Reflection Paper

Reflection Paper

Reflection papers assess how a particular lecture, film, reading material, experience, etc. shapes one’s understanding of their coursework. Although reflection papers are subjective and personal, an academic tone should be felt in the entire work. Reflection papers should be organized cohesively just like other academic writing papers.

How do you write a reflection paper?

When writing a reflection paper, divide the writing process into three stages, namely brainstorming, organizing your work, and writing.

Brainstorming

1. Note all the central themes. Think about what you are going to write about and summarize it in a few sentences at most three. They should be detailed and precise.

2. Write down any information that lingers in your mind. Figure out why that information stands out and take note of your findings. If you have been asked to reflect on a lecture or a reading, look at specific quotations or a summary of passages. If you are going to write your paper based on experience, think about particular moments in your experience. Write a summary or a short story about a significant event that happened during that specific experience. Include sensory portions of your experiences such as sounds, images, etc. that were meaningful to you.

3. Tabulate your ideas so that you capture all the essential details.

• Jot down your pivotal experiences or critical points in the first column. They can be things that were important to you or the author or speaker if you are dealing with readings, lectures, etc. It’s advisable to have each point is on its row.

• In the second column, record your response to the points you mentioned in the first column. Your responses should be personalized. Demonstrate how your values, beliefs, and experiences affect your reactions.

• The third column is your last. Here, you will write down the parts of your response that you want to include in your work.

4. Come up with questions that will direct your response. Often, you might find it hard to understand your feelings or to know what response you would like to give. In that case, you need to come up with questions that will reveal how that film, experience or reading relates to you. Below are some questions which can help

• How and where does the lecture, experience, film or reading challenge you? Is it culturally, emotionally, socially, or any other way? Why does it intrigue or bother you?

• Has your way of thinking been influenced by the lecture, film, experience or reading? Does it conflict with the beliefs you held before? If so, what evidence did it provide that changed your views about the topic?

• Were there questions that emerged after the film, experience, reading or lecture? Did you have these questions in mind before or they arose after that?

• Were all the crucial issues addressed? Might a change have arisen in the conclusion of the experience, film, lecture, or reading if a particular fact or idea emerged?

• Is there a connection between the ideas or issues that arose in the lecture, film, reading or experience and your past experiences, readings, films, and classroom lessons? Are these ideas contradictory or in tandem with each other?

Once you have completed the above steps, it is time to proceed to the organization stage.

Organizing Your Reflection Paper

1. Your reflection paper should be short and captivating. Ordinarily, a reflection paper should not be less than three hundred words and should not exceed seven hundred words. However, it is essential to find out from your instructor the requirements of your reflection paper. Ensure that you adhere to the instructions given by your instructor even if they do not meet the above average.

2. Make your expectations known to your reader in the introduction of your paper. In this part, reveal the expectations you had for the lesson, film, reading or experience at the beginning. For reading and learning materials talk about what you expected regarding the title, introduction, and abstract. When talking about your expectations from experience, base them on previous similar experiences or information that you obtained from other people.

3. Come up with a thesis statement. When finishing your introduction ensure that you add a sentence that documents how you moved from your expectations and arrived at your conclusion. It helps your reader understand whether the expectations you had were met or not. A thesis statement ensures that your work is coherent and that the focus of your reflection paper is apparent.

4. Discuss the conclusions you make in the body of your reflection paper. The body of your reflection paper should explain the conclusion you arrived at, at the end of the lecture, film, reading, or experience. All the conclusions you reach to should be backed using relevant and logical information. A reflection paper is not providing a summary of the reading, lecture, film, or experience. Even so, do not ignore the summary as you will need it to support your conclusions. Each idea or conclusion should be discussed in its paragraph. All the paragraphs in your reflection paper should have a topic sentence which identifies all the main points, views, and conclusions.

6. Finish your work with a summary. The conclusion should be concise. It should bring out the impact of that film, reading or experience on you. The conclusions you made in the body of your reflection paper should be in harmony with your final conclusion. A few contradictions might arise. However, most of your conclusions should back up the overall conclusion.

The Writing Stage

1. Determine what information to include in your reflection paper. A reflection paper is personal in the sense that arguments are subjective. Therefore, avoid giving all the details about yourself and only talk about what is relevant. If you are uncomfortable with a particular issue, do not provide personal information about it. Discuss specific issues that relate to your emotions and experiences that you do not want to talk about generally.

2. Your work should have an academic or professional tone. Although reflection papers are personalized, thoughts should be well-organized and logical.

• Do not use your writing to drag down anyone. Remain detached in your reflective paper when describing the influence that a person had on you, regardless of how harsh they were towards you. Ensure that you demonstrate how their actions shaped your conclusions instead of talking about their nature.

• Use of the first person pronoun ‘I’ is allowed when writing a reflection paper.

• All arguments should be supported using evidence.

• You must use correct grammar and spelling just as is expected of your in other academic writing assignments. Use of slang is not allowed. After you finish writing your paper, go through your work to ensure that you have no spelling and grammatical mistakes.

3. Write your sentences well. A good reflection paper should have clear sentences. Do not include many ideas in one sentence. Your sentence should pay particular attention to one thing at a time. Avoid writing incomplete sentences. Your sentences should have a subject and a verb. Make sure that there is variation in the length of your sentences. When writing your reflection paper include both simple and compound sentences.

4. Make use of transitional phrases. Transitions allow you to change your argument and introduce specific information. Additionally, they help you to show how one experience connects with a conclusion. Examples of transitional phrases include “as a result,” “for example,” “a different perspective is” etc.

5. Demonstrate how the experience or reading relates to what you have learned in your course. Relate the information you have acquired from your classwork with the ideas presented in the film, lecture, reading, or experience. You can also show how that information applies to what you discussed in class.