Guide to Writing a Reflective Essay

Reflective essays are focused on experiences and events, analyzing their meaning. A distinctive feature of reflective essays is analyzing things that happened in the past from the present. If you want to write a reflective essay, you need to be open about your emotions and thoughts so that you can paint a vivid picture of your personality, character, and history. Your essay must include a description of the experience and its summary. You should also explain your reactions, thoughts, and feelings. Check out this guide from Writers-House.com to learn everything you need to know about essays of this kind.

What to Write About?

The most popular subjects of reflective essays are real experiences, special places or objects, something created by the author’s imagination, and other experiences. If you don’t know what the topic of your essay should be, here are a few suggestions for you.

Places you’ve been

• Countryside, mountains, beach, desert;
• The house where you were born and raised;
• A special room;
• Your parents’ home;

Life-changing events

• A big success;
• Important memories;
• A special date;
• An important conversation;
• A failure;
• A new experience;
• Overcoming your fears;

Significant or frequent thoughts

• A conversation you wish you had;
• An embarrassing moment;
• Strong emotions;
• A story about yourself;
• Your dream or daydream;
• A person you’d like to be;

Important people

• Your best friend;
• Your parents, grandparents, aunt or uncle, etc;
• Someone who hurt you;
• Your teacher or coach;

Important experiences

• A post on social media;
• A concert;
• A movie, book, song, TV show, etc.;
• An unforgettable vacation.

How to Organize a Reflective Paper

The structure of a reflective essay is similar to that of other essays. Here’s an outline for a good reflective essay.

Introduction

• The first paragraph of your essay must introduce the subject and provide readers with a general understanding of your experience. The introductory paragraph must also include your thesis statement.
• Example Thesis: “I’m always feeling peaceful in my parent’s house because of my memories about this place.”

Body

• Start the first body paragraph with a reason why your subject made a certain impression and explain why it’s important to you. There are no right or wrong answers in reflective essays, so just write whatever you feel.
• The second paragraph should provide another reason why the subject made this impression.
• In the third body paragraph, explain the third reason why the subject made that impression.

Conclusion

• Rephrase your thesis statement and summarize the three body paragraphs. End your essay with some meaningful final words so that your readers can reflect on your topic.

How to Write a Reflection Paper

You’ll write a reflective essay easily if you follow these steps:

1. Choose your topic

If you didn’t get a topic assigned by your teacher and have no idea what to write about, check the list of ideas above. Choose your topic carefully and make sure that you really know what to write about it.

2. Study your subject

Take some time and just remember your experience in detail. You may also want to read about your subject or to listen to some music. The main thing is to try to re-experience your subject.

3. Brainstorm

Write down everything that comes to your mind, describing your subject in detail. Focus on objects, smells, noises, and tastes. Try to come up with various vivid adjectives so that you can describe your sensory experiences and memories. Don’t try to create a coherent text at this stage, just brainstorm and then turn your stream of consciousness into paragraphs.

4. Use reflection questions

Select at least three of the questions below and answer them in your essay.

• How did that change me?
• What did I notice?
• What is the meaning of this?
• How did I feel?
• Why was this experience unique? Would others feel differently about the same experience?
• Why did I feel this way?
• How can this experience help others?
• What would I like to change?
• Is it similar to another experience?
• Is this experience typical for me?
• How does this experience relate to the rest of my life?
• Was it good or bad for me?
• What did I learn from it?
• Did it foretell something that happened later?
• How can I use this experience in my life, career, or studies?
• How did it change me socially?
• How did it change the way I think?
• How was this emotionally difficult or emotionally important?
• What questions did I have after it?
• Did it make me realize something?
• How did it affect me?
• What was the reason for my reaction to this?
• Was it unexpected?
• Would I want to experience it again?

5. Answer your questions

Read the questions you’ve selected and answer them. Start with a little brainstorming session, trying to come up with as many interesting ideas as you can. You’ll have time to make your writing more formal and to polish your sentences later.

6. Determine the meaning of your experience

Before you start to write your essay, think of the most important part of this experience and what you’ve learned from it. Turn this into your thesis statement.

The Purpose of a Reflective Essay

Teachers assign different types of essays so that their students can think about things they are learning and express their thoughts in the right way. Reflective essays are used not only in schools but also in the professional sphere as a part of employees’ learning process. The purpose of an essay determines its type.

Educational

Instructors may ask their students to respond to some assignment or lecture to prove that they understand the subject matter. Writing about things that you learn can help you better understand them and to share your thoughts with others.

Professional

Doctors, teachers, and social workers also use this type of writing for training.

• Doctors use reflective essays to evaluate their ability to provide proper health care. Such essays usually focus on a doctor’s interactions with patients and advice. Thanks to these essays, doctors can understand how their words, voice, and body language encourage patients to follow their advice and to make the right lifestyle choices. They also help reflect on how patients deal with the bad news.
• Medical students write about patients they interact with, describing them and analyzing ideas about possible treatment. The main purpose of such essays is to analyze the interaction and to determine what did work, and what did not.
• Medical assistants and nurses also write about their care of patients, analyzing different cases and reflecting on the patients’ requests. Such essays can help understand how patients deal with illness, pain, and stress. This type of writing can also help nurses and medical assistants deal with their own emotions.
• Business people can analyze their interactions in the business environment, understanding how they can provide a better product or service.
• Teachers write about their teaching experiences, reviewing their students’ emotions and analyzing the effectiveness of different approaches, taking into account the students’ reactions.
• Social workers use reflective essays to analyze the problems of their clients and their environment. They can also ask their clients to write a reflective essay to reflect on various events, their causes, effects, and circumstances.

Literary

Literary essays provide a response to some book, helping you better understand it and consider it in the context of your own life.

Personal growth

This type of essays is all about analyzing your own experiences and understanding how you’ve evolved as a person.