how long is reflective essay

8 Tips For Writing A Great Reflective Essay (With Examples)

Memories, hopes, disappointments, and curiosity run through your life.

By writing a reflective essay, you can capture some of these ephemeral emotions and make sense of who you are. Below, I share eight tips (and a few examples) that will help you do it in a better way. You may have to write a reflective essay as a part of an academic assignment or a college paper. Or perhaps you want to create it for yourself and never show it to anyone. Regardless of the reason, after reading this article, you will hopefully become better at it. They helped a lot of students over the years, so you may check them out.

Here’s how to write a great reflective essay:

1. first, what is a reflective essay.

A reflective essay is a piece of writing in which you analyze your personal experience, reflect on how it changed your life, and what conclusions for the future can you draw from what you’ve learned. It’s a “know thyself” type of essay. The goal here is getting self-knowledge, by stopping to think about your memories, your values, and where you want to go from the present moment onward. By writing your thoughts down, you pursue some kind of deeper truth, about yourself and the world.

2. The power of writing introspectively

Many great men and women (like Charles Darwin or Frida Kahlo ) had a habit of keeping a journal. This seems to be forgotten these days as we record everything through our mobile devices. But the habit of introspective writing and journaling helps you get in touch with your inner self and even improves your mental health. The reflective essay serves a similar purpose. It lets you search for meaning in your life and lets you discover the underlying causes of your actions.

“Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard

3. How do you start your essay?

You may start with an introduction of experience, an event, or a memory on which you’ll reflect. If your topic is “a life-changing incident you had when you were a child,” you could start with: I used to live on a sunny farm with my parents and grandparents when I was young. A few days after I turned six, something happened that would alter the course of my life forever. I’m fifty-two as I’m writing this…

This beginning has certain elements that make it effective:

• Introducing the setting and putting the experience in context.
• Hooking the reader by building curiosity and a story.

Here’s another way to start (this excerpt is taken from Didion’s “ On self-respect ”): Once, in a dry season, I wrote in large letters across two pages of a notebook that innocence ends when one has stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself. In reflective writing, you don’t have to follow any strict guidelines or rules. Follow your heart, put some emotion into it, and you’ll create something of value for yourself and others. Start at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end – as long as it’s coherent, you’ll be fine.

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” – Ralph Ellison

4. Learn how to structure your essay

In terms of length, it all depends on your assignment, but usually, the reflective essay has between 300 and 700 words . It has a rather informal structure and the use of language. After all, you’re drilling into your personal experiences, and often, this requires a poetic turn of the phrase. You’re more than welcome to use a wide range of advanced vocabulary .

Introduction

In this part, you set the tone for your reflection. You implicitly or explicitly say what will you reflect on, and what prompted you to do that. If you’re writing an academic paper , you’ll have to be more direct and for example, say: “What follows, are my reflections on what I’ve learned about life during the first year of college”.

In this part, you talk about your actual experiences, memories, and important events in your life. But the purpose is not just to say what happened – that’s a descriptive essay’s job. The true goal here is to ponder the significance of your experiences and think about how they changed you and what you’ve learned from them. Here you can share concrete examples of changes that took place in your life.

Here, you sum up your essay and leave your audience with a final thought. Look ahead into the future and write about how your experiences are going to affect your life from now on. What’s the direction you’re going to take? What is there to look ahead to? You may also look backward and see how different you were in the past, compared to now. “I think it’s good for a person to spend time alone. It allows them to discover who they are and to figure out why they are always alone.” – Amy Sedaris

5. Create an outline for your essay

As with most writing assignments , the work begins with ideation and then creating some sort of outline . Here’s a simple process you can use to get everything ready before you start writing: a) Scan your mind in search of powerful experiences, meaningful memories, and thoughts about your past. This will serve as a raw material from which you’ll sculpt a piece of prose. b) Consider the attractiveness of your topic from the reader’s point of view. You certainly don’t want to bore anyone, so pick something interesting, but important. c) Organize your essay and divide it into a couple of paragraphs. Each paragraph should contain one important idea. d) Decide in which sequence you would like to share your ideas. Put some logic and chronology behind it. e) Jot down any side notes included in the essay. It’s always better to have an overabundance of material.

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – C.G. Jung

6. The essay-writing process

The best piece of advice on that is to avoid cliches. It might be hard to do this at first, but decide to speak your truth. Talk about things and feelings unique to you and your life. It’s easy to regurgitate what someone else had said before because it’s a safe territory. Your goal is to open doors to which only you have the keys.

Once you have the idea, you can follow a simple process:

• Write the first draft as quickly as you can (no editing or looking back here)
• Reorganize the first draft if necessary
• Edit for clarity (throw out everything unnecessary)
• Accept that it will not be perfect, and publish it (or keep it to yourself)

7. How to pick the right topic for your essay

If you’re writing an assignment, you’ll probably receive the prompt from your professor. If that’s the case, follow it diligently. This may be something like: a) Reflect on what you learned during your first year of high school. b) Think about your favorite book and how it changed your life . c) How did your writing skills change over the years? And why? Or it might be something really specific like Write a two-page reflection paper on the Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Here, it’s not only about your personal experience, but about your interaction with a specific text, event, play, or movie and the effect it had on you. But what if you want to write an essay on your own? Which topic would you choose then? First, pick something meaningful to you. Second, pick something that you know well. Third, pick something that you want to explore and get deep into.

Here’s some more inspiration in the area of topics:

Personal reflection:.

• What was the hardest thing you’ve ever done and how did it change you?
• How has your relationship with your parents changed over the years?
• What did you use to do a lot in the past, but aren’t doing now?
• What was the most creative act you’ve ever done?
• What was your favorite game or toy when you were a child?
• What did you want to become when you were small?
• How did you overcome your limits?
• What was your biggest failure and how did you come back on your feet?
• What are the things from the past that are still haunting you?
• What gives you the biggest sense of joy in life?
• What is your passion and how has it shaped your life?

Reflection on life and meaning:

• What is the meaning of friendship?
• What is to be done with the time you have in your life?
• What are the values that make up a good life?
• Is it possible to find the ultimate truth about anything?
• Can you know thyself?
• What should every human do during their lifetime?

Reflection on events:

• What was your most exciting trip and why?
• Have you ever had a mystical or psychedelic experience?
• How did World War 2 change the collective psyche of humanity?
• What was your favorite musical concert and why?
• Was there any rite of passage you went through? What was the meaning of it?

You may also consider other great essay topics submitted by the users of Quora.

“Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens

8. Learn from the masters

Montaigne was the father of the essay as a literary form. He was the first writer to use informal tone, colloquial language, and rather prosaic themes to get to the deeper truth about human nature.

I recommend you check his essays for inspiration, along with other masterworks:

• The Essays – by Montaigne
• Shooting an Elephant – by George Orwell
• On Self Respect – by Joan Didion
• Meditations – by Marcus Aurelius (it’s a philosophical work, rather than an essay, but the quality of “Meditations” is too high to be overlooked).
• Once more to the lake – EB White

And here are a few books filled with great reflective essays:

• A room of one’s own – Virginia Woolf
• Walden – Henry David Thoreau
• A collection of essays – George Orwell
• Arguably – Christopher Hitchens
• Consider the Lobster and Other Essays  – David Foster Wallace

And here you may find a huge list of 450+ essay books on Goodreads.

“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” – Albert Einstein

Example #1 of a reflective essay:

The misgivings about the high school football.

Football (soccer) was on the pedestal during my high school years in Poland. You were not judged by the color of your skin (because everyone was roughly the same color) nor by the contents of your character. The worth of a human being is measured by the ability to score goals. Each player had to find their niche in the dominant hierarchy of the pitch. It all started with the selection of players. The gym master would choose two captains at the beginning of the match, and they would choose their teammates. One by one, the best players got picked, and as we went down the line, we were left with the wretched souls, the worst, the smallest guys, or the fat ones, whose self-esteem was shattered from the beginning, simply because they were picked last. But there was a ladder within a ladder. Some players, perhaps in the lower echelons would be defenders, some would be proud midfielders, pushing the ball forward and creating “situations”. Some were the goalkeepers who were chosen for the job because they couldn’t play ball, or because they were specialists, sporting keeper gloves, and getting admired for their technical skills. But the true apex of the hierarchy was occupied by the attackers. The guys who could push through others and ram the ball through the goalkeeper were the true heroes of the field. This self-generated order of youthful self-worth and self-concept was brutal, as it was instructive. Each football match was a psychology class and a lesson in the ways of the world that outweighed math, history, or geography by orders of magnitude. We could witness the natural constellation of humanity based on their genetic makeup and their willingness to face their fears.

Here’s a second, shorter sample of a reflective essay:

The sources of love for instrumental music..

There’s a question I can’t quite answer. Why do I love instrumental music so much? And why, and I’m especially enamored with the music of the East? The Persian, the Indian, the Afghan, the Japanese, the Turkish, the Kurdish, the Arabic? Since I first discovered these musical notes, my life was never been the same. Recently I watched a great documentary about Quincy Jones where he said he touched his first piano at twelve, and these first few taps of fingers defined the rest of his life. Isn’t that strange, that in reality, we don’t choose things? The things choose us. Where do these natural inclinations come from? It must be our environment, our personality, our natural talent. But the other part seems mysterious, like some sort of cosmic accident. I first heard about the Oud when reading “My Name is Red” by Orhan Pamuk. I instantly went online to hear this instrument and from there on, I discovered dozens of beautiful instruments such as tar, setar, sitar, buzuq, sarod, tabla, rebab, shakuhachi, quin, biwa, to the goddamn gamelan drums. Hearing the esraj in a tower of the ancient Indian fort in Jodhpur melted my heart. It was as if this melody was constructed just for me like I’d heard it before. Perhaps in another life.

Looking backward, moving forward

There are certain milestones in your life: finishing high school, falling in love for the first time, your first journey abroad, the first kiss, the first psychedelic trip, graduating from the university, getting your first job, getting married, having children… Each of these brings something new and unexpected and makes you grow as an individual. But you can run through life and never reflect on how it all changed , how silly and incompetent you were just a few years ago. And how you’ll think the same thing about the present in a few years. Perhaps you should compose a reflective essay and think about all of this, and about what’s coming. Next up, you may want to explore a list of the best essays of all time .

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A reflective essay is a type of writing where you explore how an event, experience, or concept has influenced your development or perspective. It involves deep thinking, self-analysis, and personal reflection. In a reflective essay, you explai what you learned and how you changed as a result of that experience.

In this article, you will learn how to write a reflective essay, and how to highlight impactful experiences. A reflection essay seems easy as you don’t have to defend one’s point of view or convince the reader of something. But it has its challenges, so we recommend to keep on reading and find out everything you need to know about this type of essay. More complex examples are available down below.

What Is a Reflective Essay: Definition

A good question to start with is, “What is a reflective essay?” A reflective essay is a type of academic writing, in which the student has to test personal life experience/position towards a particular topic. Unlike in argumentative writing, the student does not have to defend the personal position. It does not require a complicated, professional language with some terminology. Do not define something - focus on sharing personal life experience, skills, development, and the most vivid examples to illustrate the topic.

Reflective Essay Format

A reflection essay student writes to meet the college writing standards has a different format from the one a magazine writer should present to reach the issue’s audience. However, each reflective paper has a similar outline. Reflective essay format depends on the general requirements your teacher provides. Some of them can ask for a specific format for your essay. APA writing style , MLA, and Chicago are the basic formats you can use. But if you don’t know exactly which formatting to use, you can use reflective essay apa format. This is the most common college essay format, so knowing its requirements is critical: Font:  Times New Roman, 12 points Interval:  Double interval Margins:  1 inch all round Page Numbers:  Insert a title in the upper left corner of each page.  

Reflective Essay Outline and Structure

Knowing how to write a reflective essay is essential. Even if you feel confident about your thoughts and knowledge, don’t start your writing without a clear and well-designed plan. Without logical essay structure , your essay will likely achieve lower marks. To avoid this situation, follow 10 easy steps we provided below. The first thing every student needs to understand how to write a good reflective essay is an effective, detailed outline. It has 3 typical sections: introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Writing a reflective essay does not require any references – the only person to refer is the student who decides to share his thoughts & ideas. Let’s look at 4 main reasons to include an outline of reflective essays.  

• An outline assists in laying out the details the student wants to leave after narrowing down the draft before working on the final paper. It prevents them from concluding the essay by realizing something is missing.
• An outline provides a clear, concise roadmap, which prevents the writer from taking curvy paths and facing dead ends. It shows the way like a compass in the woods.
• An outline helps to save a lot of time.
• An outline helps the potential readers, including teachers & classmates, to avoid falling off the main point when reading the essay partially.

Reflective essay outline is not much different from other types of essays. Use this reflective essay template in creating your perfect reflective essay:

How to Start a Reflective Essay: Creating an Introduction

Let’s figure out how to write a reflective essay introduction. Start with stating the primary focus of the personal reflection. Avoid being indirect and covering a range of topics; stay direct and concise by underlining the basic purpose of sharing a life experience. Professional Opinion:

“Giving a preview of the most exciting part of the story is a clue. The target reader may lack time to read the full piece from cover to cover. “There are many things I have learned from Marketing class. The most valuable lesson I have obtained is checking the effectiveness of 2 different approaches or services through utilizing so-called A/B testing.” It will make the reader think about what is special about this specific method. The reader will go on reading the body paragraphs to find out!” Professor Hemsworth, History & Anthropology teacher and academic writer at StudyCrumb

Another way to attract attention in the introductory paragraph is to come up with the intriguing hook for essay sentences like statistics, fact, quote, metaphor, rhetorical question, or joke. It depends on the mood of your reflective narrative.

Working on Reflective Essay Thesis

Some people may say that a reflective essay does not need a thesis. However, the example shared in the previous section talking about introduction is an example of the inspiring thesis statement. Include at least a reflective summary of the primary idea. The best idea would be to focus on previewing the peak of the plot development or highlighting the most valuable lesson learned. Let’s take a look at this little reflective essay thesis sample.

If you find it challenging, rely on our  professional essay writing service  and have your reflective essay done with academic standards in mind. 

Writing a Reflection Essay Body Paragraph

What is the purpose of a body paragraph ? The body paragraphs of the reflective analysis interpret the way the author evolved or what he/she has absorbed from a particular life lesson (mention 3 different lessons). When writing your reflective essay you should mention the circumstances that forced you to pass a certain way. If you study a subject like English Literature or Arts, the paper’s prompt may ask you to describe how you changed as a field professional during the course of study. It is important to choose a specific interval of time to list the improvements. Compare & contrast the initial skills to the knowledge you have today. It is a great idea to tell the audience the ways various tasks, challenges, and lessons made the author grow since the beginning of his education. There is no need to conduct research to collect the supporting evidence. The author alone is responsible for defending every stated claim with the help of vivid samples that describe the topic the best. Example: In case the student has become more professional in the field of writing, he should list the causes of those changes (new English teacher, more practice at home, part-time job related to the field of writing). Who knows – some of the ideas may be used by other students to succeed!  

How to Write a Reflective Essay Conclusion

The question of how to end a reflection paper is not less important. The last challenge is to prepare an impressive, inspiring, and powerful conclusion, which will make the target readers want to develop the same positive way. Write a reflective summary regarding the way you have changed over a given period of time. Share some forecast by looking ahead: how the experiences listed in the essay would influence further personal development. By looking at the past events, decide which of them was the most important. The good idea is to compare & contrast past and future events to stress the gaps between the obtained skills and experience, possibly gained in the future. Don't want to bother with writing any conclusions? Use a summary maker to generate e reflective essay conlusion in seconds.

How to Write a Reflective Essay: 10 Easy Steps

Writing personal reflection helps students to stress their individuality by highlighting various skills, knowledge, behavior, feelings, and even mood. The purpose of writing a reflective essay is to show how the person changed over time and what factors played an important role in those metamorphoses. Keep on reading this section to learn steps that will make your reflective writing perfect. Step 1:  Think of the questions that interest you the most. It may be your experience, feelings, or an event in life. Make sure you analyzed the question well. Check credible sources and collect relevant information. Step 2:  Decide what you want to write about. Make sure you know how to title an essay . Identify the topic. Step 3:  After you decided on a topic, create an appealing title that will entice readers. Make sure your title is clear and to the point. Step 4:  Create an outline of your essay. Step 5:  Create an attention-grabbing hook for reflective essay. It should be some intriguing sentence or phrase that will arouse the interest of your readers. Step 6:  Create an introduction of your reflection paper. Step 7:  Think what you will include in the main body of your text. Start writing your body paragraphs. Step 8:  Diversify your text with all the necessary details to make your readers see a clear picture of the environment in your story. It can be some place, people, atmosphere, etc. Step 9:  After the reader is already familiar with the setting and characters, you should tell about yourself. What were your feelings? How has the situation affected you? What did you learn from this situation? Step 10:  Conclude your reflective essay. Briefly summarize all the points that were mentioned in your text and provide a short moral with recommendations. You can use these steps as a checklist for your writing process. In case you need another step-by-step guide on response essays  or any other type of writing, we've got you covered.

>> Read more: How to Write Essays

Reflective Essays Sample From Successful College Students

No recommendations, tips & tricks help the students to understand the way a particular assignment should look like in the end as effectively as the examples. The article contains one of the up-to-date reflective essay examples from a college student.

Writing a Reflective Essay: Bottom Line

Congratulations, we have learned how to write a reflective essay. We really do hope that our guidelines, tips, and examples were useful to you. Now, you can definitely work on your reflection assignment with a clear understanding of its structure and main points. So start your writing, and the sky's the limit! 

In case you need more writing tips, feel free to browse our Blog. Be it a diagnostic essay , a synthesis essay  or a response paper , we have tutorials for any type of writing. 

Consider  buying essay papers  in case you've got other plans for the evening. Submit your details to StudyCrumb and get an astounding paper written in line with your requirements. Your assigned writer will handle any assignment with a blink of an eye!

Frequently Asked Questions about Writing a Reflective Essay

1. what is a common mistake when writing a reflective essay.

A common mistake when writing a reflective essay is to drift away from the subject you're writing about. It usually happens when you don’t stick to your initial plan. So plan your writing well and if you feel that you go a bit off topic, be sure that you return to the same topic you originally discussed.

2. What is the purpose of writing a reflective essay?

The purpose of writing a reflective essay is to make a student write about their personal experience, explore it, reflect on it and find positive and negative aspects. The goal is to analyze how a student changed due to this experience and what made them change. What lesson a student learned is an essential point in persuasive writing.

3. How to write a reflective essay on a book?

If you are writing a reflective essay on a book, the main task is to show your teacher how you reflect on a chosen book, how you understand the problem presented by an author. To create a good essay, start with brief information about the author. Then, without spoilers, briefly summarize the main points of a book. After that explain the main conflicts, share your impressions. Ask questions like: “What are the peculiarities of the main characters?”, “What did an author want to say by indicating the main issues?”

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

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Reflective essays

Guidance and information on using reflective essays.

The reflective essay is one of the most common reflective assignments and is very frequently used for both formative and especially summative assessments. Reflective essays are about presenting reflections to an audience in a systematic and formal way.

Generally, all good academic practice for assignments applies when posing reflective essays.

Typical reflective essay questions

Reflective essays tend to deal with a reflective prompt that the essay needs to address. This also often means that the essay will have to draw on a range of experiences and theories to fully and satisfactorily answer the question.

The questions/prompts should not be too vague, for example ‘reflect on your learning’, but should define an area or an aspect relevant to your learning outcomes. This is most easily ensured with thorough guidelines, highlighting elements expected in the essay.

Questions could be something like (not exhaustive):

• reflect on learning in the course with regards to [choose an aspect]
• reflect on personal development across an experience with regards to certain skills
• reflect on development towards subject benchmarks statements and the extent to which these are achieved
• reflect on the progression towards the course’s defined learning outcomes or the school’s or the University’s Graduate Attributes
• reflect on some theory relevant to the course. (Remember that for this to be a reflective essay and not an academic/critical essay, the student must use that theory to explain/inform their own experiences, and use their own experiences to criticise and put the theory into context – that is, how theory and experience inform one another.)

Typical structure and language

Reflective essays will often require theoretical literature, but this is not always essential.  Reflective essays can be built around a single individual experience, but will often draw on a series of individual experiences – or one long experience, for example an internship, that is broken into individual experiences.

The typical language and structure is formal – for thorough descriptions on this, see ‘Academic reflections: tips, language and structure’ in the Reflectors’ Toolkit, which can be valuable to highlight to students.

Academic reflections: tips, language and structure (within the Reflectors’ Toolkit)

Length and assignment weight if assessed

There is no one length that a reflective essay must take. As with all written assignments, the main consideration is that the length is appropriate for evidencing learning, answering the question and meeting the criteria.

Similarly, there is no clear answer for what percentage of the overall mark is attached to the assignment. However, the choice should mirror the required workload for the reflector to complete it, how that fits into your initiative, and the amount of preparation the reflector has had.

For instance, if the student has received formative feedback on multiple pieces of work, a larger proportion of the course mark may be appropriate, compared to if the student had not had a chance to practice. It is important to keep in mind that many students will not have had many chances to practice reflective essays before university.

Back to ‘Components of reflective tasks’

This article was published on 2024-10-15

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• How to Write a Reflective Essay: A Step-By-Step Guide
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• James Prior
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• Updated November 8, 2024

Learn how to write a reflective essay with our easy guide. Follow step-by-step instructions to craft an impactful reflection on your personal experiences.

Reflective essays allow you to dive deep into your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. They help you explore how personal events have shaped you, whether in a classroom, a workplace, or in life. This guide will walk you through every stage of writing a reflective essay, showing you how to organize your ideas, craft a strong narrative, and present your insights effectively.

Table of Contents

What is a Reflective Essay?

A reflective essay is a personal type of writing that focuses on your thoughts and reactions to a specific experience or event. It’s often a personal response rather than an objective recounting of facts, as seen in academic essays. Reflective essays are commonly used in academic settings for subjects like psychology, literature, nursing, and even education. However, they’re also valuable for self-reflection and personal development, helping you analyze experiences that shape your identity.

In a reflective essay, you narrate an experience and then explore its significance, impact, and meaning. This isn’t about providing only external details; it’s about looking within. Reflective essays encourage critical thinking and help you understand how your experiences influence your beliefs, values, and attitudes.

How to Write a Reflective Essay

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you craft a thoughtful and well-structured reflective essay. Follow these points to organize your experiences and insights, guiding readers through your journey of personal growth and discovery.

Choose a Topic

Selecting the right topic is crucial for a meaningful reflective essay. You should choose an experience or event that impacted you emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually. Reflective essays require introspection, so your topic should provide ample material for self-examination.

Examples of Reflective Essay Topics:

• A memorable event, like a family gathering or significant achievement.
• A challenging experience, such as overcoming failure or dealing with a loss.
• A learning experience, perhaps a class project or workshop.
• An impactful conversation or advice that changed your perspective.

Tip : Pick a topic that sparks strong feelings or has lasting meaning for you. Avoid topics that feel too superficial, as deeper emotions and thoughts make for a richer essay.

Reflect on the Experience

Reflection is the core of this process. Before you begin writing, take time to think deeply about your chosen experience. To understand it fully, ask yourself the following questions:

• How did I feel during and after the event?
• What new insights did I gain from this experience?
• How did it change my beliefs or attitudes?

Reflective essays require honesty, so it’s essential to look beyond the surface. Think critically and examine how the experience shaped you. Reflecting helps you gather the insights you’ll need to write a meaningful essay.

Outline Your Essay Structure

While reflective essays are personal, they still need a clear structure. Using an organized format ensures your essay remains coherent and readable. Here’s a basic outline to get you started:

• Introduction : Introduce the topic and provide context. Mention the significance of the experience briefly.
• Body : Describe the experience in detail, analyze its impact, and explore your reflections.
• Conclusion : Summarize your insights and explain how the experience has changed you. Emphasize personal growth.

Tip : Writing a brief outline can help you stay on track and avoid straying from your main points. A structured approach gives your essay clarity and keeps the reader engaged.

Consider Your Language

Once you’ve established the outline of your reflective essay, it’s important to remember to use the right sort of language before you start writing. You should:

Use a Reflective Tone and Personal Language

Reflective essays are personal, so use a conversational tone. Writing in the first person helps make the experience feel relatable. Avoid overly formal or academic language; instead, write as though you’re sharing with a close friend.

Example : “At first, I felt nervous, unsure of how to handle the animals. But as the days passed, my confidence grew.”

This conversational tone makes the essay feel more intimate and relatable.

Use Descriptive Language

Descriptive language helps your reader visualize your experience. Reflective essays benefit from vivid descriptions that pull readers into the story. Describe sounds, colors, and emotions to make your writing come alive.

Example : “The dog’s brown eyes sparkled with excitement, and his joyful bark filled the room.”

Adding descriptive details like this will make your narrative engaging and immersive.

Include Specific Examples

Specific examples add authenticity to your writing. Instead of vague statements, focus on concrete moments that highlight your emotions or insights. This detail creates a more vivid and impactful story.

Example : “When I first walked into the shelter, a little dog wagged his tail and looked up at me. In that moment, I realized how much I wanted to help.”

Balance Description and Reflection

Reflective essays require a balance between describing events and analyzing them. While it’s essential to set the scene and narrate what happened, don’t let the description overshadow your reflections. Spend equal time explaining what you learned or how you grew.

Stay Honest and Open

Authenticity is key in reflective writing. Embrace vulnerability and share your thoughts sincerely. If an experience was difficult, discuss that honestly rather than glossing over it. Readers connect best with genuine reflections.

Example : “It wasn’t easy facing my fears that day, but doing so taught me courage.”

Write the Introduction

In the introduction, set the stage for the reader by providing essential background on the experience. Introduce the event or topic you’ll discuss and briefly mention why it’s significant to you. The idea is to hook the reader and make them want to read on. The following structure works well:

Start with a Hook : Begin with an engaging sentence to grab the reader’s attention. This could be a memorable moment, a strong feeling, or a question that reflects the main idea of your essay.

Introduce the Experience : Briefly introduce the experience or topic you’ll be reflecting on. Provide just enough context to orient the reader without giving away too much detail.

Present the Thesis Statement : Conclude your introduction with a thesis statement for your reflective essay. This statement should encapsulate the main insight or lesson you gained from the experience. Unlike a typical thesis statement, a reflective thesis is personal and sets up the reflection to come.

For example:

• “Through my experience volunteering, I discovered the transformative power of empathy and how small acts of kindness can make a lasting impact.”
• “My journey through unexpected failure taught me resilience and helped me realize that growth often stems from adversity.”

Remember to keep the introduction short; it should give the reader a glimpse of what’s to come without going into too much detail.

Full Introduction Example : “Last summer, I volunteered at a local animal shelter. I thought it would be an easy way to help, but the experience deeply impacted me, changing my perspective on responsibility and empathy.”

This introduction sets up the reader with a clear expectation of the essay’s topic and why it matters to the writer. It engages the reader while leaving space for more details in the body paragraphs. Here you can expand on specific events, reactions, and reflections.

Describe the Experience in the Body

The body of your essay is where you’ll describe the experience in detail and reflect on its significance. Using sensory language can help create vivid imagery and immerse the reader in your experience. Describe sights, sounds, smells, and emotions to paint a clear picture.

Elements to Include in the Body :

• Chronological Description : Explain the experience step-by-step so the reader understands the sequence of events.
• Personal Feelings : Discuss your emotions at different points in the experience.
• Key Insights : Share the lessons you learned and reflect on their impact.

Example : “When I arrived at the shelter, I expected a light workload. However, within minutes, I was helping feed over a dozen animals. The task was challenging, but I felt an unexpected surge of responsibility, realizing that these animals depended on me.”

Here, sensory details and emotional responses make the narrative more engaging.

Connect with Personal Growth and Insights

Reflective essays aim to show growth. After describing the event, examine how it shaped your perspective or values. Think about how the experience influenced your behavior or attitudes. Consider questions such as:

• Did this experience shift your outlook on life?
• How did it help you develop as a person?
• Are there new values or beliefs you now hold?

Discussing these aspects will show the reader your growth. Link your reflections to real changes in your thoughts or actions, showing how this event contributed to your development.

Craft a Strong Conclusion

The conclusion should summarize your key insights. Reflect on the long-term significance of the experience and how it will influence you in the future. This section should leave the reader with a sense of closure.

Questions to Consider in the Conclusion :

• How did the experience change you?
• What new understanding did it bring?
• How will this insight affect your future choices?

Example Conclusion : “My time at the shelter taught me that empathy and responsibility go hand-in-hand. Today, I feel more equipped to make a difference in my community, and I look forward to volunteering again soon.”

This conclusion emphasizes the long-term impact, rounding off the essay with a forward-looking statement.

End with a Call to Action or Thought-Provoking Idea

A reflective essay should leave the reader with a lasting impression. Consider ending with a thought-provoking question or a statement of purpose for future growth. This reinforces your theme and gives the reader something meaningful to ponder.

Reflect on the Future

To emphasize personal growth, think about how the experience will affect your future. Mentioning how you plan to use these lessons reinforces the significance of the event and underscores your development.

Edit and Refine Your Essay

Once you finish your draft, set it aside for a day before revising. Reviewing it with fresh eyes helps you spot areas for improvement. Focus on clarity, coherence, and flow, ensuring that each paragraph transitions smoothly to the next.

Editing Tips :

• Read Aloud : This can help you identify awkward phrasing or unclear sections.
• Grammar and Spelling Check : Proofread carefully for grammatical errors.
• Ask for Feedback : Get a second opinion to spot overlooked issues.

Reflective Essay vs Narrative Essay

When it comes to personal writing, reflective and narrative essays are often confused, but they serve different purposes. While both can center on personal experiences, each type of essay has a unique focus and structure.

A reflective essay emphasizes introspection, where you analyze the impact of an experience and what it taught you, while a narrative essay centers on storytelling, focusing on recounting an event with rich detail.

Reflective and narrative essays may seem similar because both involve storytelling, but they have distinct purposes and structures.

Understanding these differences can help you choose the right approach to effectively convey your message.

Here’s a breakdown of the differences:

• Reflective Essay : The primary aim is self-examination. You analyze how an experience affected you, what you learned, or how it shaped your views. Reflection and introspection are the main focuses.
• Narrative Essay : This type of essay mainly focuses on storytelling. The goal is to narrate a personal or fictional experience in a compelling, often descriptive way, without necessarily delving into personal insights or lessons.

2. Structure

• Reflective Essay : While it includes a narrative element, it’s organized around your insights. After narrating an experience, you’ll explore its impact on your thoughts, beliefs, or behavior, usually using a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Narrative Essay : It follows a straightforward story arc (beginning, middle, end) without needing extensive analysis. While some narrative essays may have a lesson, the main emphasis is on the plot and character development.

3. Tone and Perspective

• Reflective Essay : The tone is introspective and often more formal, though it remains personal. Writing is in the first person, as you focus on your thoughts and feelings about the experience.
• Narrative Essay : The tone is more flexible and can range from formal to conversational. The essay may use first or third person, depending on whether it’s a personal story or a fictional narrative.

4. Focus on Analysis

• Reflective Essay : The emphasis is on analyzing the experience. Reflection is key, so you spend time examining the “why” and “how” of your reaction to the events.
• Narrative Essay : The focus is on describing what happened. While you might touch on emotions or lessons, detailed analysis is generally not required.

Example Topics

• Reflective Essay Topic : “What volunteering taught me about empathy and resilience.”
• Narrative Essay Topic : “The time I got lost in a foreign country.”

In short, a reflective essay emphasizes personal growth and insights gained from an experience, while a narrative essay prioritizes telling a vivid story without necessarily requiring deep introspection.

Writing a reflective essay can be challenging, but it’s a powerful exercise in self-discovery. By carefully selecting your topic, using vivid language, and connecting your experiences with personal insights, you can create a compelling narrative that resonates.

Reflecting honestly, structuring your essay well, and balancing description with introspection will help you craft an engaging and meaningful essay that truly reflects your personal growth.

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Reflective Essay Guide

Writing Reflective Essay

Last updated on: Feb 9, 2023

A Step by Step Guide to Writing a Reflective Essay

By: John K.

Reviewed By: Jacklyn H.

Published on: May 11, 2021

If you have been assigned the task of writing a reflective essay, it will be an excellent opportunity to polish your creativity and writing skills.

A reflective essay is slightly different from other essays as it requires a personal point of view of a chosen subject. Thus, you need to analyze a particular subject with your personal experience, understanding, and knowledge.

The only key to write a reflective paper is that you need to be more expressive. The more expressive you are, the merrier it will be for your essay. Feel free to talk about life experiences that are valid to your topic. Writing your reflections can actually be a strength in this kind of essay.

If this sounds like something that interests or concerns you, then keep reading! This blog contains every detail necessary to produce an impressive reflective essay.

On this Page

What Is a Reflective Essay?

A reflective essay describes an experience or event and analyzes the meaning of that particular experience and the lessons it delivers. One thing that makes it a reflective essay is that the writer analyzes an event of the past from the present.

When writing a reflective essay, you are required to open up about your emotions and thoughts to paint a clear picture of your personality, history, and individual traits.

It is required that you include a description and a vivid summary of the experience; it will make the reader feel that he has experienced it as well. Moreover, you need to explain your reactions, thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

A good reflective paper should be creative, insightful, and authentic. It needs to express your opinions on a specific topic interestingly so that the reader wants to follow what you're saying without getting bored or leaving it before reading.

Reflective Essay Format

REFLECTIVE ESSAY FORMAT AND TEMPLATE

How to Start a Reflective Essay?

Writing a great reflective essay is a chance to polish your skills of writing and enhance your creativity. However, sometimes, it gets difficult and confusing to write it. There are many high schools as well as college students who get confused thinking where to start.

So, we have compiled some steps that will help you to write a perfect essay.

Let’s discuss them in detail.

1. Choose Your Topic Carefully

If you are given the freedom to choose a topic and don’t have any idea regarding it, the best way is to brainstorm and research some trending and good topic ideas. Unfortunately, a common mistake when writing a reflective essay is to choose a topic that is too broad or too narrow.

2. Research About Your Subject

Make sure you do thorough research on your topic first. Close your eyes and start imagining or remembering. Then, watch, listen, and read the information regarding your topic.

3. Brainstorm

Before you even start writing, brainstorm your ideas first. It is always a wise step to take before writing anything.

4. Choose Reflection Questions

Take a look at the questions below to get a better idea:

• What did I notice?
• What do I feel about it?
• Why am I feeling this way?

5. Answer the Questions You Have Chosen

After selecting your questions, you need to give their answers. Start from one essay question; make sure you answer it properly. After that, head on to the next one.

6. Recognize Your Experience Meaning

Before you even start writing, you need to choose the most significant lesson you have learned from your experience. This “most significant lesson or thing” is going to be the thesis of your essay.

7. Follow the Structure

Like all the other essays, the reflective essay also has the same format, which comprises the introduction, body, and conclusion paragraph.

Therefore, follow these steps and makes your essay writing process easy.

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job!

How to Write a Reflective Essay?

Here are some steps that you should follow when you start writing your reflective paper.

1. Write the Introduction

To understand and know how to start a reflective essay introduction, you must first understand that an introduction is a piece of brief information about the main topic and its background.

In the reflective essay introduction, you will recognize the subject and provide the reader with an overview of the impression you have taken from it. Therefore, the introductory paragraph of your reflective essay needs to include a thesis statement that will act as a focal point of your paper.

2. Body Paragraphs

The first body paragraph should mention the impactful impression your subject has made on you. Then, provide relevant facts to support your thesis statement.

Moreover, the body of your essay will also describe most of the ideas you touched on in your introduction.

3. Write a Conclusion

Restate your thesis statement and summarize all the reasons you have mentioned in the essay’s body paragraphs. After that, sum up your essay with your final thoughts on the subject; close your essay with some reflective thoughts.

4. Proofread and Edit

Never submit your essay without editing or proofreading. Even though you have spent hours of effort and put a lot of hard work in doing your essay, your essay will have no worth if you haven’t proofread and edited it.

Here is the reflective essay outline sample for your ease.

Reflective Essay Outline

REFLECTIVE ESSAY OUTLINE

Reflective Essay Examples

We have compiled some perfect reflective essay examples below to help you get started on your paper.

Personal Reflective Essay Examples

PERSONAL REFLECTIVE ESSAY EXAMPLES

ENGLISH REFLECTIVE ESSAY EXAMPLES

Tough Essay Due? Hire Tough Writers!

Reflective Essay Topics

Check out these reflective essay ideas on the most common subjects you can write about:

• Something from your imagination
• Something you have experienced in real
• A special object
• Something you have seen, heard, read, watched, touched, or smelled.

We are sure these subjects must have sparked your imagination, but here are a few essay topics that will help you get the bigger picture. In addition, these topics will help you understand the kind of topics teachers like to assign.

• The desert, mountains, countryside, or beach
• A special room or hideaway
• The house you grew up
• Home of some relative
• A person that taught me how to improve reflective writing skills
• New Experiences
• When your piece of writing published
• Important conversation
• The older man line of thought
• The time you overcame your fears

A list of topics will help you get a picture of what good ideas are like and how to come up with one of your own.

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Your essays are assigned to highly qualified essay writers who have years of experience and education. They make sure to provide you with mind-blowing, error-free, and on-time essays. They don’t just cater to the reflective essay but help with all types of essays.

So, contact us now and get the best write my essay for me? service at affordable rates.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is a reflective essay.

The reflective essay should be between 300 and 500 words. However, it will vary according to the chosen topic.

What is the purpose of a reflective essay?

A reflective essay is a great opportunity for the author to explore what has happened in their life and show how this specific event may have changed them.

PhD Essay, Literature

John K. is a professional writer and author with many publications to his name. He has a Ph.D. in the field of management sciences, making him an expert on the subject matter. John is highly sought after for his insights and knowledge, and he regularly delivers keynote speeches and conducts workshops on various topics related to writing and publishing. He is also a regular contributor to various online publications.

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• Writing Tips

How to Write a Reflective Essay

• 3-minute read
• 29th August 2018

If you think that a “reflective essay” is a college paper written on a mirror, this post is for you. That’s because we’re here to explain exactly what a reflective essay is and how to write one. And we can tell you from the outset that no mirrors are required to follow our advice.

What Is Reflective Writing?

The kind of “reflection” we’re talking about here is personal. It involves considering your own situation and analyzing it so you can learn from your experiences. To do this, you need to describe what happened, how you felt about it, and what you might be able to learn from it for the future.

This makes reflective writing a useful part of courses that involve work-based learning . For instance, a student nurse might be asked to write a reflective essay about a placement.

When writing a reflective essay, moreover, you may have to forget the rule about not using pronouns like “I” or “we” in academic writing. In reflective writing, using the first person is essential!

The Reflective Cycle

There are many approaches to reflective learning, but one of the most popular is Gibb’s Reflective Cycle . This was developed by Professor Graham Gibbs and can be applied to a huge range of situations. In all cases, though, it involves the following steps:

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• Description – You will need to describe your experiences in detail. This includes what happened, where and when it happened, who else was involved, and what you did.
• Feelings – How you felt before, during, and after the experience you describe.
• Evaluation and Analysis – Think about what went well and what could be improved upon based on your experience. Try to refer to ideas you’ve learned in class while thinking about this.
• Conclusions – Final thoughts on what you’ve learned from the experience.
• Action – How you will put what you’ve learned into practice.

If your reflective essay addresses the steps above, you are on the right track!

Structuring a Reflective Essay

While reflective essays vary depending upon topic and subject area, most share a basic overall structure. Unless you are told otherwise, then, your essay should include the following:

• Introduction – A brief outline of what your essay is about.
• Main Body – The main part of your essay will be a description of what happened and how it made you feel . This is also where you will evaluate and analyze your experiences, either as part of the description or as a separate section in the essay.
• Conclusion – The conclusion of your essay should sum up what you have learned from reflecting on your experiences and what you would do differently in the future.
• Reference List – If you have cited any sources in your essay, make sure to list them with full bibliographic information at the end of the document.

Finally, once you’ve written your essay, don’t forget to get it checked for spelling and grammar errors!

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The Reflective Essay

The reflective essay serves two key purposes in your portfolio:

• First, it gives your reviewers some insight into your development as a writer and the role writing has played in your Carleton education.
• Second, it allows you to tell your readers about each individual essay in the portfolio–where and how you came to write it, why you included it, what it reveals about you as a writer, etc.
• Third, and perhaps most importantly, writing the reflective essay allows you, the writer, to stop and consider what you have gained from your varied writing experiences at Carleton and how you intend to develop your skills going forward.

These three purposes mean that the reflective essay is perhaps the most important single component of your portfolio. Since it’s the only item you will write exclusively for the portfolio, it’s the only opportunity you will have to connect directly with your reviewers and draw their attention to the most important qualities of your writing. Furthermore, the reflective essay provides you an opportunity to take stock of your own writing and draw your own conclusions about its strengths and weaknesses, rather than relying on the assessments of your professors. Thus, the amount of time and effort you put into your reflective essay will often determine whether you find the portfolio process to be a valuable experience or just another hurdle on the way to graduation.

The questions below should serve as a guide for your reflective essay. You do not have to address the questions in any particular order, nor do you have to give them all equal time and attention (though you should try to address them all in some way).    Furthermore, if any of the questions simply do not apply to your experience, feel free to skip them or reframe them. In the end, your reflective essay as a whole should read as just that—a single essay with a clear flow of ideas throughout, not a series of short responses to each of the questions below. The primary goal here is to provide your readers with useful context for your writing, not to answer these particular questions in this particular order.

• Note: these need not be specifically writing skills, just skills that helped you as a writer . For instance, you may have found that your time management skills were a significant asset as you began to tackle college-level writing assignments.
• What challenges (if any) did you face in meeting the expectations for writing in your Carleton classes? How did you meet these challenges?
• How have you grown or developed as a writer over the past two years?  How has the writing you’ve completed fit into your overall progress as a student, scholar, or thinker at Carleton?
• How do you expect writing to fit into your academic work in the future? What aspects of your writing do you plan to develop further?

Your reflective essay should also explain how each of the essays you selected from your Carleton classes fits into the overall narrative of your development as a writer. You can address this over the course of the essay, as part of the overall narrative or argument, or you can include a series of paragraphs at the end of the essay that addresses each piece in turn. Either way, some questions you might address here are:

• How does each essay demonstrate major skills you’ve acquired or improved? (These do not necessarily need to line up with the portfolio requirements — analysis, interpretation, observation, etc. — you can also just state in your own words what you feel you gained from writing each essay.)
• Do one or more of them represent significant “turning points” or moments in your development as a writer?  
• Do one or more of them illustrate something about your individual style or approach to writing?

You should write at least a sentence or two about each essay in the portfolio, but you can certainly write more if you have more to say about a given piece. Regardless of how much you write about each essay, though, it is extremely important that you address what each piece brings to the portfolio, because this allows your readers understand what  you  want them to see when they review your work.

Length and Format

There is no minimum or maximum length for the reflective essay, but as a general guideline, it should be roughly 500-1200 words (~2-3 standard, double-spaced pages). Anything less than 500 words and you are unlikely to address the key ideas in enough depth to engage your readers. Anything more than 1200 words and readers are likely to begin “skimming” fairly heavily as they read.

Regardless of length, your reflective essay should be double-spaced and written in an easily readable 12-point font.

Titles are encouraged, but not required, though you should at the very least clearly label the document “Reflective Essay” at the top.

Additional Guidelines

Your reflective essay should:.

• Make an overall argument about how you have developed as a writer since your first term at Carleton.
• Use details from your personal experience to support your conclusions.
• Address how each of your essays in some way illustrates your development.
• Be roughly 500-1000 words long (roughly 2-3 double-spaced pages).
• Maintain a generally academic tone. It’s okay to be light or even humorous in your essay, but you should avoid being glib or dismissive of the portfolio process.
• Stay focused on your experience — i.e. it should not read as an evaluation of your individual classes or Carleton as a whole (though you’re free to express positive or negative opinions about the college that are relevant to your experience).

Your Reflective essay should NOT:

• For example, you might mention that an essay came from your A&I course in order to explain how it illustrates some of the writing abilities you brought with you from high school, but also illustrates some weaknesses in your writing that you improved upon in later essays–ideally essays that are also included in the portfolio.
• Simply restate basic ethos of the college (e.g. “I believe that writing is essential in a liberal arts education…”) without explaining how these ideas apply to your experience. Your goal is not to prove that you have internalized the “Carleton philosophy” of liberal arts education and the importance of writing. Rather, your readers want to see how you have experienced and grown from your time here.

Your Reflective Essay CAN:

• Point out areas where your writing has improved over time. You might, for example, acknowledge that a more recent essay in your portfolio has a better argument or more refined language than an essay from several terms back.
• Discuss your experiences as a writer before Carleton, particularly if you transferred to Carleton from another college or university.
• Recognize particular challenges you’ve faced in developing your writing skills, such as learning English as a second language or not having significant experience with academic writing before Carleton.
• Express criticisms or disappointments with your experiences at Carleton. While you should keep your audience (Carleton faculty and staff) and the context (an assessment of your academic writing skills) in mind, you do not have to be a “cheerleader” for Carleton. If you feel that there are gaps or shortcomings in the education you’ve received over the past few years that have made it more challenging for you to develop your writing skills in the way you wished to, you are welcome to say so.