REFLECTIVE ESSAY

HOW TO WRITE A REFLECTIVE ESSAY

A reflective essay is usually requested by professors or teachers, as they allow you to share your experience with an article, lesson, or lecture. Reflections are very personal and subjective, but they must maintain a formal tone and should be well organized.

EssayPro writing service will share an effective writing guide on how to write a reflective essay

---

What Is a Reflection Paper?

A reflection paper is the type of academic writing assignment aimed to reveal more details about your identity. Mastering a reflective writing allows you to:

• Analyze and conclude what you have read, heard, or seen;
• Make connections between the text and yourself, or other texts and the world;
• Think about what you have learned and how you can or will use the newly acquired information;
• Write subjectively (from your point of view); Identify areas for further reading.

The guide below will lead you to the perfect reflection essay.

Writing a Reflective Paper

If you are writing a reflection on a certain text, annotate your initial emotions and thoughts while reading it. If you are writing about yourself or an event in your life, brainstorm by making a chart with three columns: past experiences, description, and reflection. This table should help you brainstorm and structure the introduction and the body of your essay.

Example:
Let's imagine you are writing about your experience at an animal shelter:

Annotation of the experience at an animal shelter

Reflection Paper Format

The format of a reflective essay greatly differs from that of a normal argumentative or research paper. A reflective essay is more of a well-structured story or a diary entry. You will probably be required to arrange your essay using the APA format or the MLA format. The typical reflection essay length will vary between 300 and 700 words.

Ask your instructor about word length to make sure you follow the instructions.

Here, it is important to adhere to the academic style of writing. This essay is about you, therefore you should try to avoid too informal language. If your instructor asks you to format your paper in APA or MLA style, here are a few shorthands:

MLA

• Times New Roman 12 pt font double spaced;
• 1” margins;
• Top right includes last name and page number on every page;
• Titles are centered;
• The header should include your name, your professor’s name, course number, and the date (dd/mm/yy);
• Last page includes a Works Cited.

APA

• Times New Roman 12 pt font double spaced;
• 1” margins;
• Include a page header on the top of every page;
• Insert page number on the right;
• Your reflective essay should be divided into four parts: Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, and References.

Reflective Essay Outline

To start organizing your reflective essay, take a look at your brainstorming table. The ‘past experience’ and ‘description’ should constitute less than 10% of your essay. Limit listing events and tell events as little as possible. Instead, show the events in your reflection.

Your Introduction Should Consist of:

• The hook: grab the reader's attention in a short preview of what you’ll be writing about.

Example:
We found Buffy head-to-toe covered in tar, starved and fur in patches, under an abandoned garbage truck.

• The reflective essay thesis statement should include that ‘past experience’ information; a brief statement of what your essay is going to be about.

Example:
That summer’s volunteering experience at the animal shelter inspired me to pursue this type of work in the future.

• The structure of body paragraphs is best discussed in chronological events. Answer the bold questions in the ‘reflection’ section of the table; this should naturally create a linear storyline. No matter what you’re writing your essay about.

The Body Paragraph Outline Should Look Something Like This:

• Expectation about the shelter
• First impression
• Expectations: "Thought it was going to be boring and mundane"
• Working experience
• Finding and rescuing Buffy
• Other experiences with rescuing animals
• Discoveries
• Newly found passion and feelings toward the work
• A newly developed mindset about animal treatment

Conclusion

Must wrap your ideas up and demonstrate development. Feelings newly found discoveries, and most importantly, plans for the future are important factors of the conclusion.

Example:
Buffy’s case inspired me to pursue a career as a veterinarian, hopefully, one day working in an animal shelter.

---

Do you need some help with your reflective essay outline? Count on the support of our professional writers