Reflective Essay Writing Tips and Pieces of Advice
A reflective essay implies that you will express your emotions, thoughts and feelings about a peculiar event, deed, or phenomenon. Writing such type of an essay helps sharpen your critical thinking skills, and your ability to express thoughts, considerations, or opinions on a certain topic, which can be chosen either by yourself or by your teacher or professor.
How to Write a Reflective Essay
Steps and Useful Tips for Writing Brilliant Reflective Essays
- Think of a deed, event or phenomenon that could become the topic of your reflective essay. When you have done the thing mentioned above, ask yourself how or what you feel about it, how it has influenced (or not) your attitude, life or experience and why? This will assist you in creating a thesis, which will become the focal point of the future essay.
- Prepare a mind-map. Put down your thesis statement into a circle. Then determine your key ideas and arguments that will help the readers of your essay to follow the evolution of your ideas, thoughts, reflections, and experiences. Group them into several paragraphs and try to connect them to your main circle. The following type of work will assist you in seeing the whole structure of your reflective essay very clearly. Finally, prepare your reflective essay outline.
- Start the introduction with a strong, clear, interesting and eye-catching opening paragraph, which is aimed at attracting readers’ attention.
- State all the supporting ideas, arguments, examples or pieces of evidence in the body paragraphs. Make an emphasis only on one idea, point, experience, or evidence, as well as your reflections on it, within every paragraph.
- Summarize your ideas or thoughts in the conclusion. Think carefully about how your experiences could be useful to the readers or what lesson you have learned from it. Finish your essay with asking your readers to think about other related topics on their own.
Points and Tips that should be considered
- According to reflective essay definition, the first introductory paragraph of the essay should give a slight hint about the essay conclusion.
- Since such a type of essay is supposed to be based on personal experiences, the use of the personal pronoun “I” is acceptable.
- The use of one or two quotes in the introduction could make your essay very authoritative.
- In your reflective essay, you may describe what went either right or wrong.
Commonly Made Mistakes When Completing a Reflective Essay
- Reflective essay topics should not be too broad.
- Avoid using a great number of personal details or information in your reflective essay.
- You should analyze a certain event, deed, event, or issue, referring to any of your past or present experiences. Avoid writing your autobiography.
- Avoid using informal tone. It is recommended to follow a formal one.
The ignorance of the essay structure can result in an incoherent and poorly organized text that will be difficult to comprehend.
