A reflection paper is a kind of academic writing in which you communicate what you think and conclude (reflect) about an experience or an event, a book or a film. The object is to distil, make sense of, and communicate what you have learned about yourself and what you have experienced. This is quite difficult to do well, and it is no accident that there is a structure, shape, and style to it. If you’re struggling to get started, you can always seek help from Domypaper, a service designed to assist students. This paper writer service offers customised support, guiding students through the reflection writing process and helping them improve their writing skills.
Today we’re showing you how to shine a bright light on writing a reflection paper, so that it will be clear, readable, and memorable.
Understand the Purpose
Know what a reflection paper is supposed to do – though it will involve some analysis, it’s not a summary of information. It is an opportunity to explore your own thoughts and feelings about an experience or topic. How have you been impacted? What did you discover? How does this topic tie into your life or studies?
Your paper should now reveal something you have learned. Questions such as: What do I know now that I didn’t know before? How does it affect my understanding of this topic? Why is that important? Will help you get a working draft of your reflection paper started.
Start with an Introduction
Your reflection paper will start with an opening. It should be brief and can be used to introduce the topic or experience you’re reflecting on, while also providing some background information to orient the reader. Although the reflection is personal, you still want to open intriguing possibilities for the reader about what comes next.
You can do this in your introduction too, and briefly summarise what you learned. This will signal to the reader that this is the point you’re trying to make and will create an arch for the rest of your paper that will help direct the reader through it. If you’re facing difficulties, using the best college paper writing services might be an effective way to get help.
Organise Your Thoughts and Ideas
With your introduction in place, you’ll want to structure your thoughts. Because reflection papers span multiple insights, this is even more important than usual. You can use several strategies, but a simple way is to divide your reflection into three equal parts: the experience, or topic; your comments on that experience; and what you have learned.
In the body of your reflection paper, you should:
- Describe the subject matter (book, film, event, etc.) and provide some context.
- Analyse how it affected you or what you thought about it.
- Discuss the insights you gained and how they’ve impacted your personal or academic life.
A paper in the Journal of Reflective Practice found that students who write reflection papers self-reported that their critical thinking skills were enhanced by 32 per cent.
This figure emphasises how powerful and practical writing a reflection paper can be, for it is not just an academic assignment, but an opportunity for self-development.
Compare Personal Experience with Theory
When writing a reflection paper, particularly when making use of a personal experience, it can be helpful to relate your experience to any relevant theory or concept (if it can be made to fit). Doing this will add complexity to the paper, but also shows that you have been thinking critically about how the experience fits into something bigger.
This table presents a comparison between my personal experience and one of the theories by illustrating their differences in a reflection paper.
|
Personal Experience |
Theoretical Framework |
|
Based on feelings and opinions |
Based on established facts or models |
|
Subjective and unique to the writer |
Objective, rooted in general concepts |
|
Focuses on individual experience |
Focuses on broader ideas or systems |
Balancing the personal with the theoretical in this way produces a more balanced reflection on experience, one that presents your personal perspective on things but also links it to larger concepts.
Be Honest and Personal
A reflection paper is, by its very nature, something personal. Your reaction to the experience or topic should be entirely honest. What makes a reflection paper interesting to the reader is that it seems authentic. In reflecting on your experience, it’s absolutely fine to share your feelings. In fact, it’s preferred that you do so, even if your feelings about the experience are complex and mixed.
Keep it honest: but professional? If it is a reflective essay, then the writing should not be overly informal, I would say. But don’t hold anything back: mention how you were actually affected by the topic. The more real it sounds to you, the more impressive it will be for the reader.
Use Concrete Examples
Another good way to bring your reflection paper to life is by making it concrete. Instead of just telling your reader how something affected you, show them. For example, don’t just say that a certain issue affected you; instead, explain how. What aspects of the movie stood out to you? At what points did your thinking change?
For instance, if you are writing about a book, identify certain passages or characters that led you to think differently, or, if you are writing about an experience, identify a few telling moments that explain your feelings or realisations. Your paper will read more sympathetically, and these details will help your reader relate more closely to your reflection.
Conclude with a Strong Closing
The end of your reflection paper is the place to wrap up all of your insights and realisations. It’s the last opportunity to draw together all that you’ve learned or how the experience or topic has made you a different person.
In your conclusion, you can:
- Reiterate the main takeaway of your reflection.
- Reflect on the overall significance of the topic or experience.
- Mention any lasting impact it might have on your life or academic journey.
You can still preserve the integrity of the work as a whole while still wanting to close it. This is your big moment to make a lasting impression. The ending should not come across as summarising and hurried but as carefully considered.
Conclusion
Writing a reflection doesn’t require you to present a personal narrative about dry facts or notes from a text; instead, you can share things you have learned about yourself while making connections to bigger concepts. But, like most genres of writing, you have to know what you’re trying to do, you have to organise what you want to say, you have to be honest, and you have to provide details and concreteness. You’ll need to point out how your personal experience compares with theory, and you’ll want to conclude by tying it all together. These are the basics of writing a reflection that both completes for you and your reader. Writing a reflection may require you to share something personal, but it doesn’t have to be confessional. On the other hand, you don’t have to write a paper that pulls its heartstrings until they break.