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Learn how to effectively write reflective essays and improve your writing skills.

In the realm of the written word, there exists a distinctive genre that invites a deep exploration of personal experiences and thoughts. These compositions, known as reflective essays, offer a unique opportunity for individuals to delve into the depths of their own minds and emerge with a newfound understanding of themselves and their experiences. Through the artful weaving of narratives, insights, and emotions, reflective essays serve as a powerful tool for self-reflection and growth.

Within these reflective compositions, one can find a wealth of tips and techniques that elevate the quality of the writing, thereby enabling individuals to convey their thoughts and feelings with precision and clarity. From the careful selection of language to the strategic deployment of literary devices, these strategies serve as guideposts as writers embark on their introspective journey. By employing these techniques, one can transform a mere collection of anecdotes into a cohesive and resonant piece of literature, capable of stirring the hearts and minds of its readers.

Embracing the inherent strength of these essays lies in the ability to capture the essence of one’s experiences and thoughts through the lens of introspection. By cultivating a strong sense of self-awareness, writers can effectively convey their emotions and perceptions, allowing their words to reach the hearts of their audience. The reflective essay, at its core, seeks to create a connection, a bond between the writer and reader, as they embark on a shared voyage of understanding and introspection. Through the power of vulnerability and honesty, these essays possess the ability to touch the souls of those who encounter them, fostering a sense of unity and empathy in an increasingly disconnected world.

Tips for Writing Reflective Essays

In this section, we will explore some valuable advice for crafting thoughtful and engaging reflective essays. By following these tips, you can enhance your writing skills and effectively convey your personal experiences and insights.

By incorporating these tips into your writing process, you can create insightful and impactful reflective essays that captivate readers and evoke thoughtful contemplation.

Choosing a Meaningful Topic

When starting a reflective essay, one of the most important steps is choosing a meaningful and engaging topic to write about. Selecting a topic that resonates with you personally will not only make the writing process more enjoyable, but it will also allow for a deeper exploration of your thoughts and emotions.

Instead of simply choosing a generic or common topic, try to think of an experience or event in your life that has had a significant impact on you. This could be a personal achievement, a challenging obstacle you overcame, or a meaningful relationship or friendship. By selecting a topic that holds personal significance, you will be able to connect more intimately with your writing and convey your thoughts and feelings more authentically.

In addition to personal significance, it is also important to consider the potential for growth and self-reflection within a chosen topic. Reflective essays are meant to encourage introspection and self-awareness, so be sure to choose a topic that allows for this exploration. Look for topics that offer the opportunity to analyze your thoughts and actions, and consider how they have shaped your personal growth and development.

Finally, consider the potential audience for your essay when selecting a topic. While reflective writing is deeply personal, it is still important to consider who will be reading your essay and what they may find interesting or meaningful. If your essay is for a specific class or instructor, think about how you can select a topic that aligns with the course material or objectives. If the essay is for a wider audience, such as a personal blog or publication, consider selecting a topic that may resonate with a broader range of readers.

In conclusion, choosing a meaningful topic for your reflective essay is crucial to the success of your writing. By selecting a topic that holds personal significance, offers room for growth and self-reflection, and considers your audience, you can create a reflective essay that truly engages and resonates with your readers.

Organizing Your Thoughts and Ideas

Arranging and structuring your thoughts and ideas is essential when it comes to effectively expressing your reflective thoughts in an essay. Developing a clear and coherent framework enables you to convey your reflections in a logical and organized manner.

One practical approach to organizing your thoughts and ideas is to start by brainstorming or mind mapping. This technique allows you to generate a variety of ideas and connections related to your topic. By jotting down these initial thoughts and arranging them spatially, you can visually see the relationships between different concepts and identify potential themes or patterns.

After brainstorming, it is helpful to create an outline for your reflective essay. Outlining helps you structure your essay and provides a roadmap for your writing process. Consider dividing your essay into sections or paragraphs based on the main topics or ideas you want to discuss. This will help you maintain a clear and logical flow throughout your essay.

Within each section of your essay, consider using transitional phrases and sentences to connect your thoughts and ideas smoothly. Transitional words and phrases such as “however,” “in addition,” or “therefore” can help you establish relationships between different points and ensure your essay’s coherence.

Furthermore, consider using headings and subheadings to provide an additional level of organization and clarity. Headings can help guide your reader through your essay and make it easier for them to follow your train of thought. Additionally, using headings can help you stay focused on specific aspects of your reflections.

Lastly, revisiting and revising your essay is crucial for ensuring that your thoughts and ideas are effectively organized. Take the time to read through your essay and check for any inconsistencies or gaps in your reasoning. Consider seeking feedback from others to gain different perspectives and to ensure that your essay effectively conveys your reflective thoughts.

In conclusion, organizing your thoughts and ideas is a vital step in writing a reflective essay. By brainstorming, creating an outline, using transitional phrases, incorporating headings, and revising your work, you can ensure that your essay effectively conveys your reflections in a logical and coherent manner.

Using Personal Examples and Anecdotes

Utilizing personal experiences and anecdotes can greatly enhance the quality and effectiveness of your reflective essay. By incorporating your own unique stories, you can help readers connect with your ideas on a deeper level and make your essay more relatable.

Sharing personal examples allows you to illustrate the concepts and themes you are discussing in a tangible and memorable way. Through these stories, you can provide concrete evidence and real-life situations that support your argument or reflection. Additionally, personal anecdotes can add authenticity and emotional appeal to your writing, making it more engaging and compelling for your audience.

When utilizing personal examples and anecdotes, it is vital to choose stories that are relevant to your topic and align with your main points. Consider experiences that have had a significant impact on your life or have shaped your perspective. These stories should help to illustrate your main themes and offer a unique insight into your reflections.

Furthermore, be sure to provide enough detail in your anecdotes to paint a vivid picture for your readers. Describe the setting, the people involved, and the emotions you felt during the experience. By providing this level of detail, you can transport your readers into the moment and help them better understand your perspective.

However, it is important to strike a balance when using personal examples and anecdotes. While they can be valuable tools for enhancing your writing, it is crucial not to overuse them. Your essay should still maintain a sense of coherence and flow, with the main focus remaining on your reflective analysis.

Reflecting on Your Emotions and Feelings

Examining and understanding your emotions and feelings is a crucial part of the reflective essay-writing process. In this section, we will explore the various ways in which you can reflect on your emotional experiences and delve into the depths of your innermost thoughts. By doing so, you will be able to gain insights into your own personal growth and development, as well as enhance your self-awareness.

When reflecting on your emotions and feelings, it is important to delve beneath the surface and explore the underlying reasons behind them. Sometimes our emotions can be influenced by past experiences, cultural background, or even societal expectations. By taking the time to understand the root causes of our emotions, we can gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and our reactions to certain situations.

• Consider the context: Reflecting on your emotions involves considering the context in which they arise. Analyze the specific circumstances, events, or interactions that trigger strong emotional responses. Ask yourself why certain situations provoke certain emotions and what you can learn from them.
• Identify patterns: Look for recurring themes or patterns in your emotional reactions. Do you notice a tendency to feel anxious in certain situations or to become overly excited in others? Recognizing these patterns can help you gain valuable insights into your emotional tendencies and may lead to personal growth.
• Use descriptive language: When reflecting on your emotions and feelings, try to express them using descriptive language. This will help you capture the depth and intensity of your emotional experiences, allowing you to reflect on them more effectively.
• Consider the impact: Reflecting on your emotions involves not only understanding how they affect you, but also considering how they impact others. Reflect on how your emotional reactions may have influenced your relationships, decision-making, or overall well-being.
• Seek feedback: Sometimes, gaining an outside perspective can provide valuable insights into your own emotions. Consider seeking feedback from trusted friends, family members, or mentors who can offer a different perspective on your emotional experiences.

Overall, reflecting on your emotions and feelings is an integral part of the reflective essay-writing process. By engaging in self-reflection and introspection, you can gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your emotional responses. This will not only enhance your writing but also contribute to personal growth and self-awareness.

Providing Concrete Examples and Evidence

When crafting reflective essays, it is crucial to support your thoughts and ideas with concrete examples and evidence. By doing so, you can effectively convey your experiences and observations while making your writing more engaging and credible.

Utilizing specific examples allows you to delve into the details of your experiences, providing a vivid picture for your readers. Instead of simply stating that you had a challenging experience, describing a particular instance or interaction helps paint a clearer picture and allows your readers to connect with your story on a deeper level.

In addition to providing specific examples, incorporating evidence further strengthens your reflective essays. This can include references to academic studies, research findings, or expert perspectives that support your claims and enhance the validity of your arguments. By backing up your thoughts and ideas with evidence, you demonstrate that you have thoroughly researched and considered the topic at hand.

When selecting examples and evidence to include in your reflective essay, it is essential to choose ones that are relevant and directly support your main points. Be sure to use a variety of sources and perspectives to provide a well-rounded view of your experiences and insights.

In conclusion, providing concrete examples and evidence is a crucial aspect of writing reflective essays. By including specific instances and supporting your ideas with relevant evidence, you not only engage your readers but also strengthen the credibility of your writing. Remember to choose examples and evidence that directly support your main points and provide a well-rounded perspective on your experiences.

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

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Reflective writing is a process of identifying, questioning, and critically evaluating course-based learning opportunities, integrated with your own observations, experiences, impressions, beliefs, assumptions, or biases, and which describes how this process stimulated new or creative understanding about the content of the course.

A reflective paper describes and explains in an introspective, first person narrative, your reactions and feelings about either a specific element of the class [e.g., a required reading; a film shown in class] or more generally how you experienced learning throughout the course. Reflective writing assignments can be in the form of a single paper, essays, portfolios, journals, diaries, or blogs. In some cases, your professor may include a reflective writing assignment as a way to obtain student feedback that helps improve the course, either in the moment or for when the class is taught again.

How to Write a Reflection Paper . Academic Skills, Trent University; Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; Tsingos-Lucas et al. "Using Reflective Writing as a Predictor of Academic Success in Different Assessment Formats." American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 81 (2017): Article 8.

Benefits of Reflective Writing Assignments

As the term implies, a reflective paper involves looking inward at oneself in contemplating and bringing meaning to the relationship between course content and the acquisition of new knowledge . Educational research [Bolton, 2010; Ryan, 2011; Tsingos-Lucas et al., 2017] demonstrates that assigning reflective writing tasks enhances learning because it challenges students to confront their own assumptions, biases, and belief systems around what is being taught in class and, in so doing, stimulate student’s decisions, actions, attitudes, and understanding about themselves as learners and in relation to having mastery over their learning. Reflection assignments are also an opportunity to write in a first person narrative about elements of the course, such as the required readings, separate from the exegetic and analytical prose of academic research papers.

Reflection writing often serves multiple purposes simultaneously. In no particular order, here are some of reasons why professors assign reflection papers:

• Enhances learning from previous knowledge and experience in order to improve future decision-making and reasoning in practice . Reflective writing in the applied social sciences enhances decision-making skills and academic performance in ways that can inform professional practice. The act of reflective writing creates self-awareness and understanding of others. This is particularly important in clinical and service-oriented professional settings.
• Allows students to make sense of classroom content and overall learning experiences in relation to oneself, others, and the conditions that shaped the content and classroom experiences . Reflective writing places you within the course content in ways that can deepen your understanding of the material. Because reflective thinking can help reveal hidden biases, it can help you critically interrogate moments when you do not like or agree with discussions, readings, or other aspects of the course.
• Increases awareness of one’s cognitive abilities and the evidence for these attributes . Reflective writing can break down personal doubts about yourself as a learner and highlight specific abilities that may have been hidden or suppressed due to prior assumptions about the strength of your academic abilities [e.g., reading comprehension; problem-solving skills]. Reflective writing, therefore, can have a positive affective [i.e., emotional] impact on your sense of self-worth.
• Applying theoretical knowledge and frameworks to real experiences . Reflective writing can help build a bridge of relevancy between theoretical knowledge and the real world. In so doing, this form of writing can lead to a better understanding of underlying theories and their analytical properties applied to professional practice.
• Reveals shortcomings that the reader will identify . Evidence suggests that reflective writing can uncover your own shortcomings as a learner, thereby, creating opportunities to anticipate the responses of your professor may have about the quality of your coursework. This can be particularly productive if the reflective paper is written before final submission of an assignment.
• Helps students identify their tacit [a.k.a., implicit] knowledge and possible gaps in that knowledge . Tacit knowledge refers to ways of knowing rooted in lived experience, insight, and intuition rather than formal, codified, categorical, or explicit knowledge. In so doing, reflective writing can stimulate students to question their beliefs about a research problem or an element of the course content beyond positivist modes of understanding and representation.
• Encourages students to actively monitor their learning processes over a period of time . On-going reflective writing in journals or blogs, for example, can help you maintain or adapt learning strategies in other contexts. The regular, purposeful act of reflection can facilitate continuous deep thinking about the course content as it evolves and changes throughout the term. This, in turn, can increase your overall confidence as a learner.
• Relates a student’s personal experience to a wider perspective . Reflection papers can help you see the big picture associated with the content of a course by forcing you to think about the connections between scholarly content and your lived experiences outside of school. It can provide a macro-level understanding of one’s own experiences in relation to the specifics of what is being taught.
• If reflective writing is shared, students can exchange stories about their learning experiences, thereby, creating an opportunity to reevaluate their original assumptions or perspectives . In most cases, reflective writing is only viewed by your professor in order to ensure candid feedback from students. However, occasionally, reflective writing is shared and openly discussed in class. During these discussions, new or different perspectives and alternative approaches to solving problems can be generated that would otherwise be hidden. Sharing student's reflections can also reveal collective patterns of thought and emotions about a particular element of the course.

Bolton, Gillie. Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development . London: Sage, 2010; Chang, Bo. "Reflection in Learning." Online Learning 23 (2019), 95-110; Cavilla, Derek. "The Effects of Student Reflection on Academic Performance and Motivation." Sage Open 7 (July-September 2017): 1–13; Culbert, Patrick. “Better Teaching? You Can Write On It “ Liberal Education (February 2022); McCabe, Gavin and Tobias Thejll-Madsen. The Reflection Toolkit . University of Edinburgh; The Purpose of Reflection . Introductory Composition at Purdue University; Practice-based and Reflective Learning . Study Advice Study Guides, University of Reading; Ryan, Mary. "Improving Reflective Writing in Higher Education: A Social Semiotic Perspective." Teaching in Higher Education 16 (2011): 99-111; Tsingos-Lucas et al. "Using Reflective Writing as a Predictor of Academic Success in Different Assessment Formats." American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 81 (2017): Article 8; What Benefits Might Reflective Writing Have for My Students? Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse; Rykkje, Linda. "The Tacit Care Knowledge in Reflective Writing: A Practical Wisdom." International Practice Development Journal 7 (September 2017): Article 5; Using Reflective Writing to Deepen Student Learning . Center for Writing, University of Minnesota.

How to Approach Writing a Reflection Paper

Thinking About Reflective Thinking

Educational theorists have developed numerous models of reflective thinking that your professor may use to frame a reflective writing assignment. These models can help you systematically interpret your learning experiences, thereby ensuring that you ask the right questions and have a clear understanding of what should be covered. A model can also represent the overall structure of a reflective paper. Each model establishes a different approach to reflection and will require you to think about your writing differently. If you are unclear how to fit your writing within a particular reflective model, seek clarification from your professor. There are generally two types of reflective writing assignments, each approached in slightly different ways.

1.  Reflective Thinking about Course Readings

This type of reflective writing focuses on thoughtfully thinking about the course readings that underpin how most students acquire new knowledge and understanding about the subject of a course. Reflecting on course readings is often assigned in freshmen-level, interdisciplinary courses where the required readings examine topics viewed from multiple perspectives and, as such, provide different ways of analyzing a topic, issue, event, or phenomenon. The purpose of reflective thinking about course readings in the social and behavioral sciences is to elicit your opinions, beliefs, and feelings about the research and its significance. This type of writing can provide an opportunity to break down key assumptions you may have and, in so doing, reveal potential biases in how you interpret the scholarship.

If you are assigned to reflect on course readings, consider the following methods of analysis as prompts that can help you get started :

• Examine carefully the main introductory elements of the reading, including the purpose of the study, the theoretical framework being used to test assumptions, and the research questions being addressed. Think about what ideas stood out to you. Why did they? Were these ideas new to you or familiar in some way based on your own lived experiences or prior knowledge?
• Develop your ideas around the readings by asking yourself, what do I know about this topic? Where does my existing knowledge about this topic come from? What are the observations or experiences in my life that influence my understanding of the topic? Do I agree or disagree with the main arguments, recommended course of actions, or conclusions made by the author(s)? Why do I feel this way and what is the basis of these feelings?
• Make connections between the text and your own beliefs, opinions, or feelings by considering questions like, how do the readings reinforce my existing ideas or assumptions? How the readings challenge these ideas or assumptions? How does this text help me to better understand this topic or research in ways that motivate me to learn more about this area of study?

2.  Reflective Thinking about Course Experiences

This type of reflective writing asks you to critically reflect on locating yourself at the conceptual intersection of theory and practice. The purpose of experiential reflection is to evaluate theories or disciplinary-based analytical models based on your introspective assessment of the relationship between hypothetical thinking and practical reality; it offers a way to consider how your own knowledge and skills fit within professional practice. This type of writing also provides an opportunity to evaluate your decisions and actions, as well as how you managed your subsequent successes and failures, within a specific theoretical framework. As a result, abstract concepts can crystallize and become more relevant to you when considered within your own experiences. This can help you formulate plans for self-improvement as you learn.

If you are assigned to reflect on your experiences, consider the following questions as prompts to help you get started :

• Contextualize your reflection in relation to the overarching purpose of the course by asking yourself, what did you hope to learn from this course? What were the learning objectives for the course and how did I fit within each of them? How did these goals relate to the main themes or concepts of the course?
• Analyze how you experienced the course by asking yourself, what did I learn from this experience? What did I learn about myself? About working in this area of research and study? About how the course relates to my place in society? What assumptions about the course were supported or refuted?
• Think introspectively about the ways you experienced learning during the course by asking yourself, did your learning experiences align with the goals or concepts of the course? Why or why do you not feel this way? What was successful and why do you believe this? What would you do differently and why is this important? How will you prepare for a future experience in this area of study?

NOTE: If you are assigned to write a journal or other type of on-going reflection exercise, a helpful approach is to reflect on your reflections by re-reading what you have already written. In other words, review your previous entries as a way to contextualize your feelings, opinions, or beliefs regarding your overall learning experiences. Over time, this can also help reveal hidden patterns or themes related to how you processed your learning experiences. Consider concluding your reflective journal with a summary of how you felt about your learning experiences at critical junctures throughout the course, then use these to write about how you grew as a student learner and how the act of reflecting helped you gain new understanding about the subject of the course and its content.

ANOTHER NOTE: Regardless of whether you write a reflection paper or a journal, do not focus your writing on the past. The act of reflection is intended to think introspectively about previous learning experiences. However, reflective thinking should document the ways in which you progressed in obtaining new insights and understandings about your growth as a learner that can be carried forward in subsequent coursework or in future professional practice. Your writing should reflect a furtherance of increasing personal autonomy and confidence gained from understanding more about yourself as a learner.

Structure and Writing Style

There are no strict academic rules for writing a reflective paper. Reflective writing may be assigned in any class taught in the social and behavioral sciences and, therefore, requirements for the assignment can vary depending on disciplinary-based models of inquiry and learning. The organization of content can also depend on what your professor wants you to write about or based on the type of reflective model used to frame the writing assignment. Despite these possible variations, below is a basic approach to organizing and writing a good reflective paper, followed by a list of problems to avoid.

Pre-flection

In most cases, it's helpful to begin by thinking about your learning experiences and outline what you want to focus on before you begin to write the paper. This can help you organize your thoughts around what was most important to you and what experiences [good or bad] had the most impact on your learning. As described by the University of Waterloo Writing and Communication Centre, preparing to write a reflective paper involves a process of self-analysis that can help organize your thoughts around significant moments of in-class knowledge discovery.

• Using a thesis statement as a guide, note what experiences or course content stood out to you , then place these within the context of your observations, reactions, feelings, and opinions. This will help you develop a rough outline of key moments during the course that reflect your growth as a learner. To identify these moments, pose these questions to yourself: What happened? What was my reaction? What were my expectations and how were they different from what transpired? What did I learn?
• Critically think about your learning experiences and the course content . This will help you develop a deeper, more nuanced understanding about why these moments were significant or relevant to you. Use the ideas you formulated during the first stage of reflecting to help you think through these moments from both an academic and personal perspective. From an academic perspective, contemplate how the experience enhanced your understanding of a concept, theory, or skill. Ask yourself, did the experience confirm my previous understanding or challenge it in some way. As a result, did this highlight strengths or gaps in your current knowledge? From a personal perspective, think introspectively about why these experiences mattered, if previous expectations or assumptions were confirmed or refuted, and if this surprised, confused, or unnerved you in some way.
• Analyze how these experiences and your reactions to them will shape your future thinking and behavior . Reflection implies looking back, but the most important act of reflective writing is considering how beliefs, assumptions, opinions, and feelings were transformed in ways that better prepare you as a learner in the future. Note how this reflective analysis can lead to actions you will take as a result of your experiences, what you will do differently, and how you will apply what you learned in other courses or in professional practice.

Basic Structure and Writing Style

Reflective Background and Context

The first part of your reflection paper should briefly provide background and context in relation to the content or experiences that stood out to you. Highlight the settings, summarize the key readings, or narrate the experiences in relation to the course objectives. Provide background that sets the stage for your reflection. You do not need to go into great detail, but you should provide enough information for the reader to understand what sources of learning you are writing about [e.g., course readings, field experience, guest lecture, class discussions] and why they were important. This section should end with an explanatory thesis statement that expresses the central ideas of your paper and what you want the readers to know, believe, or understand after they finish reading your paper.

Reflective Interpretation

Drawing from your reflective analysis, this is where you can be personal, critical, and creative in expressing how you felt about the course content and learning experiences and how they influenced or altered your feelings, beliefs, assumptions, or biases about the subject of the course. This section is also where you explore the meaning of these experiences in the context of the course and how you gained an awareness of the connections between these moments and your own prior knowledge.

Guided by your thesis statement, a helpful approach is to interpret your learning throughout the course with a series of specific examples drawn from the course content and your learning experiences. These examples should be arranged in sequential order that illustrate your growth as a learner. Reflecting on each example can be done by: 1)  introducing a theme or moment that was meaningful to you, 2) describing your previous position about the learning moment and what you thought about it, 3) explaining how your perspective was challenged and/or changed and why, and 4) introspectively stating your current or new feelings, opinions, or beliefs about that experience in class.

It is important to include specific examples drawn from the course and placed within the context of your assumptions, thoughts, opinions, and feelings. A reflective narrative without specific examples does not provide an effective way for the reader to understand the relationship between the course content and how you grew as a learner.

Reflective Conclusions

The conclusion of your reflective paper should provide a summary of your thoughts, feelings, or opinions regarding what you learned about yourself as a result of taking the course. Here are several ways you can frame your conclusions based on the examples you interpreted and reflected on what they meant to you. Each example would need to be tied to the basic theme [thesis statement] of your reflective background section.

• Your reflective conclusions can be described in relation to any expectations you had before taking the class [e.g., “I expected the readings to not be relevant to my own experiences growing up in a rural community, but the research actually helped me see that the challenges of developing my identity as a child of immigrants was not that unusual...”].
• Your reflective conclusions can explain how what you learned about yourself will change your actions in the future [e.g., “During a discussion in class about the challenges of helping homeless people, I realized that many of these people hate living on the street but lack the ability to see a way out. This made me realize that I wanted to take more classes in psychology...”].
• Your reflective conclusions can describe major insights you experienced a critical junctures during the course and how these moments enhanced how you see yourself as a student learner [e.g., "The guest speaker from the Head Start program made me realize why I wanted to pursue a career in elementary education..."].
• Your reflective conclusions can reconfigure or reframe how you will approach professional practice and your understanding of your future career aspirations [e.g.,, "The course changed my perceptions about seeking a career in business finance because it made me realize I want to be more engaged in customer service..."]
• Your reflective conclusions can explore any learning you derived from the act of reflecting itself [e.g., “Reflecting on the course readings that described how minority students perceive campus activities helped me identify my own biases about the benefits of those activities in acclimating to campus life...”].

NOTE: The length of a reflective paper in the social sciences is usually less than a traditional research paper. However, don’t assume that writing a reflective paper is easier than writing a research paper. A well-conceived critical reflection paper often requires as much time and effort as a research paper because you must purposeful engage in thinking about your learning in ways that you may not be comfortable with or used to. This is particular true while preparing to write because reflective papers are not as structured as a traditional research paper and, therefore, you have to think deliberately about how you want to organize the paper and what elements of the course you want to reflect upon.

ANOTHER NOTE: Do not limit yourself to using only text in reflecting on your learning. If you believe it would be helpful, consider using creative modes of thought or expression such as, illustrations, photographs, or material objects that reflects an experience related to the subject of the course that was important to you [e.g., like a ticket stub to a renowned speaker on campus]. Whatever non-textual element you include, be sure to describe the object's relevance to your personal relationship to the course content.

Problems to Avoid

A reflective paper is not a “mind dump” . Reflective papers document your personal and emotional experiences and, therefore, they do not conform to rigid structures, or schema, to organize information. However, the paper should not be a disjointed, stream-of-consciousness narrative. Reflective papers are still academic pieces of writing that require organized thought, that use academic language and tone , and that apply intellectually-driven critical thinking to the course content and your learning experiences and their significance.

A reflective paper is not a research paper . If you are asked to reflect on a course reading, the reflection will obviously include some description of the research. However, the goal of reflective writing is not to present extraneous ideas to the reader or to "educate" them about the course. The goal is to share a story about your relationship with the learning objectives of the course. Therefore, unlike research papers, you are expected to write from a first person point of view which includes an introspective examination of your own opinions, feelings, and personal assumptions.

A reflection paper is not a book review . Descriptions of the course readings using your own words is not a reflective paper. Reflective writing should focus on how you understood the implications of and were challenged by the course in relation to your own lived experiences or personal assumptions, combined with explanations of how you grew as a student learner based on this internal dialogue. Remember that you are the central object of the paper, not the research materials.

A reflective paper is not an all-inclusive meditation. Do not try to cover everything. The scope of your paper should be well-defined and limited to your specific opinions, feelings, and beliefs about what you determine to be the most significant content of the course and in relation to the learning that took place. Reflections should be detailed enough to covey what you think is important, but your thoughts should be expressed concisely and coherently [as is true for any academic writing assignment].

Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; Critical Reflection: Journals, Opinions, & Reactions . University Writing Center, Texas A&M University; Connor-Greene, Patricia A. “Making Connections: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Journal Writing in Enhancing Student Learning.” Teaching of Psychology 27 (2000): 44-46; Good vs. Bad Reflection Papers , Franklin University; Dyment, Janet E. and Timothy S. O’Connell. "The Quality of Reflection in Student Journals: A Review of Limiting and Enabling Factors." Innovative Higher Education 35 (2010): 233-244: How to Write a Reflection Paper . Academic Skills, Trent University; Amelia TaraJane House. Reflection Paper . Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence, University of Arkansas; Ramlal, Alana, and Désirée S. Augustin. “Engaging Students in Reflective Writing: An Action Research Project.” Educational Action Research 28 (2020): 518-533; Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; McGuire, Lisa, Kathy Lay, and Jon Peters. “Pedagogy of Reflective Writing in Professional Education.” Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2009): 93-107; Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; How Do I Write Reflectively? Academic Skills Toolkit, University of New South Wales Sydney; Reflective Writing . Skills@Library. University of Leeds; Walling, Anne, Johanna Shapiro, and Terry Ast. “What Makes a Good Reflective Paper?” Family Medicine 45 (2013): 7-12; Williams, Kate, Mary Woolliams, and Jane Spiro. Reflective Writing . 2nd edition. London: Red Globe Press, 2020; Yeh, Hui-Chin, Shih-hsien Yang, Jo Shan Fu, and Yen-Chen Shih. “Developing College Students’ Critical Thinking through Reflective Writing.” Higher Education Research and Development (2022): 1-16.

Writing Tip

Focus on Reflecting, Not on Describing

Minimal time and effort should be spent describing the course content you are asked to reflect upon. The purpose of a reflection assignment is to introspectively contemplate your reactions to and feeling about an element of the course. D eflecting the focus away from your own feelings by concentrating on describing the course content can happen particularly if "talking about yourself" [i.e., reflecting] makes you uncomfortable or it is intimidating. However, the intent of reflective writing is to overcome these inhibitions so as to maximize the benefits of introspectively assessing your learning experiences. Keep in mind that, if it is relevant, your feelings of discomfort could be a part of how you critically reflect on any challenges you had during the course [e.g., you realize this discomfort inhibited your willingness to ask questions during class, it fed into your propensity to procrastinate, or it made it difficult participating in groups].

Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; Reflection Paper . Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence, University of Arkansas.

Another Writing Tip

Helpful Videos about Reflective Writing

These two short videos succinctly describe how to approach a reflective writing assignment. They are produced by the Academic Skills department at the University of Melbourne and the Skills Team of the University of Hull, respectively.

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What Is Reflective Writing? (Explained W/ 20+ Examples)

I’ll admit, reflecting on my experiences used to seem pointless—now, I can’t imagine my routine without it.

What is reflective writing?

Reflective writing is a personal exploration of experiences, analyzing thoughts, feelings, and learnings to gain insights. It involves critical thinking, deep analysis, and focuses on personal growth through structured reflection on past events.

In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about reflective writing — with lots of examples.

What Is Reflective Writing (Long Description)?

Table of Contents

Reflective writing is a method used to examine and understand personal experiences more deeply.

This kind of writing goes beyond mere description of events or tasks.

Instead, it involves looking back on these experiences, analyzing them, and learning from them.

It’s a process that encourages you to think critically about your actions, decisions, emotions, and responses.

By reflecting on your experiences, you can identify areas for improvement, make connections between theory and practice, and enhance your personal and professional development. Reflective writing is introspective, but it should also be analytical and critical.

It’s not just about what happened.

It’s about why it happened, how it affected you, and what you can learn from it.

This type of writing is commonly used in education, professional development, and personal growth, offering a way for individuals to gain insights into their personal experiences and behaviors.

Types of Reflective Writing

Reflective writing can take many forms, each serving different purposes and providing various insights into the writer’s experiences.

Here are ten types of reflective writing, each with a unique focus and approach.

Journaling – The Daily Reflection

Journaling is a type of reflective writing that involves keeping a daily or regular record of experiences, thoughts, and feelings.

It’s a private space where you can freely express yourself and reflect on your day-to-day life.

Example: Today, I realized that the more I try to control outcomes, the less control I feel. Letting go isn’t about giving up; it’s about understanding that some things are beyond my grasp.

Example: Reflecting on the quiet moments of the morning, I realized how much I value stillness before the day begins. It’s a reminder to carve out space for peace in my routine.

Learning Logs – The Educational Tracker

Learning logs are used to reflect on educational experiences, track learning progress, and identify areas for improvement.

They often focus on specific learning objectives or outcomes.

Example: This week, I struggled with understanding the concept of reflective writing. However, after reviewing examples and actively engaging in the process, I’m beginning to see how it can deepen my learning.

Example: After studying the impact of historical events on modern society, I see the importance of understanding history to navigate the present. It’s a lesson in the power of context.

Critical Incident Journals – The Turning Point

Critical incident journals focus on a significant event or “critical incident” that had a profound impact on the writer’s understanding or perspective.

These incidents are analyzed in depth to extract learning and insights.

Example: Encountering a homeless person on my way home forced me to confront my biases and assumptions about homelessness. It was a moment of realization that has since altered my perspective on social issues.

Example: Missing a crucial deadline taught me about the consequences of procrastination and the value of time management. It was a wake-up call to prioritize and organize better.

Project Diaries – The Project Chronicle

Project diaries are reflective writings that document the progress, challenges, and learnings of a project over time.

They provide insights into decision-making processes and project management strategies.

Example: Launching the community garden project was more challenging than anticipated. It taught me the importance of community engagement and the value of patience and persistence.

Example: Overcoming unexpected technical issues during our project showed me the importance of adaptability and teamwork. Every obstacle became a stepping stone to innovation.

Portfolios – The Comprehensive Showcase

Portfolios are collections of work that also include reflective commentary.

They showcase the writer’s achievements and learning over time, reflecting on both successes and areas for development.

Example: Reviewing my portfolio, I’m proud of how much I’ve grown as a designer. Each project reflects a step in my journey, highlighting my evolving style and approach.

Example: As I added my latest project to my portfolio, I reflected on the journey of my skills evolving. Each piece is a chapter in my story of growth and learning.

Peer Reviews – The Collaborative Insight

Peer reviews involve writing reflectively about the work of others, offering constructive feedback while also considering one’s own learning and development.

Example: Reviewing Maria’s project, I admired her innovative approach, which inspired me to think more creatively about my own work. It’s a reminder of the value of diverse perspectives.

Example: Seeing the innovative approach my peer took on a similar project inspired me to rethink my own methods. It’s a testament to the power of sharing knowledge and perspectives.

Personal Development Plans – The Future Blueprint

Personal development plans are reflective writings that outline goals, strategies, and actions for personal or professional growth.

They include reflections on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Example: My goal to become a more effective communicator will require me to step out of my comfort zone and seek opportunities to speak publicly. It’s daunting but necessary for my growth.

Example: Identifying my fear of public speaking in my plan pushed me to take a course on it. Acknowledging weaknesses is the first step to turning them into strengths.

Reflective Essays – The Structured Analysis

Reflective essays are more formal pieces of writing that analyze personal experiences in depth.

They require a structured approach to reflection, often including theories or models to frame the reflection.

Example: Reflecting on my leadership role during the group project, I applied Tuckman’s stages of group development to understand the dynamics at play. It helped me appreciate the natural progression of team development.

Example: In my essay, reflecting on a failed project helped me understand the role of resilience in success. Failure isn’t the opposite of success; it’s part of its process.

Reflective Letters – The Personal Correspondence

Reflective letters involve writing to someone (real or imagined) about personal experiences and learnings.

It’s a way to articulate thoughts and feelings in a structured yet personal format.

Example: Dear Future Self, Today, I learned the importance of resilience. Faced with failure, I found the strength to persevere a nd try again. This lesson, I hope, will stay with me as I navigate the challenges ahead.

Example: Writing a letter to my past self, I shared insights on overcoming challenges with patience and persistence. It’s a reminder of how far I’ve come and the hurdles I’ve overcome.

Blogs – The Public Journal

Blogs are a form of reflective writing that allows writers to share their experiences, insights, and learnings with a wider audience.

They often combine personal narrative with broader observations about life, work, or society.

Example: In my latest blog post, I explored the journey of embracing vulnerability. Sharing my own experiences of failure and doubt not only helped me process these feelings but also connected me with readers going through similar struggles. It’s a powerful reminder of the strength found in sharing our stories.

Example: In a blog post about starting a new career path, I shared the fears and excitement of stepping into the unknown. It’s a journey of self-discovery and embracing new challenges.

What Are the Key Features of Reflective Writing?

Reflective writing is characterized by several key features that distinguish it from other types of writing.

These features include personal insight, critical analysis, descriptive narrative, and a focus on personal growth.

• Personal Insight: Reflective writing is deeply personal, focusing on the writer’s internal thoughts, feelings, and reactions. It requires introspection and a willingness to explore one’s own experiences in depth.
• Critical Analysis: Beyond simply describing events, reflective writing involves analyzing these experiences. This means looking at the why and how, not just the what. It involves questioning, evaluating, and interpreting your experiences in relation to yourself, others, and the world.
• Descriptive Narrative: While reflective writing is analytical, it also includes descriptive elements. Vivid descriptions of experiences, thoughts, and feelings help to convey the depth of the reflection.
• Focus on Growth: A central aim of reflective writing is to foster personal or professional growth. It involves identifying lessons learned, recognizing patterns, and considering how to apply insights gained to future situations.

These features combine to make reflective writing a powerful tool for learning and development.

It’s a practice that encourages writers to engage deeply with their experiences, challenge their assumptions, and grow from their reflections.

What Is the Structure of Reflective Writing?

The structure of reflective writing can vary depending on the context and purpose, but it typically follows a general pattern that facilitates deep reflection.

A common structure includes an introduction, a body that outlines the experience and the reflection on it, and a conclusion.

• Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for the reflective piece. It briefly introduces the topic or experience being reflected upon and may include a thesis statement that outlines the main insight or theme of the reflection.
• Body: The body is where the bulk of the reflection takes place. It often follows a chronological order, detailing the experience before moving into the reflection. This section should explore the writer’s thoughts, feelings, reactions, and insights related to the experience. It’s also where critical analysis comes into play, examining causes, effects, and underlying principles.
• Conclusion: The conclusion wraps up the reflection, summarizing the key insights gained and considering how these learnings might apply to future situations. It’s an opportunity to reflect on personal growth and the broader implications of the experience.

This structure is flexible and can be adapted to suit different types of reflective writing.

However, the focus should always be on creating a coherent narrative that allows for deep personal insight and learning.

How Do You Start Reflective Writing?

Starting reflective writing can be challenging, as it requires diving into personal experiences and emotions.

Here are some tips to help initiate the reflective writing process:

• Choose a Focus: Start by selecting an experience or topic to reflect upon. It could be a specific event, a general period in your life, a project you worked on, or even a book that made a significant impact on you.
• Reflect on Your Feelings: Think about how the experience made you feel at the time and how you feel about it now. Understanding your emotional response is a crucial part of reflective writing.
• Ask Yourself Questions: Begin by asking yourself questions related to the experience. What did you learn from it? How did it challenge your assumptions? How has it influenced your thinking or behavior?
• Write a Strong Opening: Your first few sentences should grab the reader’s attention and clearly indicate what you will be reflecting on. You can start with a striking fact, a question, a quote, or a vivid description of a moment from the experience.
• Keep It Personal: Remember that reflective writing is personal. Use “I” statements to express your thoughts, feelings, and insights. This helps to maintain the focus on your personal experience and learning journey.

Here is a video about reflective writing that I think you’ll like:

Reflective Writing Toolkit

Finding the right tools and resources has been key to deepening my reflections and enhancing my self-awareness.

Here’s a curated toolkit that has empowered my own reflective practice:

• Journaling Apps: Apps like Day One or Reflectly provide structured formats for daily reflections, helping to capture thoughts and feelings on the go.
• Digital Notebooks: Tools like Evernote or Microsoft OneNote allow for organized, searchable reflections that can include text, images, and links.
• Writing Prompts: Websites like WritingPrompts.com offer endless ideas to spark reflective writing, making it easier to start when you’re feeling stuck.
• Mind Mapping Software: Platforms like MindMeister help organize thoughts visually, which can be especially helpful for reflective planning or brainstorming.
• Blogging Platforms: Sites like WordPress or Medium offer a space to share reflective writings publicly, fostering community and feedback. You’ll need a hosting platform. I recommend Bluehost or Hostarmada for beginners.
• Guided Meditation Apps: Apps such as Headspace or Calm can support reflective writing by clearing the mind and fostering a reflective state before writing.
• Audio Recording Apps: Tools like Otter.ai not only allow for verbal reflection but also transcribe conversations, which can then be reflected upon in writing.
• Time Management Apps: Resources like Forest or Pomodoro Technique apps help set dedicated time for reflection, making it a regular part of your routine.
• Creative Writing Software: Platforms like Scrivener cater to more in-depth reflective projects, providing extensive organizing and formatting options.
• Research Databases: Access to journals and articles through databases like Google Scholar can enrich reflective writing with theoretical frameworks and insights.

Final Thoughts: What Is Reflective Writing?

Reflective writing, at its core, is a deeply personal practice.

Yet, it also holds the potential to bridge cultural divides. By sharing reflective writings that explore personal experiences through the lens of different cultural backgrounds, we can foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of diverse worldviews.

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• What Is A Personal Account In Writing? (47 Examples)
• Why Does Academic Writing Require Strict Formatting?
• What Is A Lens In Writing? (The Ultimate Guide)

Reflective Essay: Introduction, Structure, Topics, Examples For University

Table of Contents

If you’re not quite sure how to go about writing reflective essays, they can be a real stumbling block. Reflective essays are essentially a critical examination of a life experience, and with the right guidance, they don’t have to be too difficult to write. As with other essays, a reflective essay needs to be well structured and easily understood, but its content is more like a diary entry.

This guide discusses how to write a successful reflective essay, including what makes a great structure and some tips on the writing process. To make this guide the ultimate guide for anyone who needs help with reflective essays, we’ve included an example reflective essay as well.

Reflective Essay

Reflective essays require students to examine their life experiences, especially those which left an impact.

The purpose of writing a reflective essay is to challenge students to think deeply and to learn from their experiences. This is done by describing their thoughts and feelings regarding a certain experience and analyzing its impact.

Reflective essays are a unique form of academic writing that encourages introspection and self-analysis. They provide an opportunity for individuals to reflect upon their experiences, thoughts, and emotions, and effectively communicate their insights. In this article, we will explore the essential components of a reflective essay, discuss popular topics, provide guidance on how to start and structure the essay, and offer examples to inspire your writing.

I. Understanding Reflective Essays:

• Definition and purpose of reflective essays
• Key characteristics that distinguish them from other types of essays
• Benefits of writing reflective essays for personal growth and development

II. Choosing a Reflective Essay Topic:

• Exploring personal experiences and their impact
• Analyzing significant life events or milestones
• Examining challenges, successes, or failures and lessons learned
• Reflecting on personal growth and transformation
• Discussing the impact of specific books, movies, or artworks
• Analyzing the influence of cultural or social experiences
• Reflecting on internships, volunteer work, or professional experiences

III. Starting a Reflective Essay:

• Engage the reader with a captivating hook or anecdote
• Introduce the topic and provide context
• Clearly state the purpose and objectives of the reflection
• Include a thesis statement that highlights the main insights to be discussed

IV. Writing a Reflective Essay on a Class:

• Assessing the overall learning experience and objectives of the class
• Analyzing personal growth and development throughout the course
• Reflecting on challenges, achievements, and lessons learned
• Discussing the impact of specific assignments, projects, or discussions
• Evaluating the effectiveness of teaching methods and materials

V. Common Mistakes to Avoid in Reflective Essay Writing:

• Superficial reflection without deep analysis
• Overuse of personal opinions without supporting evidence
• Lack of organization and coherence in presenting ideas
• Neglecting to connect personal experiences to broader concepts or theories
• Failing to provide specific examples to illustrate key points

VI. Why “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell is Classified as a Reflective Essay:

• Briefly summarize the essay’s content and context
• Analyze the introspective and self-analytical elements in Orwell’s narrative
• Discuss the themes of moral conflict, imperialism, and personal conscience
• Highlight Orwell’s reflections on the psychological and emotional impact of his actions

VII. Reflective Essay Structure:

• Engaging opening statement or anecdote
• Background information and context
• Clear thesis statement
• Present and analyze personal experiences, thoughts, and emotions
• Reflect on the significance and impact of those experiences
• Connect personal reflections to broader concepts or theories
• Provide supporting evidence and specific examples
• Summarize key insights and reflections
• Emphasize the personal growth or lessons learned
• Conclude with a thought-provoking statement or call to action

VIII. Reflective Essay Examples:

• Example 1: Reflecting on a life-changing travel experience
• Example 2: Analyzing personal growth during a challenging academic year
• Example 3: Reflecting on the impact of volunteering at a local shelter

During a reflective essay, the writer examines his or her own experiences, hence the term ‘reflection’. The purpose of a reflective essay is to allow the author to recount a particular life experience. However, it should also explore how he or she has changed or grown as a result of the experience.

The format of reflective writing can vary, but you’ll most likely see it in the form of a learning log or diary entry. The author’s diary entries demonstrate how the author’s thoughts have developed and evolved over the course of a particular period of time.

The format of a reflective essay can vary depending on the intended audience. A reflective essay might be academic or part of a broader piece of writing for a magazine, for example.

While the format for class assignments may vary, the purpose generally remains the same: tutors want students to think deeply and critically about a particular learning experience. Here are some examples of reflective essay formats you may need to write:

Focusing on personal growth:

Tutors often use this type of paper to help students develop their ability to analyze their personal life experiences so that they can grow and develop emotionally. As a result of the essay, the student gains a better understanding of themselves and their behaviors.

Taking a closer look at the literature:

The purpose of this type of essay is for students to summarize the literature, after which it is applied to their own experiences.

What am I supposed to write about?

When deciding on the content of your reflective essay, you need to keep in mind that it is highly personal and is intended to engage the reader. Reflective essays are much more than just recounting a story. As you reflect on your experience (more on this later), you will need to demonstrate how it influenced your subsequent behavior and how your life has consequently changed.

Start by thinking about some important experiences in your life that have had a profound impact on you, either positively or negatively. A reflection essay topic could be a real-life experience, an imagined experience, a special object or place, a person who influenced you, or something you’ve seen or read.

If you are asked to write a reflective essay for an academic assignment, it is likely that you will be asked to focus on a particular episode – such as a time when you had to make an influential decision – and explain the results. In a reflective essay, the aftermath of the experience is especially significant; miss this out and you will simply be telling a story.

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Considerations

In this type of essay, the reflective process is at the core, so it’s important that you get it right from the beginning. Think deeply about how the experience you have chosen to focus on impacted or changed you. Consider the implications for you on a personal level based on your memories and feelings.

Once you have chosen the topic of your essay, it is imperative that you spend a lot of time thinking about it and studying it thoroughly. Write down everything you remember about it, describing it as clearly and completely as you can. Use your five senses to describe your experience, and be sure to use adjectives. During this stage, you can simply take notes using short phrases, but make sure to record your reactions, perceptions, and experiences.

As soon as you’ve emptied your memory, you should begin reflecting. Choosing some reflection questions that will help you think deeply about the impact and lasting effects of your experience is a helpful way to do this. Here are some suggestions:

• As a result of the experience, what have you learned about yourself?
• What have you developed as a result? How?
• Has it had a positive or negative impact on your life?
• Looking back, what would you do differently?
• If you could go back, what would you do differently? Did you make the right decisions?
• How would you describe the experience in general? What did you learn from the experience? What skills or perspectives did you acquire?

You can use these signpost questions to kick-start your reflective process. Remember that asking yourself lots of questions is crucial to ensuring that you think deeply and critically about your experiences – a skill at the heart of a great reflective essay.

Use models of reflection (like the Gibbs or Kolb cycles) before, during, and after the learning process to ensure that you maintain a high standard of analysis. Before you get to the nitty-gritty of the process, consider questions such as: what might happen (in regards to the experience)?

Will there be any challenges? What knowledge will be needed to best prepare? When you are planning and writing, these questions may be helpful: what is happening within the learning process? Has everything worked according to plan? How am I handling the challenges that come with it?

Do you need to do anything else to ensure that the learning process is successful? Is there anything I can learn from this? Using a framework like this will enable you to keep track of the reflective process that should guide your work.

Here’s a useful tip: no matter how well prepared you feel with all that time spent reflecting in your arsenal, don’t start writing your essay until you have developed a comprehensive, well-rounded plan. There will be so much more coherence in what you write, your ideas will be expressed with structure and clarity, and your essay will probably receive higher marks as a result.

It’s especially important when writing a reflective essay as it’s possible for people to get a little ‘lost’ or disorganized as they recount their own experiences in an erratic and often unsystematic manner since it’s an incredibly personal topic. But if you outline thoroughly (this is the same thing as a ‘plan’) and adhere to it like Christopher Columbus adhered to a map, you should be fine as you embark on the ultimate step of writing your essay. We’ve summarized the benefits of creating a detailed essay outline below if you’re still not convinced of the value of planning:

An outline can help you identify all the details you plan to include in your essay, allowing you to remove all superfluous details so that your essay is concise and to the point.

Think of the outline as a map – you plan in advance which points you will navigate through and discuss in your writing. You will more likely have a clear line of thought, making your work easier to understand. You’ll be less likely to miss out on any pertinent details, and you won’t have to go back at the end and try to fit them in.

This is a real-time-saver! When you use the outline as an essay’s skeleton, you’ll save a tremendous amount of time when writing because you’ll know exactly what you want to say. Due to this, you will be able to devote more time to editing the paper and ensuring it meets high standards.

As you now know the advantages of using an outline for your reflective essay, it is important that you know how to create one. There can be significant differences between it and other typical essay outlines, mostly due to the varying topics. As always, you need to begin your outline by drafting the introduction, body, and conclusion. We will discuss this in more detail below.

Introduction

Your reflective essay must begin with an introduction that contains both a hook and a thesis statement. The goal of a ‘hook’ is to capture the attention of your audience or reader from the very beginning. In the first paragraph of your story, you should convey the exciting aspects of your story so that you can succeed in

If you think about the opening quote of this article, did it grab your attention and make you want to read more? This thesis statement summarizes the essay’s focus, which in this case is a particular experience that left a lasting impression on you. Give a quick overview of your experience – don’t give too much information away or you’ll lose readers’ interest.

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Reflection Essay Structure

A reflective essay differs greatly from an argumentative or research paper in its format. Reflective essays are more like well-structured stories or diary entries that are rife with insights and reflections. Your essay may need to be formatted according to the APA style or MLA style.

In general, the length of a reflection paper varies between 300 and 700 words, but it is a good idea to check with your instructor or employer about the word count. Even though this is an essay about you, you should try to avoid using too much informal language.

The following shortcuts can help you format your paper according to APA or MLA style if your instructor asks:

MLA Format for Reflective Essay

• Times New Roman 12 pt font double spaced;
• 1” margins;
• The top right includes the 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 contains a Works Cited list.

Reflective Essay in APA Style

• 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

Look at your brainstorming table to start organizing your reflective essay. ‘Past experience’ and ‘description’ should make up less than 10% of your essay.

You should include the following in your introduction:

• Grab the reader’s attention with 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.

• It is important to include ‘past experiences’ in a reflective essay thesis statement; a brief description of what the essay is about.

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

Chronological events are the best way to explain the structure of body paragraphs. Respond to the bold questions in the ‘reflection’ section of the table to create a linear storyline.

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

• Explicit expectations about the shelter

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

• The 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.

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Here’s How You Can Submit a Well-Written Reflective Essay for University

Even though writing a reflective essay may seem difficult at first, once you have a clear idea of what you will write and more importantly, how to write, it often gets easier as you go along. Here are five key writing tips to keep in mind when writing a reflective essay.

Choosing a Topic for Reflection

As a busy student, when was the last time you drowned yourself in thoughts and reflected on past experiences? Here is an assignment that intentionally puts you in that position.

Think about all of the experiences which have shaped you – a life-changing event, an interaction with someone you admire, a movie character that appealed to you, a book that gave you perspective, or any other experience which contributed to your character or thought process.

You should choose a topic that will help you reflect on your growth as an individual. Start brainstorming and record every idea that comes to mind.

Organize your thoughts in a mind map

The next step is to create a mind map to help you organize your essay once you have a rough idea of what you want to write.

You can use your mind map to quiz yourself by asking questions of relevance and putting together perspectives for your essay.

The purpose of this exercise is to give you an idea of what you want your essay to be about. It is important to keep pushing yourself to think more deeply and find meaning in your experiences in order to create a successful reflective essay.

From becoming a Writer Today, here are some tips on using mind maps to write better and faster

Start Freewriting

Sometimes, all you have to do is start writing. Essentially, that’s what freewriting is all about.

After brainstorming, creating a mind map, and organizing your thoughts, open a blank document and start writing. Do not stop to think or to edit – just write as your thoughts come to you.

The best part of freewriting is that it results in a steady flow of ideas you may not have thought of otherwise.

In other words, whether or not you’re motivated to write or are constantly second-guessing your ideas, it helps to let your ideas guide you and put them down on paper.

Structure the Essay

It’s time to put your ideas and thoughts into words and give them a proper structure. A reflective essay should have the following parts:

You should begin your essay with a hook to grab the reader’s attention. While setting the tone for the rest of the essay, your thesis statement should introduce the past experience you will be reflecting on;

In this section, you will elaborate on the experience and its significance, as well as its impact on your life. Avoid rambling on and on about the experience for readers to want to read more of your essay, you need to use your storytelling skills. If you can, use examples to strengthen your narrative;

A summary of your reflections is provided in the concluding paragraph. In your essay, you should describe how the experience shaped your life and how you intend to take your learnings and apply them.

Proofread, Proofread and Proofread

Be sure to proofread your reflective essay before submitting it. Before finalizing it, you need to do thorough proofreading. You will be surprised to see how many silly mistakes are made in the first draft.

Be on the lookout for grammatical, spelling, and sentence formation mistakes. Make sure your essay flows well and avoids plagiarism. If you want a fresh set of eyes on your essay, have a family member or friend read it too.

Reflective Essay Topics

Many students find choosing the right topic for a reflective essay difficult. Writing a reflective essay requires creativity and strong writing skills to express your emotions.

Reflective essays can be inspired by nature, places, relationships, and events. Here are some tips that will help you choose the right essay topic.

• Decide on a topic idea for your reflective essay that you are familiar with. You will find it easier to write an essay about a topic you are interested in. Never choose a topic that is new to you. This makes the writing phase difficult.
• Research your topic: Try to recollect minor details about it. Remember all the things that are related to your topic, and include them in your essay. Take notes about your topic.
• Pick a topic that you can explain from a unique viewpoint: Choose a topic that you can explain from a different perspective. Writing something unique that demonstrates your personality in an interesting way is a good technique. Share a memorable and meaningful experience from your life.

Topics for Reflective Essays for Middle School Students

Essay topics can be difficult to choose for some students. The following list of topics can be classified according to grade level. Pick from them and make topic selection easier.

Topics for Reflective Essays in Grade 7

• Taking a trip
• To go scuba diving
• Within your hometown
• Was something you were proud of
• Even when you were lost
• To your favorite cartoon
• During that time you lied
• When you were hunting
• Did your family play an important role in your life?
• Spending time outdoors

Topics for Reflective Essays in Grade 8

• Running in the outdoors
• While picking berries
• Will be your biggest loss
• Who is your biggest inspiration?
• What is your greatest fear?
• Tell me about your most exciting moment.
• What is your least favorite course?
• When you go on a date
• To a birthday party
• Which is your favorite online space?

Topics for Reflective Essays in Grade 9

• A new school
• Makes me think about the future.
• You participated in or watched a sporting event.
• You moved to a new city.
• You had an unforgettable dream.
• You were running and hunting.
• You cannot forget that dream.
• It was your childhood home.
• Watching the sunrise
• An award ceremony

Topics for Reflective Essays in Grade 10

• Defending someone in a situation
• While playing with friends
• It was a memorable dream
• About lying and hiding
• The most recent meal
• While getting lost in the dark
• As an intern at a hospital
• Or when someone’s life inspired you to change your own
• Challenges as a college freshman
• By participating in sports

Topics for Reflective Essays for College Students

For college students, the most difficult part of writing a reflective essay is choosing a topic. Some students are better at choosing the essay topic than others, but some will get stuck in this phase.

Here are some excellent reflective essay topics for college students for your convenience. Choose one and write a well-written essay.

• First time writing a thesis statement
• Your favorite video game
• The impact of social media on students
• A place you always try to avoid
• What was the best birthday memory you had?
• What is your favorite restaurant?
• The moment when you were proud of yourself
• The bravest moment of your life
• The most beautiful thing you have ever seen
• A time you were embarrassed

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Topics for Reflective Essays for High School Students

The choice of a topic for a reflective essay can be confusing for high school students. Your topic should be engaging and you should be able to explain your personal experience easily. Here is a list of good topics for high school students; choose something from the list for your essay.

• Shop at your favorite outlet store
• To relive your favorite childhood memory
• Of the most memorable holiday
• That scared you?
• That’s when you met your best friend
• And what you love about yourself
• Is playing with friends.
• What’s your favorite book?
• I loved playing in the mud as a kid.
• Having to move to a new town or city

Topics for Reflective Essays about Places

Reflective essays should be based on strong emotions and memories. You could write an essay about a day spent at your favorite café, favorite restaurant, etc.

It is easy to write a reflective essay about a place where you have really good memories. Here are some topic ideas that you can use and write an essay on.

• Your grandparents’ house
• A skating rink
• A place where you feel safe
• A favorite vacation spot
• A popular lunch spot
• On your first day at the circus
• The mall or your favorite store
• Your first trip abroad
• Best park in your town
• Your most memorable adventure

Topics for Reflective Essays about Events

A good way to grab the reader’s attention is to write about any event. Your essay can be about a birthday party, a farewell, or any other event that you have enough information about.

If you are writing a reflective essay about an event, include vivid details. Here are some interesting topics for reflection essays, choose one and write a good essay.

• Unexpected gift
• To travel on vacation
• While you were lost
• The first time you voted
• On your trip to the zoo
• When you got a new job
• It was one of your most memorable trips
• During the holiday season
• When you moved to a new city
• Or when you swam fishing

Topics for Reflective Essays on Nature

A reflective essay should provide the reader with a deeper and more meaningful experience. In addition to making your writing process more interesting, writing about nature also stimulates your imagination.

The following are some good reflective essay topics about nature:

• Mountain climbing
• Ocean diving
• Hiking in the woods
• Climbing rocks
• And watching the sunset
• While running in the forest.
• Spending quality time with your pet.
• Taking a hike in the woods
• And going swimming
• While watching animals at a zoo

How to write a term paper

Topics for reflection on relationships

As relationships are filled with strong emotions, writing a reflective essay about them means expressing those emotions. The following are some good reflective essay topics about relationships:

• A wonderful family reunion
• When you spoke publicly for the first time
• What friendship means to me
• When you were punished by your parents
• During a family reunion
• When you apologized
• For a time you spent with friends without parental supervision
• Tell me about your relationship with a family member
• An angry conversation
• Or a genuinely funny laugh

Some reflective essay topics are the same as some of the questions you may ask in a job interview.

Examples of Reflective Essay

Check out some examples for inspiration now that you know what it takes to write a reflective essay.

An Example of a Reflective Essay on “My Little Brother”

Essay example reflecting on the arrival of a younger sibling, written at a middle or high school level.

“There have been many life-changing experiences in my short life. Every new experience has been the first experience at one point in time. For good or for bad, each event altered the course of my life. But, the most transformative event was the birth of my youngest brother.”.

Joel is someone my parents often refer to as a happy accident. My mother became pregnant when I was 13 and my other brother, Jake, was 10. We were what you would call a well-rounded family of four. In almost every way, we fit the ideal classification. My youngest brother’s striking blue eyes were the moment when we realized what we were missing.

Honestly, I resented having another sibling. It wasn’t necessary to add to our family, and my mother, already 38 at the time, was considered high risk because of her age. A pregnancy full of complications sent my life on a rollercoaster-like ride that my 13-year-old mind could not comprehend. Now I can see how forging through those loops helped me cope with the unforeseen challenges of life.

My mother took me to the hospital instead of my father on the day Joel was born. I was the next best alternative because Jake and my father were both feverish; it wasn’t a planned move. With each contraction, I gained a new appreciation for just how strong and powerful a woman could be at her weakest. Through holding her hand and feeding her ice chips, I gained a connection with my mother that I didn’t realize we lacked.

Almost simultaneously, my new baby brother entered this world. One doesn’t realize how much you need something until it’s sitting in your lap. Secondly, my life after this moment would never be the same the moment he curled his chubby little finger around mine, I understood the meaning of the words “happy accident.”.y.

Life has given me many experiences that have shaped me as a person. But, nothing so profoundly changed my views and outlook on life as the birth of my youngest brother. Joel’s arrival was a life-altering event that caused me to see the world through new eyes.”

Assignment Writing Purposes You Need to Know

Reflective Essay Example for “ Reading My Favorite Book”

This reflective essay example about a favorite book is something you might find at the middle or high school level.

When it comes to books, I don’t understand the appeal. Every time I was given an assignment, I would read one after another, not understanding what all the fuss was about. Nevertheless, the moment I read Pride and Prejudice, it was as if my literary eyes were opened for the first time. It stirred love within me for classics I didn’t realize could exist.

When I was first given the assignment of reading Pride and Prejudice, like many of my friends, I scoffed. With an eye roll, I internally calculated how much time I would have to read the book and write a report. I sighed at the loss of time with my friends for a stupid classic.

Cracking open the cover, I was determined to hate it before even reading the first words. By the time I reached page 3, I nearly stopped reading. But there was something about Elizabeth Bennet that quietly piqued my interest. I can’t say where, but somewhere along the way, my eyes devoured the pages instead of trudging along.

The moment I reached the end, I was ecstatic and disappointed at the same time. Their ending had been perfect, but I realized I would miss them. Not just them, but I would also miss being a part of their world.

It was the first time the characters of a story had affected me this way, so I tried to shake it off. However, after several days, that sadness carried me to the classics section of the school library. The moment I cracked open my next classic, my soul instantly felt more at ease, and I’ve never looked back.

I never thought I’d say a book changed me, but in this case, it’s true. The love I found in Pride and Prejudice introduced me to a beautiful world of classic literature I can’t imagine living without. Despite not reading Pride and Prejudice for a while, it will always be my favorite book.

In the conclusion of your reflective essay, you should focus on bringing your piece together. This will include providing a summary of both the points made throughout and what you have learned as a result. Try to include a few points on why and how your attitudes and behaviors have been changed.

Consider also how your character and skills have been affected, for example: what conclusions can be drawn about your problem-solving skills? What can be concluded about your approach to specific situations? What might you do differently in similar situations in the future? What steps have you taken to consolidate everything that you have learned from your experience?

Keep in mind that your tutor will be looking out for evidence of reflection at a very high standard.

Congratulations – you now have the tools to create a thorough and accurate plan which should put you in good stead for the ultimate phase indeed of any essay, the writing process.

Oxbridge Notes  offers a wide array of meticulously crafted study resources tailored for law students, providing invaluable support for academic endeavors. Our platform boasts a comprehensive collection of notes, essays, and revision materials covering a diverse range of legal topics, meticulously curated by top students and academics from esteemed universities. Whether you’re preparing for exams, writing essays, or seeking to deepen your understanding of legal concepts, Oxbridge Notes is your trusted companion on the journey to legal excellence.

How do you start off a reflective essay?

As is the case with all essays, your reflective essay must begin with an introduction that contains both a hook and a thesis statement. The point of having a ‘hook’ is to grab the attention of your audience or reader from the very beginning.

Can you say I in a reflective essay?

In your reflective essay, you should use the first person with terms like I, me, my, and mine. The essay is an account of something that actually happened to you as well as your thoughts on the event.

What is an example of a reflection?

Common examples include the reflection of light, sound, and water waves. The law of reflection says that for specular reflection the angle at which the wave is incident on the surface equals the angle at which it is reflected. Mirrors exhibit specular reflection.

How do you start the first paragraph of a reflective essay?

Describe the subject matter of the paper in more detail. Include one or two sentences after the first sentence in which you describe the basic features of whatever topic you will be discussing in your essay. Describe them in terms of your feelings, and how you felt and experienced whatever you are discussing.

How many paragraphs should a reflective essay have?

The number of paragraphs depends on the requested essay length. However, it is recommended to write at least three paragraphs in this part. In the body, present your main points, arguments, and examples. This is the part of an essay where you express all your main ideas, develop them, and express your feelings and emotions.

What are the three parts of a reflective essay?

However, some major elements go into a typical reflective essay: introduction, body, and conclusion.

How Do You Write A Reflective Essay?

To write a reflective essay, follow these steps:

• Choose a topic: Select a specific event, experience, or concept that you want to reflect upon.
• Brainstorm and outline: Reflect on your chosen topic and jot down key points, thoughts, and emotions associated with it. Create an outline to organize your ideas.
• Introduction: Begin with an engaging hook to grab the reader’s attention. Provide background information and context related to the topic. End the introduction with a clear thesis statement that expresses the main insights or lessons you will discuss.
• Body paragraphs: Each paragraph should focus on a specific aspect or experience related to your topic. Reflect on your thoughts, feelings, and observations, and support them with specific examples or evidence. Analyze the significance and impact of these experiences.
• Use reflection techniques: Incorporate reflection techniques such as asking yourself questions, exploring the “why” behind your thoughts and emotions, and connecting your experiences to broader concepts or theories.
• Conclusion: Summarize your key insights and reflections from the essay. Emphasize personal growth, lessons learned, or changes in perspective. Leave the reader with a thought-provoking statement or a call to action.

Which Of These Best Describes A Reflective Essay?

A reflective essay is best described as a type of academic or personal writing that allows individuals to examine and reflect upon their experiences, thoughts, and emotions. It involves introspection, self-analysis, and the exploration of lessons learned or personal growth. Reflective essays provide a platform for individuals to communicate their insights and understanding of a particular event, concept, or life experience.

What Is A Reflective Essay And Examples?

A reflective essay is a form of writing where individuals express their thoughts, feelings, and observations about a specific experience, event, or topic. It goes beyond simply describing the experience and delves into analyzing the impact, significance, and lessons learned. Reflective essays encourage self-reflection and introspection, allowing writers to gain deeper understanding and insight.

Examples of reflective essay topics include:

• Reflecting on a life-changing travel experience and its impact on personal growth.
• Analyzing the challenges and successes encountered during a group project and the lessons learned.
• Reflecting on the influence of a particular book, film, or artwork and its effect on personal perspectives.
• Examining the role of personal values and beliefs in decision-making processes.

What Are The Parts Of A Typical Reflective Essay?

A typical reflective essay consists of the following parts:

• Introduction: It provides an engaging hook, background information, and context for the topic. The introduction ends with a clear thesis statement that states the main insights or lessons to be discussed.
• Body paragraphs: Each paragraph focuses on a specific aspect or experience related to the topic. Writers reflect on their thoughts, feelings, and observations, supporting them with examples or evidence. They analyze the significance and impact of these experiences and connect them to broader concepts or theories.
• Conclusion: The conclusion summarizes the key insights and reflections from the essay. It emphasizes personal growth, lessons learned, or changes in perspective. A thought-provoking statement or a call to action is often included to leave a lasting impression on the reader.

What Is A Goal Of The Introduction In A Reflective Essay?

The goal of the introduction in a reflective essay is to capture the reader’s attention and provide them with the necessary background information and context related to the topic. It should set the stage for the reflective journey that follows. The introduction concludes with a clear thesis statement that outlines the main insights or lessons the writer will discuss in the essay. It acts as a roadmap, guiding the reader through the writer’s reflections.

What Idea Would Most Likely Make The Best Reflective Essay?

The best idea for a reflective essay is a topic that holds personal significance and offers opportunities for introspection and deep reflection. An idea that involves a transformative experience, a significant life event, or a challenging situation often makes for a compelling reflective essay. It should be something that evokes strong emotions, prompts critical thinking, and allows for self-analysis. The best reflective essays are those that offer meaningful insights, growth, or lessons learned.

What Makes A Good Reflective Essay?

A good reflective essay possesses several key qualities:

• Authenticity: It reflects the writer’s genuine thoughts, emotions, and observations.
• Depth of reflection: It goes beyond surface-level descriptions and delves into meaningful analysis, exploring the “why” behind the experiences.
• Coherence and organization: The essay is well-structured, with clear paragraphs and logical flow of ideas.
• Use of specific examples: It supports reflections with specific examples, evidence, or anecdotes to enhance understanding and engagement.
• Connection to broader concepts or theories: It links personal experiences to broader concepts, theories, or societal issues to demonstrate critical thinking and understanding.
• Insight and personal growth: The essay offers meaningful insights, lessons learned, or personal growth as a result of the reflection.

By incorporating these elements, a good reflective essay effectively communicates the writer’s introspection and provides a thought-provoking reading experience.

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Critical Reflection

A Critical Reflection (also called a reflective essay) is a process of identifying, questioning, and assessing our deeply-held assumptions – about our knowledge, the way we perceive events and issues, our beliefs, feelings, and actions. When you reflect critically, you use course material (lectures, readings, discussions, etc.) to examine our biases, compare theories with current actions, search for causes and triggers, and identify problems at their core.   Critical reflection is   not   a reading assignment, a summary of an activity, or an emotional outlet.   Rather,   the goal is   to change your thinking about a subject, and thus change your behaviour.

Tip: Critical reflections are common in coursework across all disciplines, but they can take very different forms. Your instructor may ask you to develop a formal essay, produce weekly blog entries, or provide short paragraph answers to a set of questions. Read the assignment guidelines before you begin.

How to Critically Reflect

Writing a critical reflection happens in two phases.

• Analyze:   In the first phase, analyze the issue and your role by asking critical questions. Use free writing as a way to develop good ideas. Don’t worry about organized paragraphs or good grammar at this stage.
• Articulate:   In the second phase, use your analysis to develop a clear argument about what you learned. Organize your ideas so they are clear for your reader.

First phase: Analyze

A popular method for analyzing is the three stage model: What? So What? Now what?

In the  What?  stage, describe the issue, including your role, observations, and reactions. The   what?   stage helps you make initial observations about what you feel and think. At this point, there’s no need to look at your course notes or readings.

Use the questions below to guide your writing during this stage.

• What happened?
• What did you do?
• What did you expect?
• What was different?
• What was your reaction?
• What did you learn?

In the second  So What?   stage, try to understand on a deeper level why the issue is significant or relevant. Use information from your first stage, your course materials (readings, lectures, discussions) -- as well as previous experience and knowledge to help you think through the issue from a variety of perspectives.

Tip:  Since you’ll be using more course resources in this step, review your readings and course notes before you begin writing.

Below are three perspectives you can consider:

• Academic perspective: How did the experience enhance your understanding of a concept/theory/skill? Did the experience confirm your understanding or challenge it? Did you identify strengths or gaps in your knowledge?
• Personal perspective:   Why does the experience matter? What are the consequences? Were your previous expectations/assumptions confirmed or refuted? What surprised you and why?
• Systems perspective:   What were the sources of power and who benefited/who was harmed? What changes would you suggest? How does this experience help you understand the organization or system?

In the third   Now what?   stage, explore how the experience will shape your future thinking and behaviour.

Use the following questions to guide your thinking and writing:

• What are you going to do as a result of your experiences?
• What will you do differently?
• How will you apply what you learned?

Second phase: Articulate

After completing the analysis stage, you probably have a lot of writing, but it is not yet organized into a coherent story. You need to build an organized and clear argument about what you learned and how you changed. To do so,   develop a thesis statement , make an   outline ,   write , and   revise.

Develop a thesis statement

Develop a clear argument to help your reader understand what you learned. This argument should pull together different themes from your analysis into a main idea. You can see an example of a thesis statement in the sample reflection essay at the end of this resource.

Tip: For more help on developing thesis statements, see our   Thesis statements  resource

Make an outline

Once you have a clear thesis statement for your essay, build an outline. Below is a straightforward method to organize your essay.

• Background/Context of reflection
• Thesis statement
• Introduce theme A
• Writer's past position/thinking
• Moment of learning/change
• Writer's current/new position
• Introduce theme B
• Introduce theme C
• Summarize learning
• Discuss significance of learning for self and others
• Discuss future actions/behaviour

Write and revise

Time to get writing! Work from your outline and give yourself enough time for a first draft and revisions.

Even though you are writing about your personal experience and learning, your audience may still be an academic one. Consult the assignment guidelines or ask your instructor to find out whether your writing should be formal or informal.

Sample Critical Reflection

Below are sample annotated paragraphs from one student’s critical reflection for a course on society and privilege.

Introduction

Background/context of reflection : I became aware of privileged positions in society only in recent years. I was lucky enough, privileged enough, to be ignorant of such phenomena, but for some, privilege is a daily lesson of how they do not fit into mainstream culture. In the past, I defined oppression as only that which is obvious and intentional. I never realized the part I played. However, during a class field study to investigate privileged positions in everyday environments, I learned otherwise.   Thesis:   Without meaning to, I caused harm by participating in a system where I gained from others’ subtle oppression. In one of these spaces, the local mall, everything from advertisements to food to products, to the locations of doorways, bathrooms and other public necessities, made clear my privilege as a white, heterosexual male.

Body paragraph

Topic sentence : Peggy McIntosh describes privilege as an invisible knapsack of tools and advantages. This description crystalized for me when I shopped for a greeting card at the stationary store. There, as a white, heterosexual male, I felt comfortable and empowered to roam about the store as I pleased. I freely asked the clerk about a mother’s day card.   Writer’s past position:   Previously, I never considered that a store did anything but sell products. However, when I asked the sales clerk for same sex greeting cards, she paused for a few seconds and gave me a look that made me feel instantly uncomfortable. Some customers stopped to look at me. I felt a heat move over my face. I felt, for a moment, wrong for being in that store.  I quickly clarified that I was only doing a report for school, implying that I was not in fact homosexual.   Writer’s current position:   The clerk’s demeanor changed. I was free to check, she said.  It was the only time during the field study that I had felt the need to explain what I was doing to anyone. I could get out of the situation with a simple clarification. But what if I really was a member of the homosexual community? The looks and the silence taught me that I should be feared.  I realized that, along with its products, the store was selling an image of normal. But my “normality” was another person’s “abnormality.”  After I walked out of the store I felt guilty for having denied being homosexual.

Summary of learning:   At the mall I realized how much we indirectly shame nonprivileged groups, even in seemingly welcoming spaces. That shame is supported every time I or any other privileged individual fails to question our advantage. And it leads to a different kind of shame carried by privileged individuals, too.   Value for self and others:   All of this, as Brown (2003) documents, is exacerbated by silence. Thus, the next step for me is to not only question privilege internally, but to publicly question covert bias and oppression. If I do, I may very well be shamed for speaking out. But my actions might just encourage other people to speak up as well.

Sample paragraphs adapted from James C. Olsen's Teaching Portfolio from Georgetown University .

How to Write a Reflective Essay?

07 August, 2020

17 minutes read

Author:  Elizabeth Brown

A reflective essay is a personal perspective on an issue or topic. This article will look at how to write an excellent reflexive account of your experience, provide you with reflexive essay framework to help you plan and organize your essay and give you a good grounding of what good reflective writing looks like.

What is a Reflective Essay?

A reflective essay requires the writer to examine his experiences and explore how these experiences have helped him develop and shaped him as a person.  It is essentially an analysis of your own experience focusing on what you’ve learned.

Don’t confuse reflexive analysis with the rhetorical one. If you need assistance figuring out how to write a rhetorical analysis , give our guide a read!

Based on the reflective essay definition, this paper will follow a logical and thought-through plan . It will be a discussion that centers around a topic or issue. The essay should strive to achieve a balance between description and personal feelings.

It requires a clear line of thought, evidence, and examples to help you discuss your reflections. Moreover, a proper paper requires an analytical approach . There are three main types of a reflective essay: theory-based, a case study or an essay based on one’s personal experience.

Unlike most academic forms of writing, this writing is based on personal experiences and thoughts. As such, first-person writing position where the writer can refer to his own thoughts and feelings is essential. If the writer talks about psychology or medicine, it is best to use the first-person reference as little as possible to keep the tone objective and science-backed.

To write this paper, you need to recollect and share personal experience . However, there is still a chance that you’ll be asked to talk about a more complex topic.

By the way, if you are looking for good ideas on how to choose a good argumentative essay topic , check out our latest guide to help you out!

The Criteria for a Good Reflective Essay

The convention of an academic reflective essay writing will vary slightly depending on your area of study. A good reflective essay will be written geared towards its intended audience. These are the general criteria that form the core of a well-written piece:

• A developed perspective and line of reasoning on the subject.
• A well-informed discussion that is based on literature and sources relevant to your reflection.
• An understanding of the complex nuance of situations and the tributary effects that prevent them from being simple and clear-cut.
• Ability to stand back and analyze your own decision-making process to see if there is a better solution to the problem.
• A clear understanding of h ow the experience has influenced you.
• A good understanding of the principles and theories of your subject area.
• Ability to frame a problem before implementing a solution.

These seven criteria form the principles of writing an excellent reflective essay.

Still need help with your essay? Handmade Writing is here to assist you!

What is the Purpose of Writing a Reflective Essay?

The purpose of a reflective essay is for a writer to reflect upon experience and learn from it . Reflection is a useful process that helps you make sense of things and gain valuable lessons from your experience. Reflective essay writing allows you to demonstrate that you can think critically about your own skills or practice strategies implementations to learn and improve without outside guidance.

Another purpose is to analyze the event or topic you are describing and emphasize how you’ll apply what you’ve learned.

How to Create a Reflective Essay Outline

• Analyze the task you’ve received
• Read through and understand the marking criteria
• Keep a reflective journal during the experience
• Use a reflective framework (Schon, Driscoll, Gibbs, and Kolb) to help you analyze the experience
• Create a referencing system to keep institutions and people anonymous to avoid breaking their confidentiality
• Set the scene by using the five W’s (What, Where, When, Who and Why) to describe it
• Choose the events or the experiences you’re going to reflect on
• Identify the issues of the event or experience you want to focus on
• Use literature and documents to help you discuss these issues in a wider context
• Reflect on how these issues changed your position regarding the issue
• Compare and contrast theory with practice
• Identify and discuss your learning needs both professionally and personally

Don’t forget to adjust the formatting of your essay. There are four main format styles of any academic piece. Discover all of them from our essay format guide!

Related Posts: Essay outline | Essay format Guide

Using Reflective Frameworks

A good way to develop a reflective essay plan is by using a framework that exists. A framework will let help you break the experience down logical and make the answer easier to organize. Popular frameworks include: Schon’s (1983) Reflection in action and reflection on action .

Schon wrote ‘The Reflective Practitioner’ in 1983 in which he describes reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action as tools for learning how to meet challenges that do not conform to formulas learned in school through improvisation.  He mentioned two types of reflection : one during and one after. By being aware of these processes while on a work-experience trail or clinical assignment you have to write a reflective account for, you get to understand the process better. So good questions to ask in a reflective journal could be:

<td “200”>Reflection-pre-action <td “200”>Reflection-in-action <td “200”>Reflection-on-Action<td “200”>What might happen? <td “200”>What is happening in the situation? <td “200”>What were your insights after?<td “200”>What possible challenges will you face? <td “200”>Is it working out as you expected? <td “200”>How did it go in retrospect?<td “200”>How will you prepare for the situation? <td “200”>What are the challenges you are dealing with? <td “200”>What did you value and why?<td “200”>  <td “200”>What can you do to make the experience a successful one? <td “200”>What would you do differently before or during a similar situation?<td “200”>  <td “200”>What are you learning? <td “200”>What have you learned?

This will give you a good frame for your paper and help you analyze your experience.

Kolb’s (1984) Learning Cycle

Kolb’s reflective framework works in four stages:

• Concrete experience. This is an event or experience
• Reflective observation. This is reflecting upon the experience. What you did and why.
• Abstract conceptualization. This is the process of drawing conclusions from the experience. Did it confirm a theory or falsify something? And if so, what can you conclude from that?
• Active experimentation. Planning and trying out the thing you have learned from this interaction.

Gibb’s (1988) Reflection Cycle

Gibbs model is an extension of Kolb’s. Gibb’s reflection cycle is a popular model used in reflective writing. There are six stages in the cycle.

• Description. What happened? Describe the experience you are reflecting on and who is involved.
• Feelings. What were you thinking and feeling at the time? What were your thoughts and feelings afterward?
• Evaluation. What was good and bad about the experience? How did you react to the situation? How did other people react? Was the situation resolved? Why and how was it resolved or why wasn’t it resolved? Could the resolution have been better?
• Analysis. What sense can you make of the situation? What helped or hindered during the event? How does this compare to the literature on the subject?
• Conclusion. What else could you have done? What have you learned from the experience? Could you have responded differently? How would improve or repeat success? How can you avoid failure?
• Action plan. If it arose again what would you do? How can you better prepare yourself for next time?

Driscoll’s Method (1994) and Rolfe et al (2001) Reflexive Learning

The Driscoll Method break the process down into three questions. What (Description), So What (Analysis) and Now What (Proposed action). Rolf et al 2001 extended the model further by giving more in-depth and reflexive questions.

• What is the problem/ difficulty/reason for being stuck/reason for feeling bad?
• What was my role in the situation?
• What was I trying to achieve?
• What actions did I take?
• What was the response of others?
• What were the consequences for the patient / for myself / for others?
• What feeling did it evoke in the patient / in myself / in others?
• What was good and bad about the experience?
• So, what were your feelings at the time?
• So, what are your feelings now? Are there any differences? Why?
• So, what were the effects of what you did or did not do?
• So, what good emerged from the situation for yourself and others? Does anything trouble you about the experience or event?
• So, what were your experiences like in comparison to colleagues, patients, visitors, and others?
• So, what are the main reasons for feeling differently from your colleagues?
• Now, what are the implications for you, your colleagues and the patients?
• Now, what needs to happen to alter the situation?
• Now, what are you going to do about the situation?
• Now, what happens if you decide not to alter anything?
• Now, what will you do differently if faced with a similar situation?
• Now, what information would you need to deal with the situation again?
• Now, what methods would you use to go about getting that information?

This model is mostly used for clinical experiences in degrees related to medicine such as nursing or genetic counseling. It helps to get students comfortable thinking over each experience and adapting to situations.

This is just a selection of basic models of this type of writing. And there are more in-depth models out there if you’re writing a very advanced reflective essay. These models are good for beginner level essays. Each model has its strengths and weaknesses. So, it is best to use one that allows you to answer the set question fully.

This written piece can follow many different structures depending on the subject area . So, check your assignment to make sure you don’t have a specifically assigned structural breakdown. For example, an essay that follows Gibbs plan directly with six labeled paragraphs is typical in nursing assignments. A more typical piece will follow a standard structure of an introduction, main body, and conclusion. Now, let’s look into details on how to craft each of these essay parts.

How to Write an Introduction?

There are several good ways to start a reflective essay . Remember that an introduction to a reflective essay differs depending on upon what kind of reflection is involved. A science-based introduction should be brief and direct introducing the issue you plan on discussing and its context.

Related post: How to write an Essay Introduction

For example, a nursing student might want to discuss the overreliance on medical journals in the industry and why peer-reviewed journals led to mistaken information. In this case, one good way how to start a reflective essay introduction is by introducing a thesis statement. Help the reader see the real value of your work.

Do you need help with your thesis statement? Take a look at our recent guide explaining what is a thesis statement .

Let’s look at some reflective essay examples.

‘During my first month working at Hospital X, I became aware just how many doctors treated peer-views journal articles as a gospel act. This is a dangerous practice that because of (a), (b) and (c) could impact patients negatively.’

The reflective essay on English class would begin differently. In fact, it should be more personal and sound less bookish .

How to Write the Main Body Paragraphs?

The main body of the essay should focus on specific examples of the issue in question. A short description should be used for the opener. Each paragraph of this piece should begin with an argument supporting the thesis statement.

The most part of each paragraph should be a reflexive analysis of the situation and evaluation . Each paragraph should end with a concluding sentence that caps the argument. In a science-based essay, it is important to use theories, other studies from journals and source-based material to argue and support your position in an objective manner.

How to Write the Conclusion?

A conclusion should provide a summary of the issues explored, remind the reader of the purpose of the essay and suggest an appropriate course of action in relation to the needs identified in the body of the essay.

This is mostly an action plan for the future. However, if appropriate a writer can call readers to action or ask questions. Make sure that the conclusion is powerful enough for readers to remember it. In most cases, an introduction and a conclusion is the only thing your audience will remember.

Reflective Essay Topics

Here are some good topics for a reflective essay. We’ve decided to categorize them to help you find good titles for reflective essays that fit your requirement.

Medicine-related topics:

• Write a reflective essay on leadership in nursing
• How did a disease of your loved ones (or your own) change you?
• Write a reflection essay on infection control
• How dealing with peer-reviewed journals interrupts medical procedures?
• Write a reflection essay about community service
• Write a reflective essay on leadership and management in nursing

Topics on teamwork:

• Write a reflective essay on the group presentation
• What makes you a good team player and what stays in the way of improvement?
• Write a reflective essay on the presentation
• Write about the last lesson you learned from working in a team
• A reflective essay on career development: How teamwork can help you succeed in your career?

Topics on personal experiences:

• Write a reflective essay on the pursuit of happiness: what it means to you and how you’re pursuing it?
• Write a reflective essay on human sexuality: it is overrated today? And are you a victim of stereotypes in this area?
• Write a reflective essay on growing up
• Reflective essay on death: How did losing a loved one change your world?
• Write a reflective essay about a choice you regret
• Write a reflective essay on the counseling session

Academic topics:

• A reflective essay on the writing process: How does writing help you process your emotions and learn from experiences?
• Write a reflective essay on language learning: How learning a new language changes your worldview
• A reflective essay about a choice I regret

Related Posts: Research Paper topics | Compare&Contrast Essay topics

Reflective Essay Example

Tips on writing a good reflective essay.

Some good general tips include the following:

As long as you use tips by HandMade Writing, you’ll end up having a great piece. Just stick to our recommendations. And should you need the help of a pro essay writer service, remember that we’re here to help!

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Planning and decision making in management Reflective Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Planning and decision making are among the most valuable foundations on which businesses and organizations are built. For any organization to succeed in its undertaking, it needs to properly plan for virtually all aspects of its operations. The right decisions have to be made by its managers to see the business through successful operations.

Since the success of managers is reflected by the welfare of the organizations they manage, it is indubitable that planning and decision making cannot be separated from the practice of management. This paper is a thoughtful reflection of the usefulness of planning and decision making skills, acquired in class, in the practice of management.

As an aspiring manager, the ideas I acquired about planning and decision making in organizations will be very useful. This is because the topic was covered with clear explanations of the usefulness of planning and management in management and it also covered how one can plan well and make right and acceptable decisions.

Among the things that will be particularly useful in my life as a manager is the idea that planning and decision making is efficiently done using a bottom-up approach. This is because the use of a bottom-up approach in planning and making of decisions results in decisions that are characterized by sufficient consultation.

More importantly, the decisions made using a bottom-up approach are in most cases acceptable to both managers and junior employees (Smith 33). Other issues covered in the topic were equally useful and I am sure I will be applying most of the ideas I got in class, about this topic, in my life as a manager.

There are so many new things I learnt about planning and decision making. One of the new things that substantially impressed me is the fact that good managers are able to make decisions by just listening to their fellow employees (Smith 35).

That is, if someone comes with an idea of objection to a given plan, a good manager will listen to him/her and after evaluating the value of the suggestion, approve it or reject it. Since his/her evaluation is assumed to be based on shrewd judgment, the suggestion is, in this case, bound to have a positive effect on the organization. Much of the credit from such success goes to the manager for his/her coordination and leadership skills.

My realization of the fact that listening to other people’s ideas makes a good manager will be very useful in my life. This is primarily due to the fact that I like putting my ideas across so much that it sometimes interferes with my listening skills.

After the course, I am a better manager since I can now start working on my listening skills and try to have a positive perspective towards every idea that another person puts across. I now appreciate the fact that to be a good manager, I do not have to do all the thinking and planning work but I should have good evaluation skills for gauging the usefulness of ideas suggested by other people.

As it can be deduced from the discussion above, good managerial skills require good planning and decision making. Taking a course that tackles the same is very important since, as students are taught on how to be good planners and decision makers, they are given a chance to evaluate themselves. This is very useful since after evaluating themselves, students are able to perfect their weaknesses as far as planning and decision making is concerned and consequently be good managers.

Works Cited

Smith, Jane. Planning and Decision Making . New York. Wadsworth Publishing, 1996. Print.

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Bibliography

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Decision Making Reflection Essay

In this reflection journal, we were asked to take a decision-making quiz on biases that we may have. I was surprised with a few that I possess. The rush to solve and the anchoring and adjustment heuristic are the two that I tested positive for on the quiz. While I read the reasoning for the decision-making quiz, I recalled my logic and critical reasoning class that I had before that discussed bias in argument. However, it was surprising to see that I committed these biases on the quiz, even if I was extremely cautious in my positioning and reasoning based on what I learned from my logic class. Although it may seem that these biases are only caused by an erroneous mistake, a lot of people have the same bias. The percentiles for each bias …show more content…

An example would be when I was learning C++. When I had to debug my code, I chose to ignore lines that seemed correct because I had used similar functions in previous programs. It turns out that one of the lines that I was missing didn’t include a semi-colon so the program wasn’t running. I was over-confident in my answer based on previous success. One of most concerning biases in accounting would be from the availability bias, which is relying on information that is readily available instead of diving deeper into statistics and data. This seems like it would affect auditors that must make decisions with rushed deadlines. An example of this case is when Phar-Mor, a grocery store, got caught overstating their inventory. When Phar-Mor was overstating their inventory, it looked as if they were a strong competitor against Wal-Mart; however, the overstated inventory was a sign of fraud and investors were losing from their investments because Phar-Mor could not produce the money that was promised to produce, and they weren’t able to meet the projected profits that their income statements were stating because they were fudging some of the numbers. Coopers & Lybrand was accused of not looking close enough to uncover the millions of dollars in fraud from bogus inventory statements. If Coopers & Lybrand questioned the fraud and didn’t tell Phar-Mor when the audit was going to happen, then they might have caught the fraudulent activity. Therefore, this is an example of

The Giant Pool of Money Case Analysis

In terms of the anchoring bias, regularly revisit of the original decision based on the newly gathered data needs to be set up within the organization. Additionally, the decision maker should avoid the Confirmation Trap in which Bazerman and Moore (2009) argues that people tend to seek information that confirms their expectations and hypotheses. To recognize the bias, Mike Francis could

Man3240 Exam 2 Study Guide

Hindsight bias: the tendency for us to believe falsely that we’d have accurately predicted the outcome of an event, after that outcome is actually known.

Hrm 590 Compendstion Decisions Essay

Your job now is to pull together all the information you’ve completed so far in class and make salary decisions for your team. You have completed Cathy’s evaluation and received assignment feedback. This is the first year that you’ve made salary decisions for this team. Be sure to carefully review the information provided. You may simply type in the cells as the text will automatically wrap. You are required to:

Washington High School Decision Analysis

Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

Anchoring Bias

Decision-making is always critical in people’s day-to-day lives. Individuals have to make choices between the very many options they have at their disposal. In doing so, sound judgement is needed, accompanied by much sobriety (Fay, & Montague, 2014). However, in trying to make sound decisions people always base their opinions on certain reference points. In fact, psychologists have generated much data, which shows that people rely so much on the pieces of information that they get to the extent that their judgement is affected. This usually presents the challenge of not making the best decision (Kansal & Sing, 2015).

Availability Bias

One of the biases that have been proposed by Kahneman and Tversky, and researched a great deal is the Availability bias. Availability bias is the concept of giving first choice to events and information because they are often more recent or giving preference to events, observed personally. Senior managers and decision makers are often victims of availability bias. Availability bias occurs when decision makers estimate the probability of outcome based on how prevalent the outcome appears in their lives (Pompian, 2011)

Decision Making Bias

What do these biases entail? Kreitner and Kinicki (2013) list 8 biases that effect are decision making. Lee and Lebowitz (2015) writers for Business Insiders, reports that there are 20 cognitive biases. No matter the different types, there is agreement that we have to acknowledge the human element in making

Biases: The Case Study Of The Deepwater Horizon Disaster

The decision making process is not without mistakes. We are human and humans make mistakes. At times, these mistakes are bridged with biases and occur when judgemental heuristics are used. This is a process in which people use unconscious shortcuts to reduce information processing. These shortcuts come from our past experiences and have both pros and cons. There are eight biases the text discusses including availability heuristic, representativeness heuristic, confirmation bias, anchoring bias, overconfidence bias, hindsight bias, framing bias, and escalation of commitment bias (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013).

Military Decision-Making Process Essay

When comparing he Troop Leading Procedures, (TLP), with the Military Decision Making Process, (MDMP), one sees how both work in different situations to fulfill different needs for the leader/decision maker. The TLP works well in leading field operations, allowing leaders to make decisions to fulfill the mission given with a level of independence to react to the changing situation on the ground. The MDMP allows decision makers to develop an overall strategy for operations within the region, coordinating with multiple units to achieve an overall goal, giving commanders a big picture view of the area. Overall, both processes old certain similarities and differences between each other, but neither process is better than the other, due mainly to

Eight Biases In Decision-Making Process Analysis

In decision making, we make an array of methodical mistakes that are usually related to many biases that transpire when using judgmental heuristics (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013). Such judgmental heuristics denotes guidelines followed to decrease data dispensation needs (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013). We are given eight biases that play a role in our decision- making processes which are availability heuristic, representativeness heuristic, confirmation bias, anchoring bias, overconfidence bias, hindsight bias, framing bias, and escalation of commitment bias.

Examples Of Social Desirability Bias

The first bias I will discuss is the social desirability bias. People, accountants included, tend to respond to questions about socially acceptable behavior with an answer that is not true of themselves but rather answer with a behavior that is seen as acceptable by society. For example, when a candidate for a job is asked how important pay is to their decision the candidates respond with moderate answer. This is because it is considered socially unacceptable to take a position with pay as the primary influence. People tend to under state their use of behaviors that are seen as unacceptable socially such as drunk driving or the use of illegal drugs. The opposite is also true. We tend to overestimate our involvement in socially admired behaviors such as giving and helping people who are less fortunate. (Chung & Monroe, 2013)

The Process of Decision Making Essay

Organizational behavior helps managers to improve the organization in a good way. Decision making process is the one of the behavior in human organizational behavior. According to McShane and Von Glinow (2000), “decision making a conscious process of making choices among one or more alternatives with the intention of moving toward some desired state of affairs”. Decision making is a linear process and it includes six steps such as identifying the problems, gather and evaluate data, list and evaluate alternatives, select best action, implement the decision and getter feedback (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).

Decision-Making Models Essay

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General assumptions create the foundation of a person's reasoning. Imperfections with a supposition can create the opportunity for a skewed perspective in a person's reasoning process (Paul & Elder, 2002). The process of choosing one course of action over another is commonly known as decision making. Consciously or unconsciously, people make decisions on a daily basis founded on one or more of the various decision-making models (Sullivan, n.d.). This paper examines how I apply various decision-making models in the workplace to generate accurate workload estimations in my career.

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“Groupthink” is a term coined by Yale research psychologist Irving Janis to describe a process by which a group can make poor or

Decision Making at the Executive Level Essay

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The focus of my term paper is the decision making process used by today's top-level managers. Top-level managers, such as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Operations Officers (COOs), and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), must make critical decisions on a daily basis. Their choices and the resulting outcomes affect the company, the employees, and the stakeholders. Due to the high importance of their decisions, the process they use to reach them merits a close examination.

Related Topics

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Decision Making Reflection

This sample essay on Decision Making Reflection offers an extensive list of facts and arguments related to it. The essay’s introduction, body paragraphs, and the conclusion are provided below.

Introduction

Decision making is a complex process that involves giving consideration to numerous factors and perspectives. If decision making as an individual action is difficult enough, it is all the more complicated when performed by a group. In our group, the four members Aleksandar Burneski (110064964), Rocco Guiducci (110065658), Kuir Alaak (100044490) and I Mossab Aljamdi (110079132) have different personality types and character traits.

Hence we bring a wide range of inputs to the process of decision making. Two features of our deliberations are conflict and conciliation. Conflict is inevitable in any group interaction, but we make sure that it is constructive and instructive. What we strive as a group is to talk, deliberate, analyse and eventually concur on our decisions. The objective of our project was to compile a report on End User Development (EUD), which is a buzzing concept in the world of Information Technology.

Numerous decisions were taken at various stages of the project. This reflection will touch upon salient features of our group decision making process. My views are informed by theory and practical knowledge that I learnt through various key texts during the course.

Decision Style Effects on Group Decision Making

Scholar Efraim Turban denotes a list of guiding principles that comprise a decision modelling. These are “1.Will analytics solve the problem? 2.Can an existing solution be leveraged? 3. Is a tool needed?” (Turban, p.

Proficient in: Decision

“ Thank you so much for accepting my assignment the night before it was due. I look forward to working with you moving forward ”

39) Although these guiding questions were offered in the context of an Information Technology company, Hewlett- Packard, their essence can be extrapolated to any situation. So our group adopted this framework in our decision making process. But this framework does not work in isolation from our individual personalities. For example, Aleksandar is someone who uses a Behavioral decision making style which comes naturally to him. Rocco and Kuir’s approach to decisions tend to fall under the Directive type. I think of my style as Analytical with due modesty. Hence, conflict is an expected feature of our discussions. Actually, this diversity of styles creates a vibrant atmosphere during the discussions. Though we have set individual styles, our group members are also good listeners. Aleksandar, Rocco and Kuir lend their ear to what I have to say and correct me if I’ve made a logical or factual error. So what is evident in our group dynamics is a constant flux of inputs and outputs. Just as each member gives his inputs, each in turn receives an evaluation of their views through others’ responses. I would claim on behalf of my group that it is an enjoyable process overall.

Personality Type Effects on Group Decision Making

Analytical individuals like me enjoy problem solving and enjoy a good challenge. Fair to say, the challenging nature of our project actually served as a motivation for me. People of my type enjoy data crunching and rigorous analysis. I am happy to state that the project in question provided me satisfaction on both counts. I also enjoy written communication, which is why I took to the task of compiling this report with enthusiasm. My strengths suitably complement what Aleksandar, Rocco and Kuir have to offer. Aleksandar falls under the Behavioural type, which means he is a good team player and very sociable. He negotiates differences through skilful and polite persuasion than aggression. In fact, Aleksandar is the great pacifier in our meetings. We love him for it. Rocco and Kuir are the Directive types. They are very focussed on getting things done and can be a little aggressive at times. But they are valuable for the group for the technical knowledge they bring to the project. To give an anatomical analogy, Rocco and Kuir would form the muscles and bones whereas Aleksandar would be the heart of our group. I myself, again with due modesty, would be its brain.

Team Development and its effect on Group Decision Making

Team size is a factor that bears upon group dynamics. Our team of 4 members is relatively small and that helps in creating strong bonds between members. Aleksandar, Rocco, Kuir and I are not only classmates but also good friends. This helps create an atmosphere of camaraderie during our discussion. The odd personal jibe or a practical joke lightens the burden of our projects. Speier et. al. have brought new understanding to group dynamics. Their work on ‘interruptions’ reveal that for cognitively simpler and space-oriented tasks interruptions do not have a negative effect. On the other hand, for complex tasks interruptions prove to be a hindrance. Our group project is neither too simple nor too complex. Hence it is fair to assume that on the whole interruptions will slightly undermine our work. But thanks to a strong team ethic that we’ve built over the course, the numbers of interruptions were minimal. If I was giving a presentation to the group, Aleksandar, Rocco and Kuir would carefully pay attention to what I have to say. They would raise their questions at the end of the presentation. I would return the favour during their presentations.

Future Improvements

I am fairly happy with how our group has performed its coordinative tasks. However, there are areas for improvement also. While our communication skill in the conventional sense is quite solid, we do lag in terms of English language proficiency. This is an area all four of us must improve, for we all recognize how language is the vehicle for thoughts and expressing ideas. Even the best co-ordinated of our efforts will only be as good as our language level allows it to be expressed. Other areas where our team can do better are planning and organization. At times during the project we found ourselves acting and taking decisions in an ad-hoc manner. It betrayed a lack of professionalism in our approach. This we want to remedy in upcoming group activities.

References:

Turban, Efraim, Decision Making, Systems, Modeling, and Support, Chapter 2, Decision support and business intelligence systems, pp. 38-69. Boston : Prentice Hall, c2011.

Cheri Speier, Iris Vessey, Joseph S. Valacich. The Effects of Interruptions, Task Complexity, and Information Presentation on Computer-Supported Decision-Making Performance, Decision Sciences, Volume 34 Number 4, Fall 2003.

Bazerman, Max H. & Moore, Don A., Judgment in managerial decision making, Ch. 11, pp. 179-199, Improving decision making, Hoboken, NJ : J. Wiley & Sons, c2009.

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AMA Journal of Ethics ®

Illuminating the art of medicine, reflection-based learning for professional ethical formation.

One way practitioners learn ethics is by reflecting on experience. They may reflect in the moment (reflection-in-action) or afterwards (reflection-on-action). We illustrate how a teaching clinician may transform relationships with patients and teach person-centered care through reflective learning. We discuss reflective learning pedagogies and present two case examples of our preferred method, guided group reflection using narratives. This method fosters moral development alongside professional identity formation in students and advanced learners. Our method for reflective learning addresses and enables processing of the most pressing ethical issues that learners encounter in practice.

Introduction

How does one become a more ethical practitioner? We suggest that clinicians learn ethics through reflective practice and reflective learning. Reflective learning incorporates the lessons of experience into practice and integrates these lessons into one’s body of knowledge, providing context and meaning [1-6]. Reflection promotes mindfulness and self-awareness, both of which form the basis of effective patient interactions, especially with patients whom one finds difficult or challenging. Whether “reflecting-in-action” while with a patient or “reflecting-on-action” after having seen a patient [7], the reflective practitioner compares intended with actual outcomes. In ethics as well as other aspects of medicine, the practitioner considers if outcomes are optimal and, if not, what might have been done better. In this way, moral development progresses alongside professional identity formation as a lifelong process [8-10]. We will begin this paper with a case illustrating how ethics can be learned and then taught through reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. We will then describe the various methods for reflective learning, which have been used extensively by one of the authors (WTB) to promote learning of ethics and professional development [11-14], focusing on two synopses of vignettes that illustrate narrative reflection.

Case: Learning and Teaching Ethics through Reflection-in-Action and Reflection-on-Action

One of the authors (MG), having just begun as a faculty attending physician at a busy safety-net hospital, related this story: Ms. L had been a patient on many other services many other times, admitted frequently for lupus flares and always found to have a urine drug screen positive for cocaine. I saw the patient with my team of medical students and residents, sympathizing with her about her pain and talking with her about the dangers of crack cocaine. She nodded and acknowledged that, yes, she would try to quit. She was pleasant and thoughtful and seemed to mean what she said. But when I later reflected about the encounter, it felt lackluster. Our team had done what every team before had done, and the outcome of each of those well-meaning encounters had been the same.

I returned to the bedside alone and sat beside her. I reflected to myself, “Why were we not connecting better? What was I failing to learn about her life? What could I ask that others had not?” Perhaps the most important question I asked myself was, “Why can’t I understand her decision process?” And my answer was that I didn’t know her decision process.

I approached Ms. L with a more person-centered approach. “What is your life like outside of the hospital, Ms. L? What makes you like to use cocaine?” Her response changed the way I practiced medicine. She looked me in the eye and opened up about her life, describing an abusive boyfriend who had socially isolated her from friends and family. She could only leave the house for doctor appointments and hospitalizations, and the only people she saw were her boyfriend’s loud and crass friends who often filled the house. They brought cocaine with them, and she used it as a temporary escape. She knew all of the things that doctors had told her over the years, and she hated the drug. In her imprisonment, cocaine was the lesser of two evils.

Identifying a problem within the encounter and reflecting while I was with Ms. L—reflection-in-action—enabled me to see where we were off track and correct our course. I discussed with my team my conversation with Ms. L, and this subsequent reflection-on-action served as a teaching tool. We discussed good history-taking skills, compassion, bias and assumptions, and intimate partner violence, all of which are subjects taught in medical school and residency but not always within the context of building a caring relationship with the patient. By intertwining caring ethics into these lessons within a patient encounter, we make medical ethics more practical and approachable.

The case demonstrates ethics embedded in medical practice [11]. The physician’s compassionate efforts to elicit and understand the patient’s story and to empathize with—and thereby benefit—her patient illustrate caring ethics [10, 11, 15]. Reflection-in-action allowed the physician to go beyond her previous practice, which had not included asking the patient about her life and social situation, and to establish a more deeply ingrained habit in herself of considering the patient’s perspective [4-6, 16]. Later, mutual reflection-on-action ensured that her team appreciated the clinical and ethical importance of learning the patient’s perspective.

Applications of Reflective Learning in Medical Education

Reflective learning , wherein a person steps back and examines the approaches to a topic or experience, has been widely adopted by medical schools [2, 13], with reflective learning exercises being integrated into existing courses or special programs [13]. The Association of American Medical Colleges recommends reflective learning among its standard learning methods [17]. Pedagogical tools include narrative reflection using critical incidents, appreciative inquiry or other learner-generated narratives, case studies, journaling, reflective dialogical exercises with peers and mentors, role plays, and practical exercises [5]. Schemes are available to judge the depth of reflection, ranging from simply telling a story to providing opinions, justifications, supporting examples, analyses, strategies, and supporting evidence [18, 19].

Reflective learning involves several related concepts. Critical reflection (based on critical theory) examines the economic and power relationships that exist within social and institutional contexts [5]. Reflexivity refers to self-reflection, in which one examines one’s own assumptions and behaviors with respect to social roles and power relationships [5]. These methods can be applied to teaching ethics [18, 19].

One of the authors (WTB) has used guided group reflection on either critical incidents or appreciative inquiry narratives for medical students at Harvard Medical School, for residents in internal medicine at Emory University, and in multi-institutional faculty development programs, now applied at 28 medical schools [11-14]. Short narratives written by the learners are the subjects of discussion. The types of narratives used and the goals and methods of teaching reflective learning are described in more detail below.

Types of narratives . A critical incident (CI) in this setting is a narrative describing something that comes to mind as an important interaction, whether perceived positively or negatively by the learner [12, 13]. CI stories have the advantage of allowing students and other writers to process difficult experiences, such as challenging patient encounters, as well as to learn from positive experiences, such as having a good role model. Appreciative inquiry (AI) narratives are stories of success of a time when a learner was at his or her best [20]. The appreciative inquiry method as used in teaching medical humanism has been shown to build upon clinicians’ successes by increasing their awareness of, and motivating them to meet, their patients’ emotional needs [16]. Like free association, both methods uncover key experiences, including conflicts and difficulties that learners are currently struggling to surmount. AI narratives frequently address difficult situations that begin with a challenge that the learner successfully surmounts [16]. If not discussed and understood, unresolved or partially resolved incidents described in either type of narrative may fester, producing stress and inhibiting socialization [13-15].

Goals . The author’s goals for the reflective learning are threefold: first, to assist learners in becoming positively socialized into their roles and in forming professional identities; second, to enable them to process, gain perspective on, and come to terms with difficulties encountered on the road to becoming a professional; and, finally, to enable learners to become more self-aware and mindful practitioners who are capable of reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action and who are committed to their professional and ethical values.

Teaching methods . Narratives can be written prior to or in the initial 10-15 minutes of a session. Narratives should be read word for word by their writers, with ample time for listeners to process each narrative. It is important that all participants have the opportunity to read their narratives, although they are given the option to decline if they wish. Confidentiality is of course important. The group size is usually around eight. Meetings generally last 90-120 minutes with no interruptions.

The facilitator may guide the group by role-modeling behaviors that deepen the reflective learning, such as empathically posing a question to the story-writer that calls for meaningful reflection. The facilitator also may actively intervene and interpret group members’ behaviors in ways that encourage them to support and empathize with other group members. A safe environment where group members feel their contributions are met with understanding allows for deep reflection as participants comfortably disclose difficult situations that they have faced in their professional lives.

Virtually all stories, like the examples now to be given, incorporate an ethical issue. Hence, these methods enable participants to develop ethically as well as professionally by processing the issues that are personally important to them. Two examples will illustrate using critical incident and appreciative inquiry narratives for reflective learning.

Teaching a Critical Incident Narrative

An indigent woman refused to see a medical student in the walk-in clinic. The attending physician explained that it was a “teaching unit” and the patient “had no choice.” The patient stormed out. The student wondered “how this patient, who fit the bill of the type of person I had always seen myself helping, actually saw me as being aligned with Dr. N against her” [21].

As facilitators, we would focus on this student’s professional development and socialization into the profession while maintaining her core ethical values [8, 9]. She is idealistic and wishes to serve the indigent. If unaddressed, this incident might foster cynicism [22, 23]. We might start by asking her how she feels about the incident. Is she angry or disappointed? The facilitator might empathize by saying, “I would have felt uncomfortable,” and adding, “I might have felt helpless if I couldn’t speak up.” Very likely, other students would say they have felt the same in similar situations, so she would feel supported. We would praise her social conscience and her sense of justice.

The group could assist the learner’s  professional socialization  by encouraging her to understand this incident from the perspectives of the teacher and the patient. How did the teacher justify his behavior to himself? How could the learner have taken the patient’s likely perspective into account in the interaction [24]? Why is the clinic organized in this way? Can we change it for the better?

The facilitator could suggest methods to the learner for dealing more directly with the situation, such as asking a seemingly innocent question of the teacher, like “Why would it be wrong for you to see the patient?” However, we know from our experience that many students will be too insecure to confront their teacher. Reasonable goals are to assuage guilt in this medical student and to have her leave the session feeling comfortable with her role and choice of career direction and more confident of her understanding of others’ viewpoints as well as feeling supported by her peers and facilitator, encouraged in her desire to help the less fortunate, and perhaps empowered to ask more questions should she encounter this type of situation in the future.

Teaching an Appreciative Inquiry Narrative

A 22 year old female presented with complaints of fevers, night sweats and a left groin mass consistent with an acute infection. The patient spoke tearfully, “I don’t want to die.” The parents stood by, obviously emotionally affected. I (the doctor) [knowing that the prognosis was good] knelt down beside her, held her hand, and told her, “You are not going to die” [25].

The next morning I ran into her [the patient’s] mother. A medical student was with me. The mother stated, “I really liked how you talked to my daughter yesterday and thank you so much for taking the time to explain…” I said to the student, “This is why I love what I do. This is why I went into medicine” [26].

This faculty physician’s story illustrates the potential benefits and rewards of being compassionate. The story shows how much patients and families appreciate compassionate doctoring. The teacher also encouraged a medical student to empathize by pointing out how rewarding to physicians and beneficial to patients these types of experiences are. She then reinforced the lesson by briefly reflecting on its ample meaning.

As facilitators, we might ask the writer to reflect in more depth on the personal meaning of the story. We suspect that this physician reached a new level of ability in delivering compassionate care [16]. We would want to reinforce her new abilities as a healer and note that her action was considered by some to be courageous, in hopes of reinforcing her high level of performance and strengthening her moral commitment to humanistic values.

Our view of teaching ethics by reflective learning leans heavily on the process of professional identity formation. This view reflects our observations that progression of medical professionals’ identity formation to higher levels may be facilitated by fully processing impactful experiences through reflection under good supervision during their development [27]. Identity formation is entwined with moral virtues and values. Kegan describes the highest stage of identity formation as becoming a person who can choose good moral values for herself and, like the physician in our AI example, internalize and live by them [8]. One can certainly profit from other methods of teaching ethics by reflective learning. For example, educators can assign students to write narratives or recall stories specifically about ethical dilemmas or difficult patient encounters. We have presented our open-ended approach to learning ethics using narrative reflection. We believe this is an effective learner-centered approach that promotes formation of professional identity as a humanistic clinician. For the practitioner, reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action enhance patient care, especially in difficult or challenging patient interactions, and promote lifelong learning of knowledge and skills.

• Health professions education/Humanities in health professions education
• Health professions education/Medical education

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Also in this Issue

Nested Tensions in Care

AMA Code of Medical Ethics ’ Opinions Related to Moral Psychology and “Difficult” Clinician-Patient Relationships

Lessons about So-Called “Difficult” Patients from the UK Controversy over Patient Access to Electronic Health Records

Repairing “Difficult” Patient-Clinician Relationships

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Decision-Making Reflection or Formal Business Report

Introduction.

Decision-making is a critical and integral aspect of human life that greatly influences individual decisions, societal progress, and organizational outcomes. It comprises the selection of a course of action from an alternative set to attain specific goals or address a particular issue (S Bright & H Cortes, 2019). Understanding the importance of effective decision-making is critical for leaders, individuals, and organizations aiming to navigate the challenges of the ever-transforming universe. This business report takes a formal look at a recent major decision, how it was made, potential areas for improvement, group decision-making, and what the future holds for changes. The decision involves moving away from waterfall and agile project management to boost flexibility and customer happiness.

Recent Major decisions

Not long ago, we boldly decided to reevaluate our approach to project management. From waterfall to agile, project managers leaped. This shift prompted adapting to evolving project requirements and boosting customer happiness.

Decision-making Process

Recognizing the need:.

The initial step in deciding was realizing that our project management approach had certain flaws. A change was necessary due to issues with project delays and clients’ ever-changing requirements.

Generating alternatives

After recognizing the need for change, we came up with different alternatives. The dynamic nature of our projects was a significant factor in the decision to employ Agile methodology, which is known for its flexibility and iterative development.

Alternative Analysis

In the third stage, we looked at all the generated options. A thorough analysis of adopting an agile methodology’s pros, cons, and practicability was conducted. At this point, we looked at how each alternative worked with our project objectives and overall framework.

Selecting an Alternative

The next step was to choose the optimal choice. All discussions and decisions relied heavily on teamwork. It is worth noting that the choice to move to agile was made as a team.

Implementing the decision

After deciding to use agile, the attention shifted to putting the decision into action. Agile principles were communicated to the workforce, and workflows were modified to conform to the new approach.

Assessing effectiveness

The last step was to evaluate the effectiveness of the decision following its execution. We monitored project development, team dynamics, and customer comments to gauge the effect of the change. Finding unforeseen problems and making adjustments at this point was crucial.

Skipped steps

The step that was offered minimal attention is alternative analysis. Even if the decision was successful, a more comprehensive evaluation of options may have been carried out. A hasty decision was made without thoroughly weighing the pros and cons due to the pressing need for change.

Improvement Strategies

The improvement strategies comprise giving alternative appraisals more time, especially when considering the long-term effects, and getting different people’s opinions when making decisions so that I notice everything.

Benefits of Group Decision-Making

Group decision-making significantly improves organizational performance. Advantages include varied perspectives, accountability, and creativity (S Bright & H Cortes, 2019). Group decision-making self-assessments encourage cooperation via mediation, active listening, and dispute resolution.

Self-Evaluation for Team Assignment

Specific interpersonal skills are necessary to foster an environment conducive to teamwork and decision-making. Group dynamics and collaborative decision-making thrive when leaders actively listen, facilitate, and resolve conflicts (S Bright & H Cortes, 2019).

By actively listening to others, team members can better understand and appreciate one another. I am well aware of the importance of actively participating in team discussions. I intend to demonstrate genuine concern for my coworkers’ problems by actively listening to them. Some examples of this behavior are maintaining eye contact and acknowledging with a nod. By actively participating and confirming my understanding of other people’s viewpoints, I can ask questions that clarify and summarize important points. Through attentive listening, I encourage my team members to speak their minds.

Skillful group discussion facilitation is essential. I must learn how to encourage team meetings better, and I am aware of this. An agenda can help ensure that important topics are discussed and given adequate time. Taking into account the communication styles of my coworkers, I encourage those who are more reserved to speak up so we can all work in an environment that respects and honors everyone’s viewpoint. Navigating discussions toward mutual understanding is another aspect of facilitation (Abele et al., 2021). Finding common ground and synthesizing varied perspectives helps the team make choices.

Settlement of disputes is an inherent part of group dynamics. Because of this, I make a solid effort to grasp the team’s opinions. Everyone on the team has to feel comfortable speaking out and have an open line of communication. To get better, I will tackle problems by looking for ways to fix them. An effective way to manage issues and foster growth and consensus is to propose compromise solutions that promote team goals.

These interpersonal abilities result from a team culture that values open dialogue, mutual respect, and cooperative problem-solving. I aspire to hone these abilities to contribute to groups by making wise judgments and fostering a positive team dynamic.

Action Statement

The decision-making process, improvement areas, benefits of group decision-making, and measures to strengthen cooperation have all been discussed in this reflective study. Case studies that utilized decision-making ideas illustrated changes to project management techniques.

Our plan of action is to make decisions as a team and as individuals with a more holistic view that values different points of view and encourages productive group dynamics. This dedication acknowledges that sound decision-making is crucial to achieving organizational goals.

Abele, A. E., Ellemers, N., Fiske, S. T., Koch, A., & Yzerbyt, V. (2021). Navigating the social world: Toward an integrated framework for evaluating self, individuals, and groups.  Psychological Review ,  128 (2), 290.

S Bright, D., & H Cortes, A. (2019).  [eTextbook] Principles of Management  (Doctoral dissertation, Rice University, USA).

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Reflection Essay on Decision Making

These decisions can be as routine as when to get out of bed, hat to eat for lunch, or when to exercise, or decisions can be as significant as what career to pursue or where to live. Whether making a decision about something fairly routine or a major life event, making good decisions takes time, practice, and conscious thought.

Definition of decision making

Decision making is the process of choosing what to do by considering the possible consequences of different choices (Brockman & Russell, 2009; Walker, 2001 a).

Order custom essay Reflection Essay on Decision Making with free plagiarism report

The decision making process is a tool that can help you or your family members reach goals, gain greater control ver your life, and help you be more satisfied with the quality of your life (Walker, 2001 b). Factors Influencing Decision Making Making decisions can be complex because of the large amount of factors that Influence the declslon making process (Brockman & Russell, 2009). Some factors are specific to you as an Individual such as your values, goals, and priorities. Other factors are external such as When making decisions it is important to understand how these influences impact the process.

Goal setting is important to the decision making rocess because it can help determine options and set a course of action. Specifically, goals are the end result that an individual, family, or community works toward (Walker, 2001). Goals can be divided into short-term and long-term. Short-term goals are defined as something you hope to achieve within six months, while long-term goals are something you hope to achieve in a time period longer than six months. An example of a short-term goal is organizing your home office space, and an example of a long-term goal is saving money for a new car.

Personal values also impact decision making. Values are something you believe that impacts your behavior. Examples of values include honesty, education, good health, or financial security. Values help determine Extension is a Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln cooperating with the Counties and the United States Department of Agriculture. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension educational programs abide with the nondiscrimination policies of the University of Nebraska- Lincoln and the United States Department of Agriculture. 2012, The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska on behalf of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension. All rights reserved. options and consequences of options in the decision making process. For example, if you highly value financial security, you will make decisions that will include having adequate savings and/or keeping expenses to a minimum. Steps of the Decision Making Process 1. State the problem or situation. The decision making process begins with a situation or problem to be addressedor solved. It can be helpful to write down the problem.

Consider your goals and values.

The goals you set or yourself are influenced by your values. Knowing your values and goals will help you determine what is desired. 3. Determine the options. Look for as many options as possible to solve your problem or situation. Be creative as you think about options. The more options you think of, the more likely it is that you will find a solution that fits your situation. When thinking about options, seek out information from friends,

Consider the consequences or list the pros and the cons of each option.

In this step it is helpful to think about the positive and negative outcomes of doing ach option.

To help you determine the pros and cons of each option, consider your personal goals and values and what resources, such as time, money, or knowledge, will be needed. Then, list the pros and cons of each option. 5. Select the best option. Based on the positive and negative consequences of each alternative, select the option that best fits your goals, values, and available resources.

 Act upon the decision.

After making a decision it is important to put that decision into action. It can be helpful to create action steps listing how you plan to arry out your decision.

Accept responsibility.

When you make a decision it is important to accept responsibility for that decision and the consequences that are associated with it. 8. Evaluate the results. The last step of the process is to analyze the results or outcomes of your decision. This analysis will help you determine the effectiveness of the decision making process. Helping Others Make Decisions Making good decisions is important not only for you but for your family. Helping others learn to make good decisions is an important life skill you can teach.

For xample, helping a young child make a decision about eating fruits and vegetables gives them practice in making decisions. The more often young people engage in the steps of the decision making process, the better they will be at using them. Here are some tips for helping young children and youth use the decision making process: Practice making decisions in situations they encounter daily, such as what to eat for school lunch. Make decisions, using the process, as a family. For example, decide where to go for vacation or what gift to give a grandparent for their birthday.

Share with children how you use the decision making process in your life and how you evaluate your decisions. Have your child or family member set short-term and long term goals to help the decision making Conclusion: Making decisions is a part of daily living. Using the decision making process can help individuals and families reach goals, use resources wisely, and contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Resources: You can learn more about the decision making processdiscussed in this lesson in the following materials Brockman, M. S. , & Russell, S. T. (2009). Decision-making/ easoning skills.

Building Partnerships for Youth: National 4-H Council and the University of Arizona Walker, K. (2001 a). Decision Making, K-State Research and Extension, Manhattan, KS Walker, K. (2001 b). Goal Setting. K-State Research and Extension, Manhattan, KS Walker, K. , Torres, Nayda, Turner, J. (2006). Make up Your Mind”lmproving Your Decision Making Skills. University of Florida IFAS Extension, Gainesville, FL Source: Steps of the Decision Making Process adapted from: Make up Your Mind” Improving Your Decision Making Skills, University of Florida IFAS Extension.

The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved. The Steps of the Decision Making Process Decision Making Process Worksheet 2. 3. 4. 5. State the problem or situation. Consider your goals and values. Determine the options. Consider the consequences or list the pros and the cons of each option. Select the best option. 7. Accept responsibility. 8. Evaluate the results. Steps of the decision making process adapted from: Make up Your Mind”lmproving Your Decision Making Skills, University of Florida IFAS Extension.

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• I would ensure that the patient and their primary carers were included in the discharge planning conference, that their preferences, experiences and opinions were sought, and that these were incorporated into the clinical decision making process.
• I would gather together all available policies, guidance and governance documents relating to the case. I would also seek out and gather together as much of the evidence base as possible relating to the patient’s care, in order to make a more reasoned decision.
• I would make sure that the community health professionals who had been involved in Arthur’s care up to the point of his admission to hospital were also involved in the discharge conference. This would mean that a more realistic picture of his needs was presented.
• I would include detailed information about an alternative plan of care and social support for Arthur, one which included realistic assessments of available resources and impact on current care provision.
• I would make sure that the impact of this admission on Anne and her home situation was also considered in making the final decision. I would also attempt to ensure that the discharge plan included identification and mobilisation of resources and support services for Anne as well as for Arthur.

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Making An Ethical Decision Paper

Assignment #1: Making an Ethical Decision Ethical problems often arise in management. Ethical dilemmas are also actually management dilemmas, because they represent a conflict between the economic activities of the organization (measured by income, expenses, and profit) and social reflection of its activity (manifested in the commitment to the people, both inside and outside the organization). The nature of these commitments, of course, can be interpreted in different ways, but most often they include measures to protect the organization of loyal employees, creation of competitive markets, and the production of useful and safe for the community products and services (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright, 2014). Jill Jones is faced with a management …show more content…

It is known that the utilitarian theory is an attempt to apply a quantitative method for making ethical decisions. The purpose here is to provide the greatest benefit to the majority (DuBrin, 2013). Thus, Henry Potter applied great efforts to achieve profitable results in the Miami branch. Based on this concept, Jill Jones can recommend Henry Potter for the CEO position as an effective leader with strategic thinking, the ability to build relations and create a team, communication, change management and conflict management skills, …show more content…

When she tries to use any of the principles or any of the values in the moral resonating, she will find the need to add in the causal chain of the second principle or second value (often directly contradict the first) to reach logical conclusion. She must recognize that the combination of conflicting principles or values may not be rational. In accordance with the theory of justice, the administrative personnel should establish the fairest rules and apply them impartially. This approach protects the interests of those stakeholders who are under-represented in management positions or have insufficient powers; but it can lead to the fact that the workers will refuse to accept the risk and introduce any innovations, and will run at reduced performance (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright, 2014). Knowing that Henry Potter is CEO’s son, Jill Jones cannot promote him to the higher position because of this fact. Only his behavior and results should be taken into

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Real-World Data: Assessing Electronic Health Records and Medical Claims Data To Support Regulatory Decision-Making for Drug and Biological Products; Guidance for Industry; Availability

A Notice by the Food and Drug Administration on 07/25/2024

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Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

Notice of availability.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a final guidance for industry entitled “Real-World Data: Assessing Electronic Health Records and Medical Claims Data To Support Regulatory Decision-Making for Drug and Biological Products.” FDA is issuing this guidance as part of its Real-World Evidence (RWE) program and to satisfy, in part, the mandate under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) to issue guidance about the use of RWE in regulatory decision making. This guidance is intended to provide sponsors and other interested parties with considerations when proposing to use electronic health records (EHRs) or medical claims data in clinical studies to support a regulatory decision for effectiveness or safety. This guidance finalizes the draft guidance of the same title issued on September 30, 2021.

The announcement of the guidance is published in the Federal Register on July 25, 2024.

You may submit either electronic or written comments on Agency guidances at any time as follows:

Submit electronic comments in the following way:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov . Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment does not include any confidential information that you or a third party may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov .
• If you want to submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner detailed (see “Written/Paper Submissions” and “Instructions”).

Submit written/paper submissions as follows:

• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
• For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, as confidential, if submitted as detailed in “Instructions.”

Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. FDA-2020-D-2307 for “Real-World Data: Start Printed Page 60431 Assessing Electronic Health Records and Medical Claims Data To Support Regulatory Decision-Making for Drug and Biological Products.” Received comments will be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as “Confidential Submissions,” publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 240-402-7500.

• Confidential Submissions—To submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states “THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.” The Agency will review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in its consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov . Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your comments and you must identify this information as “confidential.” Any information marked as “confidential” will not be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469 , September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/​content/​pkg/​FR-2015-09-18/​pdf/​2015-23389.pdf .

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in the heading of this document, into the “Search” box and follow the prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852, 240-402-7500.

You may submit comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 10.115(g)(5) ).

Submit written requests for single copies of this guidance to the Division of Drug Information, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10001 New Hampshire Ave., Hillandale Building, 4th Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002 or to the Office of Communication, Outreach and Development, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 3128, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002. Send one self-addressed adhesive label to assist that office in processing your requests. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for electronic access to the guidance document.

Dianne Paraoan, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 51, Rm. 3226, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-3161; or James Myers, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 7301, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 240-402-7911.

FDA is announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled “Real-World Data: Assessing Electronic Health Records and Medical Claims Data To Support Regulatory Decision-Making for Drug and Biological Products.” This guidance discusses the following topics related to the potential use of EHRs and medical claims in clinical studies to support regulatory decisions: selection of data sources that appropriately address the study question and sufficiently capture study populations, exposure, outcomes of interest, and key covariates; development and validation of definitions for study design elements ( e.g., exposure, outcomes, covariates); and data traceability and quality during data accrual, data curation, and incorporation into the final study-specific dataset.

Section 3022 of the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) of 2016 amended the FD&C Act to add section 505F, Utilizing Real World Evidence ( 21 U.S.C. 355g ), which requires FDA to issue guidance about the use of RWE in regulatory decision making. In addition, under the Prescription Drug User Fee Amendments of 2017 (PDUFA VI), FDA committed to publish draft guidance on how RWE can contribute to the assessment of safety and effectiveness in regulatory submissions. In 2018, FDA created an RWE Framework and RWE Program to evaluate the potential use of RWE to help support the approval of a new indication for a drug already approved under the FD&C Act or to help support or satisfy postapproval study requirements. In late 2021, FDA utilized the program to issue draft guidances outlining considerations for the use of real-world data and RWE in regulatory decision making to, among other things, help satisfy the Cures Act mandate and the PDUFA VI commitment.

This guidance finalizes the draft guidance of the same title issued on September 30, 2021 ( 86 FR 54219 ). FDA considered comments received on the draft guidance as the guidance was finalized. Changes from the draft to the final guidance include: (1) clarifying that the selection of study variables for validation and the extent of effort required for validation depends on the necessary level of certainty and the implication of potential misclassification on study inference; (2) noting that choice of a reference standard for validation may vary by the study design and question, variable of interest, and the necessary level of certainty; (3) recommending the use of quantitative approaches, such as quantitative bias analyses, either a priori for feasibility assessment, or to facilitate interpretation of study results, or for both purposes, to demonstrate whether and how misclassification, if present, might impact study findings; and (4) removing defined terms that are generally understood and transferring other relevant definitions from a glossary to the text. In addition, editorial changes were made to improve clarity.

This guidance is being issued consistent with FDA's good guidance practices regulation ( 21 CFR 10.115 ). The guidance represents the current thinking of FDA on “Real-World Data: Assessing Electronic Health Records and Medical Claims Data To Support Regulatory Decision-Making for Drug and Biological Products.” It does not establish any rights for any person and is not binding on FDA or the public. You can use an alternative approach if it satisfies the requirements of the applicable statutes and regulations.

While this guidance contains no collection of information, it does refer to previously approved FDA collections of information. The previously approved collections of information are subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) ( 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521 ). The collections of information in 21 CFR part 11 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0303; the collections of information in 21 CFR part 312 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0014; the collections of information in 21 CFR part 314 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0001; and the collections Start Printed Page 60432 of information in 21 CFR part 601 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0338.

Persons with access to the internet may obtain the guidance at https://www.fda.gov/​drugs/​guidance-compliance-regulatory-information/​guidances-drugs , https://www.fda.gov/​vaccines-blood-biologics/​guidance-compliance-regulatory-information-biologics/​biologics-guidances , https://www.fda.gov/​regulatory-information/​search-fda-guidance-documents , or https://www.regulations.gov .

Dated: July 22, 2024.

Lauren K. Roth,

Associate Commissioner for Policy.

[ FR Doc. 2024-16338 Filed 7-24-24; 8:45 am]

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Donald J. Trump intends to bring independent regulatory agencies under direct presidential control. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Donald J. Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands.

Their plans to centralize more power in the Oval Office stretch far beyond the former president’s recent remarks that he would order a criminal investigation into his political rival, President Biden, signaling his intent to end the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from White House political control.

Mr. Trump and his associates have a broader goal: to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him.

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AUTO-ENCODING VARIATIONAL BAYES

• Romain Lopez , Pierre Boyeau , +2 authors J. Regier
• Published 2020
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Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence

Title: logic distillation: learning from code function by function for planning and decision-making.

Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) have garnered increasing attention owing to their powerful logical reasoning capabilities. Generally, larger LLMs (L-LLMs) that require paid interfaces exhibit significantly superior performance compared to smaller LLMs (S-LLMs) that can be deployed on a variety of devices. Knowledge distillation (KD) aims to empower S-LLMs with the capabilities of L-LLMs, while S-LLMs merely mimic the outputs of L-LLMs, failing to get the powerful logical reasoning capabilities. Consequently, S-LLMs are helpless when it comes to planning and decision-making tasks that require logical reasoning capabilities. To tackle the identified challenges, we propose a novel framework called Logic Distillation (LD). Initially, LD employs L-LLMs to instantiate complex instructions into discrete functions and illustrates their usage to establish a function base. Subsequently, based on the function base, LD fine-tunes S-LLMs to learn the logic employed by L-LLMs in planning and decision-making. During testing, LD utilizes a retriever to identify the top-$K$ relevant functions based on instructions and current states, which will be selected and invoked by S-LLMs. Ultimately, S-LLMs yield planning and decision-making outcomes, function by function. Relevant experiments demonstrate that with the assistance of LD, S-LLMs can achieve outstanding results in planning and decision-making tasks, comparable to, or even surpassing, those of L-LLMs.

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