Writing a Reflective Essay

Writing a Reflective Essay

A reflective essay refers to a particular pattern of writing an essay in which the author critically states his or her experiences in life. The author then explains about those experiences, describing how he or she has changed, developed or grown from that incidental experience of life. It is all about logical or coherent and well-grounded practice in which the author elaborates formally or informally about an imaginary or real event, experience, memory or any said subject in his or her emotions. Reflective writers while writing on any said subject take into consideration “what they noticed” or what they have done differently. Consideration is writing and not just describing. Moreover, it refers to a writing pattern that gives a new way of thinking or a different way to observe the same thing and transpires for remaining life ahead.

The format of a reflective essay may change slightly depending on who the audience is. For example, writing a reflective essay for a college course and an academic audience will have slight changes in how the essay is organized from writing a reflective essay for a magazine or a collection of essays, which has a broader audience, without people who have necessarily gone to college. However, some major elements go into a typical reflective essay: introduction, body, and conclusion.

Reflective essays in particular always have an introduction, where the speaker shares, either directly or indirectly, what the overall focus of the reflection will be. Many popular essay writers might be a bit indirect about their main topic, or about what part of their lives they will focus on. However, an academic writer should be more direct in explaining what aspect of his or her experiences that he or she will talk about.

Some common elementary aspects in writing Reflective essay by an author includes identification of the focus of His/Her reflection (e.g. author’s experience, a specific situation or story, an overview of a collection of experiences), identifying course materials or theories that will help to explore the said experiences more deeply, sharing of the main learning from the experience, introducing the main theme that will address in the body of the essay and lastly offering suggestions as to what author has learnt from the experience and how the author may move forward from this turning point.

The body of the reflective essay explains how the writer has changed or what the writer has learned. It also explains what things caused the writer to change. For example, many academic writers are asked to reflect on how they improved as writers over the semester or quarter. Those typical writers often share how different assignments and lessons made them stronger writers. They often describe how the pursuit of resolving the problem during coursework/task later helped them realize the traits which are necessary to maintain so that they are well equipped to handle difficult circumstances. Writing a reflective essay is almost a necessity in some of the medical courses.

A strong reflective writer will not only share the change but also give examples as supporting details. For example, if a writer discusses becoming more optimistic in life, then examples should be given of what made this change, such as sharing an incident in which the writer took a positive approach to resolve the incident. A level got enhanced because of some point or event and his/her current efficiency reached the level of effectiveness.

In the conclusion of the respective reflective essay, the author gives His/Her review on the importance of the experience within the context of learnings, restating how to move forward from this particular experience, suggesting additional opportunities for future growth or engagement followed by the author summarizes how he/she will be a changed person because of the incident. The author explains how he/she was before the incidence and what changed after that. He/She also explains how He/she is coping up with changes. Uno Assignment acts as a catalyst and has helped many students from various backgrounds and courses write effective reflective essays. Our competent authors, in particular, make sure that you are one up and assignment is submitted in time without much of a hassle.

Author – Emmy Michelle is an educational consultant at Uno Assignment. She like writing on elearning and other topics

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