Guide to writing a perfect Reflective Essay
You might be curious about the reflective essay, right? Students have to tackle so many things during the academic years/semesters like multiple assignments and projects, the important one is a reflective essay. A reflective essay provides reinforcement to the students to look at things from their point of view and comment on them analytically or critically. You should be first a good writer to develop any paper. It is to be noted that your grades can be significantly improved if you do well in your assignments or essays.
What is Reflective essay?
A reflective essay is a piece of paper in which you can express your personal thoughts or opinions towards a certain topic. Basically, a reflective essay consists of a person’s opinions, anecdotes, observations, and personal examples. Compared to other sorts of essays, a reflective essay is used to tell one’s own opinions rather than other writers’ opinions. Furthermore, there are no wrong answers in a reflective essay. As it consists of a person’s opinion, and it is the job of the writer to express and articulate their opinions and thoughts in a comprehensible manner. A reflective essay can be written on a wide range of topics, from a memorable trip to your take on the civil war. You can write about pretty much anything.
The reflection essay can be of three distinct types with the tone varying in each one of them:
- In an educational reflective paper, the job is to write feedback about a book, movie, and any event one attended in a way that teaches the reader about it.
- In a professional paper, often written by people who study or work in education or any scholarly setting. Such papers are written often by psychologists as a reflection on a patient’s behavior.
- In the last type that is the personal type, the writer explores their thoughts and feelings about a particular subject that might be of personal interest.
How to Write a Reflective Essay: A Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Select a topic and then start writing a summary of your notions about the topic along with what you know about it. There is a strong chance that the readers will resonate with your ideas’ authenticity and vulnerability.
For example:
After watching a TEDx episode on the importance of sleep, I was able to reevaluate my preconceived notions about the negative effects of staying up late.
Step 2: Think of all the ideas and experiences you have regarding the topic.
You can write down specific quotations and personal examples to support the central theme.
For example:
- My new experience with having a better sleep diet.
- The influence of other people’s perceptions on the harm of being vulnerable and its impact on me.
- The new set of beliefs and ideas as a result of the change in perspective.
Step 3: Analyze the different ways in which your experiences have impacted your interpretation of the theme
After selecting the idea, explore the ways you have reasoned yourself into forming that interpretation. Explain the thought process behind your argument of agreement or disagreement.
For example:
Idea: I was brought up to think that shaving one’s head causes fallen hairs to grow back.
Analysis: a common myth is that shaving your hair off makes the fallen hair grow back. I used to believe in the myth so much that I shaved my head every year. As a result, I was known for my bald head. A lot of quality research and hard work went into undoing the damage of long term conditioning. I got to learn that the blunt heads of shaved hairs make them look thicker and more, shaving does not regrow hair. I have accepted my genetic pattern of baldness from then on.
Step 4: Connect your thoughts, opinions, and observations.
A cohesive connection has to be formed between your ideas for the essay to proceed smoothly and coherently. If you don’t establish a connection throughout your essay, the essay will fall apart. Make sure you connect the dots of your different parts of the essay to lead the reader to a substantial denouement.
Doing some reading before writing your own paper will help you navigate your own subject and how to get about the paper. Pick something memorable and interesting that will capture the reader’s attention. Avoid writing the whole essay at once. Try to take writing the essay in a few steps. First, write the draft and take a day off to come back with a fresh set of eyes to evaluate the essay.
A reflective essay, just like any other academic paper, requires a certain set of skills along with professional attention to detail. Our service is always here to help you with anything you might need. Our team consists of writers who will make sure to write a quality paper for you on short notice. Sign up today at Assignment Studio.
