/young? Are they
still around now?
What do you
think future
technology
will look like?
Why do we as
humans feel
the need to
keep
advancing
technology?
Technology
• Introduce by reflecting on the significance of technology
in this day and age (use reflective ideas from previous
slide/quotation)
• Main Essay/Paragraphs:
– Write about the significance of 3-4 types of technology in your
life (more or less depending on detail – could focus on one
example if you can think of enough to reflect on)
– Think about things that you couldn’t live without and why this is
– Include the advantages and disadvantages of these technologies
• Conclude by linking the focus of your essay back to a
reflective point about your thoughts/feelings in relation to
the significance of technology in your life and in the lives
of humans in general
What sorts of
heroes do we
have when we
are young?
Are there
different kinds
of heroes?
What qualities does a
hero have?
What is a hero?
Heroes
Is it important to have a
hero? Why?
Do our heroes
change as we get
older? Why?
Do ‘heroes’
know they are
heroes?
Heroes
• Introduce by reflecting on what makes a hero and why having a hero is
important/not important (use reflective ideas from previous
slide/quotation).
• Main Essay/Paragraphs:
– Write about the qualities of different types of heroes and why you
think they are important
– Reflect on the difference between heroes today and in the past –
reflect on how your heroes have changed since you were a child
– Identify and describe some of your current heroes – why are they
your heroes
– Reflect of the purpose of heroes – why we have heroes/why some
people don’t
• Conclude by linking the focus of your essay back to a reflective point
about your thoughts/feelings in relation to the significance of your
hero(es) in your life and in the lives of humans in general
What is passion? Where
does it come from?
What would life
be like if nobody
felt passionate
about anything?
What effects can
passion have on
people? How does
it make people feel?
How do we know
when we are
passionate about
something?
Passion
Is passion always a
good thing? Can
you be passionate
in a negative way?
Is it important to be
passionate about things
in life? Why/why not?
Passion
• Introduce by reflecting on the nature of passion – what it is/why it’s
important and/or descriptively introducing your particular passion
(use reflective ideas from last slide/quotation)
• Main Essay/Paragraphs:
– Either focus on one particular passion and describe what it is like/give
details of it, where it came from, your feelings relating to the passion
and why you feel this way, the future of your passion and why others
should feel passionate about it too
OR
- Explore a few of your passions (2-4) and try to explore some of the
above points in relation to each one
• Conclude by reflecting on the significance of your passion in your
life and, more generally, having passion in all our lives
What sorts of
epiphanies/realisations
do people go through as
they grow up?
What is an
epiphany?
When do
epiphanies
happen?
An Epiphany
Do epiphanies always
come from big, lifealtering events?
Why do
epiphanies
happen?
How do
epiphanies
make us feel?
An Epiphany
• Introduce by describing the moment of epiphany (without giving too
much away about it and/or reflect on the significance of
epiphanies/how they happen and what it is like when they do (use
reflective ideas from last slide/quotation)
• Main Essay/Paragraphs:
- Take us through the experience which lead to the epiphany, the
moment of epiphany, how you felt at various stages, what it taught
you/made you aware of and how it changed your wider perspective on
things (what you discovered about yourself/life in general)
OR
- Describe a range of discoveries/epiphanies you have had throughout
life: when you were a child, during early stages of school and more
recently – compare and contrast the nature of these epiphanies and
your thoughts/feelings in relation to each one
• Conclude by linking the focus of your essay back to a reflective point
about the nature and significance of epiphanies – your own personal
ones and in more general