How to Write a Reflective Essay

Reflective essay writing relies on reflective thinking – either reflecting on an experience or on your knowledge. At the university, you are really being asked to write about everything you have learnt, as part of the reflective thinking process. You need to write about your personal thoughts and emotions. Reflection is the ability to think things through. Writing reflective essays is the ability to put those thoughts into writing, and our professional writers will gladly help you with this task!

Your reflective essay is all about your personal outlook and how you felt about a situation, an event, an object, a person and an experience, not someone else’s. In theory, there is no right or wrong way on what you write just how you write it.

Your introduction needs to be strong and engaging. Your body paragraphs need to show analysis and deliberation. Your concluding paragraph needs to reflect back on the content in your essay to create a strong closing statement.

Reflective Essay Structure & Essay Outline

A reflective essay is a piece of writing that takes on the general essay format, which is considered to contain 5 paragraphs overall: introduction, 2-3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. This question has been described in detail in the articles above. The same also holds for the outline: read the article above to better understand how outlines for reflective essays are done.

To write your reflective essay you will need:

• A reflective thinking process
• Self-awareness

Self-analysis and observation skills that show what and how you have reflected:

The reflective thinking process takes time. The biggest reflection we visually get every day is when we look in the mirror. Even then it is about our interpretation of what we see that we draw from – not necessarily what it is. Reflective thinking is similar in the sense that we sometimes see things not as they are but as we are. Profound I know, but this is perfectly acceptable when it comes to writing a reflective essay because this interpretation of an event, situation, even knowledge is exactly what the marker wants to read.

Ask yourself why you felt like that about an important world event, personal experience or any given situation. What is it that drives you to have either stronger feelings about some things and not others? What have you learnt from this experience or event?

How you describe your thoughts and experiences is an important part of reflective essay writing. Reflective writing is the ability to look back on something and then analyze it internally. It is your interpretation you are being asked to write about.

The art is to create a clear impression or picture in your marker’s mind that you have analyzed your topic from your own personal perspective.  Then you need to give relevant examples on why you feel this way. The stronger the evidence, emotion, and examples are – the better.

When asked to write a reflective essay you, in essence, are being asked to create a piece that is your own personal account. Most students find it easier to focus on what was the most significant thing to them when they are trying to write this style of essay – what really stood out for you that will make it easier to write your essay?

Self-analysis may seem strange but really we do this every day (especially when we feel we have made a mistake!). We ask ourselves – why did we do this and what could we do better or differently to improve the outcome. This is reflective thinking – see it’s not as bad as you thought.

To self-analyse puts meaning behind your thoughts and helps you determine and explain the important “why” factor in your reflective essay.  In our reflective essay we start with the what happened, then apply our personal interpretation and then talk about the outcome – what have you learnt and what could you do differently in the future (new ideas/solutions).

When you visit OZessay you will learn vital tips about how to write a reflective essay. We will make it easier for you to develop new ideas and solutions from the reflective writing process. Learn from the experts today so you don’t waste any more time. You will discover exactly how to structure your writing and precisely what you need to include in your reflective writing essay. Place your order to get writing help!