Reflective Essay: Ultimate Guide

In a reflective essay, you share your own experience with some event or your thoughts regarding an article, lesson, lecture, etc. What makes that essay reflective is that you, as a writer, analyze a past event from the present.

In this article, writers of our paper writing service will share our ultimate writing guide with you on how to write a reflective essay and includes; the definition, essay format, and reflective essay examples that will inspire you.

Reflective papers relate to some events or experiences. Writing one, you analyze the experience, its meaning, and lessons can be learned from it. That essay format requires you to open up about your thoughts and emotions to uncover your mindset, personality, traits of character, and background. Your reflective essay should include a description of the experience/literature piece as well as explanations of your thoughts, feelings, and reactions.

Reflections are very personal and subjective, but they must maintain a formal tone and should be well organized.

What Is the Purpose of Reflective Writing

A reflective paper is a type of academic writing assignment with the aim of revealing more details about your identity.

Mastering reflective writing allows you to:

• Analyze and conclude what you’ve read, heard, or seen
• Make connections between the text and yourself, or other texts and the world
• Think about what you’ve learned and how you can, or will, use the newly acquired information
• Write subjectively (from your point of view) and help identify your interests

The guide below will lead you to create the perfect reflective essay.

Reflective Essay Writing

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What Do I Write About?

The reflective essay is probably an essay you can’t borrow a topic for, because it should be about your own thoughts and experiences. However, here are some ideas subjects you can write about to help you begin:

• An experience you will never forget.
• The moment you overcame a fear.
• The most difficult choice you had to make.
• A time your beliefs were challenged.
• A time something changed your life.
• The happiest moment, or most frightening moment, of your life so far.
• Ways you think you, or people can make the world a better place.
• A time you felt lost.
• An introspective look at your choices, or a time you made the wrong choice.
• A moment in your life you would like to relive.

You may find it convenient to create a chart or table to keep track of your ideas. Split your chart into 3 parts:

• In the first column, write key experiences, or your main points. You can arrange them from most important to least important.
• In the second column, list your personal response to the points you stated in the first column.
• In the third column, write what, from your response, you would like to share in the essay.

Writing a Reflection Paper

If you’re 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, descriptions, and reflections. This table should help you brainstorm and structurize the introduction and body of your essay.

Example:

‍Past Experience: Volunteering in an animal shelter.
Description: The shelter is located near a vet clinic. I was there with three other volunteers and the shelter’s owner…
Reflection: I was really surprised by the number of homeless animals and how tame they were. Working there was a very enriching experience…

Reflection Paper Format

The format of a reflective essay greatly differs from the argumentative or research paper. A reflective essay is more of a well-structured story or a diary entry that’s rife with insight and reflection. You might be required to arrange your essay using the APA style or the MLA format.

And the typical reflection paper length varies between about 300 and 700 words, but make sure to ask your instructor or employer about the word length if it was assigned to you. Even though this essay is about you, you should try to avoid too much informal language.

If your instructor asks you to format your paper in APA or MLA style, here are a few shortcuts:

Reflective Essay in MLA Format

• 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);
• The last page includes a Works Cited.

Reflective Essay in APA Style

• 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.

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.

• Thesis statement: 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.

Here’s an example of what the body paragraph outline should look like:

• Expectations about the shelter

Example:
I thought it was going to be boring and mundane.

• First impression
• Experience at the shelter

Example:
Finding and rescuing Buffy.

• Other experiences with rescuing animals
• Discoveries

Example:
Newly found passion and feelings toward the work.

• A newly developed mindset

Example:
How your thoughts about animal treatment have changed.

Conclusion

Wrap up your ideas and demonstrate a sense of how you’ve developed as a result of the experience. Describe your feelings, mention discoveries, and most importantly, plans for the future.

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