How To Write A Reflective Essay: 7 Recommendations For Newbies

Writing a reflective essay is fairly simple if you know the process. There is only one way you can master the process of writing and that is through practice and reading a lot of different materials. If you are going to write a reflective essay, you will have to write on something you have witnessed or gone through yourself.

Steps to follow if you are new to reflective writing:

1. The first and foremost thong is to select a topic. It s easy and you will have to choose something from your own experience that have transformed you in some way. You can also write about incidents that have changed your view on a specific topic.
2. The first part should be your own views and thoughts before the said incident took place. You should describe your own views but you do not have to mention that they were wrong. You may say that they were about to change and move on to the incident and experience.
3. Once you have narrated your own thoughts, you will have to start describing the incident. Say how the incident took place or what the experience is all about. In this part you do not have to mention how the incident affected you. Just describe the incident.
4. This is the part where you will have to reflect back and say how the incident has moved you or how you have changed after the incident.
5. Start with a generalized statement before moving into details. You will have to analyze the change in your emotion or thoughts. This is the self reflection and has to be written effectively. You will have to draw the reader’s interest. The parts before this were to increase the anticipation and this part will be the meat of the essay so it should be minutely detailed and yet easy to understand.
6. Use your own words even if you have borrowed the topic from somewhere else. Self reflection has to be unique so even if the incident did not happen to you and you are writing fiction, the perspective should be yours.
7. Once you have completed writing, you will have to do some editing and proofreading. This is the best way to eliminate all errors and make the essay sharp and crisp. You will be able to remove all unwanted information and keep the ones that are most interesting and relevant.