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Reflective Writing Guide
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Provide general overviews of your experience
By discussing both the positive and negative aspects of those events, you show that you are able to reflect upon your experience in a comprehensive manner.
Give personal comments on the experience and recommend some brief areas of improvement
Reflective writing:
The key to a good piece of reflective writing is demonstrating that you have critically evaluated and reviewed the note-worthy major events that occurred during the process of completing your project or studies or piece of academic work.
Is a common form of assessment after the completion of an assignment that involves group work, a research project or study, an internship, fieldwork, a study trip, or industry placement. Involves description of the process, along with the expression and analysis of feelings and personal insights in response to experiences, situations, events or new information. Considers and contextualises your individual experience in relation to broader ideas.
Structure:
Introduction
Negative instance of the events
Positive instance of the events
Conclusion
Reflective Writing Guide
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Key tips:
Draw on specific instances of the events and describe these in detail. Usually, you’ll be writing about challenges or difficulties that you faced when completing your work. Consider how these came about, how you dealt with them, and what you might do differently next time. Connect the events of this experience with other knowledge you have learnt throughout your courses or your degree. Use academic theories or knowledge to explain, analyse and contextualise the causes and the development of those events. Provide general overviews of your overall experience and describe if it has been a successful or fruitful learning experiences, or if it has been a challenging or demanding one. Suggest ways to improve what you have learnt and how you have enhanced your ability to deal with the situations or issues as a result of the experience.
Language:
Although a reflective writing primarily involves the discussion of your personal opinion and experience, it is still a piece of academic work and it does not mean that you should use an overly informal tone and language.
You should avoid:
Slang and colloquial language Improper or rude comments especially regarding the discussion of, for example, your group mates, colleagues, mentor or classmates.
You are encouraged to:
Start sentences naturally (e.g. with 1st^ person pronouns such as I) without converting to objective language (i.e. passive voice). It is OK to be subjective in this respect as it is your own opinion and experience that you are describing and reporting. Use a variety of adjectives when describing the events.
