sample reflective journal assignment

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Examples of Reflective Writing

Types of reflective writing assignments.

A journal  requires you to write weekly entries throughout a semester. May require you to base your reflection on course content.

A learning diary is similar to a journal, but may require group participation. The diary then becomes a place for you to communicate in writing with other group members.

A logbook is often used in disciplines based on experimental work, such as science. You note down or 'log' what you have done. A log gives you an accurate record of a process and helps you reflect on past actions and make better decisions for future actions.

A reflective note is often used in law. A reflective note encourages you to think about your personal reaction to a legal issue raised in a course.

An essay diary  can take the form of an annotated bibliography (where you examine sources of evidence you might include in your essay) and a critique (where you reflect on your own writing and research processes).

a peer review  usually involves students showing their work to their peers for feedback.

A self-assessment task  requires you to comment on your own work.

Some examples of reflective writing

Social science fieldwork report (methods section), engineering design report, learning journal (weekly reflection).

Brookfield, S 1987, Developing critical thinkers: challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting , Open University Press, Milton Keynes.

Mezirow, J 1990, Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: a guide to transformative and emancipatory learning , Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Schön, DA 1987, Educating the reflective practitioner , Jossey-Bass. San Francisco.

We thank the students who permitted us to feature examples of their writing.

Prepared by Academic Skills, UNSW. This guide may be distributed or adapted for educational purposes. Full and proper acknowledgement is required. 

Essay and assignment writing guide

• Essay writing basics
• Essay and assignment planning
• Answering assignment questions
• Editing checklist
• Writing a critical review
• Annotated bibliography
• How do I write reflectively?
• Examples of reflective writing
• ^ More support

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Introduction to Psychology: Reflective Journal Assignment

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Reflective Learning Journals

What is reflective learning.

Our default way of tackling almost anything - assignments, projects, and even life - tends to be more like a checklist. We "tick the boxes" when we've finished a task and move on. How often do we REALLY stop to think, question, or reflect on what we've read or learned, or what we've learned. Mostly we're just glad to be done!

Watch the video below to learn a better approach. The concept of reflection - deciding how to make use of knowledge, information, or experience is a significant part of the learning process.

What is a Reflective Learning Journal?

A learning journal is about writing that's done for the purpose of learning.  You are writing to learn. There is no single right way or wrong way to write a reflective learning journal. You simply write down, using your own personal everyday language, what you thought about or what you felt or experienced as you engaged with the reading or other course materials. Reflective writing or reflective practice help you develop the skills to be an independent learner.

• Reflective Learning Journal Ideas A learning or reflective journal is a steadily growing document that you write to record the progress of your learning. This type of journal is not simply a summary of the course material; it should also include your reactions , your thoughts, your feelings and your questions about what you've learned. There is no right or wrong way to do this.

If You're Stuck....

How to get un-stuck when writing .

Your instructor explained her expectations in the guidelines she provided to the class, but you may still find yourself stuck when encounter that blank page. Here are some idea that might help you get unstuck:

• Write as though talking to yourself or a friend. This puts you in touch with your writing voice and helps you express your thoughts which in turn, helps you connect what you're learning to the ideas or experiences meaningful to you.
• Don't censor what you are thinking ahead of time. Don't judge what you are writing.Something that might seem silly or stupid at first may just be the seed that turns into something strong and focused as you continue to work with it.
• Don't be afraid to express a negative reaction to something you read. Again, as you work with it, you will begin to understand why you responded the way you did. You may learn something about yourself, you didn't expect to.
• Start to look for connections in the theories you are reading about to knowledge you have in other areas whether your personal life, other courses, your job or workplace, your family life, relationships etc. Notice patterns that may begin to emerge. This expands your learning and understanding in a real-world context.

Still stuck? Maybe some of the Student Reflection Question listed in the link below willhelp  jump start your thinking.

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How to Write a Reflective Journal with Tips and Examples

• How To Create a Reflective Journal

One of the most commonly used and therapeutic ways to utilize your journal is to reflect upon experiences you deem profound or that had an impact on your life. Getting it all down on paper can really give you a completely different perspective on things. Writing in your journal can be an incredibly useful tool to help you better understand yourself and the world you operate in. Reflective learning journals are also a great way to find creative solutions to difficult problems.

So, what exactly is a Reflective Journal?

A reflective journal (aka a reflective diary) is the perfect place to jot down some of life's biggest thoughts. In a reflective journal, you can write about a positive or negative event that you experienced, what it means or meant to you, and what you may have learned from that experience.

A well-written journal can be an important tool. As with any tool, to get the most benefits, you need practice. This could mean forcing yourself to write, at first, but after a while, it will become like second nature. Write down your entry as soon as possible after the event. This way, the details will still be fresh in your mind, which will help later in your analysis.

5 Reasons To Write a Reflective Journal

Reflective journals are most often used to record detailed descriptions of certain aspects of an event or thought. For example, who was there, what was the purpose of the event, what do you think about it, how does it make you feel, etc. Write down everything, even if you don't have a clear idea of how this information will be helpful. 

Here are some of the most common reasons why people find reflective journals so useful:

• To make sense of things that happened. What you write should sound as if you are describing the details to someone who wasn't there. Be as descriptive as possible. Just the act of writing down the details of what happened may give you perspective that you may not have otherwise considered had you just continued to think about it.
• To speculate as to why something is the way it is.  Your views can come from your own common sense, or from something you have heard at a lecture or read in a book. Either way, speculating why something is the way it is can be a very useful exercise in reasoning.
• To align future actions with your reflected values and experiences.  After positing your interpretation, continue to observe the subject of your speculation to decide whether you want to stick to your original views, or make changes. That is one of the great things about an online journal--you can make changes to your entries at any time.
• To get thoughts and ideas out of your head.  Writing down your thoughts can help relieve pressure or help resolve problems. It will also help you focus the task at hand.
• To share your thoughts and ideas with others.  Getting opinions from others about what you wrote can help you clarify your feelings for a deeper understanding of yourself.

The Reflective Journal Thought Process

When writing a reflective journal, you are simply documenting something that has happened in your life that requires you to make a change or consider the impact of your decision. Your journal, in many ways, is a dialogue that you are having with yourself. You are forcing your brain to think critically about something and to produce written words accordingly.

The worst thing you can do to a creative flow is to start inputting criticism before your thought is complete. Allow yourself the time to make a mistake and keep going. Who cares if you didn't phrase that exactly how you should have or you didn't spell that word right? Those things just aren't important here. Find whatever works for you.

4 Tips To Get Your Reflective Journaling Started

Writing a reflective journal requires not only that you describe a learning experience, but also that you analyze the topics covered and articulate your feelings and opinions about the subject matter. There is no set structure for writing a reflective journal, as the diary is meant for your own use. The writing process is entirely free-form. However, there are certain guidelines to follow that will make you more successful at this. Here are some basic tips at how to write a reflective journal. 

1. Always Keep the Journal Nearby

The first step in learning how to write a reflective journal is as simple as being prepared to jot down your thoughts and opinions on something you are learning anytime the mood strikes. For example, if you have an insightful observation about a book you're reading while on the bus, it pays to have your journal with you. Penzu's free diary software  come in handy in such a situation, as online and mobile entries can be made in your Penzu journal from any location.

2. Make Regular Entries

While you can write in whatever form and style you please, it's important to write regular entries, even if a moment of inspiration doesn't arise. This ensures you are reviewing content and actively thinking about what you have learned. This will develop your writing and critical thinking skills while keeping you organized. In the end, this should enable you to better understand specific topics you are studying.

3. Participate, Observe, Summarize and Contemplate

While reflecting is the main part of keeping a reflective diary, it's also vital that you first participate in a learning activity, make observations and summarize facts and experiences. For example, if you are writing a lab for science class, be sure to first cover what you did and what the goal and outcome of the experiment was prior to elaborating on your ideas and opinions of what was discovered. Reflective journaling is first about participating and observing before writing.

4. Review Regularly

Take time to read over previous journal entries and see how new experiences, additional knowledge and time have altered how you think and feel about the material you've been analyzing and contemplating. This will make the journal more valuable to you personally, as it will shed light on how you've grown. 

Reflective Journal Topic Examples

To create a reflective journal that really provides detail on your overall perspective on a variety of different situations, consider using one of the prompts below to help with your thought process.

• Write about which relationships have the most meaning to you and why. Include ways you can grow to help maintain these close relationships and get rid of the toxic relationships currently in your life.
• Write about what you are learning at school or in college.
• Write about someone in your life who has experienced a positive change and how you can learn from their situation.
• Write about what you want out of the next five years of your life and what you can do to achieve these goals.

If you’re looking for more topic examples, check out these great reflective journal prompts

Reflective Journal Example

The passage below is a sample reflective diary entry about losing a job:

“This week I lost my job because my employer thought I was not consistent in my work. At first I was a little upset, because I'm always on time, and I complete what I can by the end of the day. I couldn't figure out what she meant by stating that I wasn't consistent in my work. After thinking about the situation, I realized that I can only complete the work assigned to the best of my ability. What she doesn't realize is that the problem started because I constantly received incomplete reports. Whoever ends up with my former job will have the same issues if that problem isn't addressed first. However, knowing that I did what I could will allow me to continue to move forward with a positive outlook for the future.

A reflective journal is a personal account of an educational experience that offers a variety of benefits, from enhancing your writing skills and helping you retain information to allowing you to express your thoughts on new ideas and theories.

When keeping a reflective journal, it's important that you have privacy and convenience. Penzu's online account and mobile platform offer secure access and the ability to write entries from anywhere, and your diary will never get lost or stolen.

There's no time like the present - start your free online journal today!

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• Reflective Journals and Learning Logs

Reflective journals are personal records of students’ learning experiences. Students typically are asked by their instructors to record learning-related incidents, sometimes during the learning process but more often just after they occur. Entries in journals and learning logs can be prompted by questions about course content, assignments, exams, students’ own ideas or students’ thought processes about what happened in a particular class period. Journals and learning logs are then submitted to the instructor for feedback. Both paper-based and online journals or logs can be turned in before or after each class period or at any other designated time.

A student’s writing style for journals and logs can be informal and sometimes inappropriate. However, to help students learn more about a particular subject or content, you can require students to write more formal entries using correct terminology, facts, and connections to course content. Consider providing guidelines and/or rules to help students write meaningful and authentic journals or logs.

Journals have long been used in exploratory writing activities but also can benefit the student beyond learning how to write. As with any instructional or learning activity, selecting to use reflective journals or learning logs as part of a course should fit your teaching style and also connect with the course learning goals and objectives (Bean, 1996). Because it takes time for students to write in their reflective journals or learning logs, so too, it will take time for you to read and respond.

Journals have long been used in exploratory writing activities but also can benefit the student beyond learning how to write.

The literature is not consistent in defining the differences between reflective journals and learning logs. One may be considered less personal than the other; one might incorporate more instructor prompts and questions while the other might be more student-driven. “Journals often focus subjectively on personal experiences, reactions, and reflections while learning logs are more documentary records of students’ work process (what they are doing), their accomplishments, ideas, or questions” (Equipped for the Future, 2004). However, there is evidence that the art of reflection can help boost students’ critical thinking skills, encourage students to think about their own thinking (meta-cognition), and help students prepare for assignments and examinations (Homik, M. & Melis, E., 2007; Johnson, S., n.d.; RMIT, 2006).

…reflection can help boost students’ critical thinking skills, encourage students to think about their own thinking (meta-cognition), and help students prepare for assignments and examinations…

Types of Reflections

Journals and learning logs can be used to reflect on a range of issues and situations from numerous viewpoints and perspectives (RMIT, 2006). RMIT (2006) lists six types of reflections. The following descriptions depict a reflection on university student groups and drinking. Possible student comments are in italics.

Observations

At this stage a student would write about what they actually saw or their viewpoint on a particular event. For example , At the pre-game parties outside the stadium I saw student groups guzzling buckets of beer.  

Upon reflection, the student could ask the question, Why do the all of the student groups drink together at football games but don’t seem to get along when they don’t drink?                              

Speculations

After thinking about the situation, the student could reflect, Maybe it’s possible that that student groups drink because it’s easier to socialize that way. Or, maybe they think that they have to drink because everyone else does!

Self-awareness

At this point a student may place himself or herself in the situation by considering the ramifications. I really don’t think I need to drink to be able to socialize with my friends and think we would get into trouble if we decided to drink as much as the groups do.

Integration of theory and ideas

By reflecting on theories or ideas about cultural norms the student has connected the experience with what he or she has learned. The student might write, Social norm theory explains that particular group members think other group members drink more than their group does.

This is where the student may self-reflect on or “critique” the situation by writing, I can now reflect on my own drinking experiences to see if I really drink because my friends do.

By reflecting on theories or ideas about cultural norms the student has connected the experience with what he or she has learned.

Reflecting is a cyclical process, where recording ones thoughts (reflecting) “leads to improvement and/or insight” (RMIT, 2006). Improvement could mean progress, development, growth, maturity, enhancement, or any number of words which could imply change. In education, we want students to change for the better, to grow while learning and to mature into knowledgeable adults. Recording what has happened, reflecting on processes and analyzing to improve deeper learning all can lead to new dimensions of students’ inner selves.

There are a number of stages through which students progress when writing reflective journals or learning logs. Each source outlines the stage or process somewhat differently yet with a similar approach. The essence of these models is presented below as the fundamental method of reflective journal and learning log entries. Note that each of the items below could be modified to fit a personal situation (for the reflective journal) or a learning environment/situation (for the learning log).

Method of Creating Reflective Journals and Learning Logs

It is suggested that students capture all formal and informal events which will prove useful when the time comes to return to the reflective journal or learning log for review. Students should focus on the areas which pose the most problems or difficulty in addition to those which are less problematic. Key to reflective journals and learning logs is to see progression over a period of time and to “gain a sense of achievement” (Dalhousie University, n.d.).

Key to reflective journals and learning logs is to see progression over a period of time and to “gain a sense of achievement.”

Write, record

• Describe the situation (the course, the context)
• Who was involved with the situation?
• What did they have to do with the situation?

Reflect, think about

• What are your reactions?
• What are your feelings?
• What are the good and the bad aspects of the situation?
• What you have learned?

Analyze, explain, gain insight

• What was really going on?
• What sense can you make of the situation?
• Can you integrate theory into the experience/situation?
• Can you demonstrate an improved awareness and self-development because of the situation?

Conclusions

• What can be concluded in a general and specific sense from this situation/experience and the analyses you have undertaken?

Personal action plan

• What are you going to do differently in this type of situation next time?
• What steps are you going to take on the basis of what you have learned?”

(Sources include: Homik, M. & Melis, E., 2007; Johnson, S., n.d.; RMIT, 2006) 

Reflective journals and learning logs can be useful as a teaching and learning tool. Either format can be adopted in any discipline where you can determine what students are learning and in what areas they need assistance. Be open to read entries by students who might request feedback more often than scheduled.

Bean, J. C. (1996). Engaging ideas: The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Equipped for the Future (2004). Teaching/Learning Toolkit. Learning logs. http://eff.cls.utk.edu/toolkit/tools_learning_logs.htm

Johnson, S. (n.d.) Faculty strategies for promoting student learning. http://www.csudh.edu/titlev/learninglog.htm

RMIT University, Study and Learning Centre, Melbourne, Australia (2006). Reflective journals. https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/2_AssessmentTasks/assess_tuts/reflective%20journal_LL/index.html

Selected Resources

Dalhousie University (n.d.). Learning logs. http://channelcontent.dal.ca/portfolio/r_learnlogs.html

Paskevicius, M (n.d.). Conversations in the cloud: The use of blogs to support learning in higher education. https://bluelightdistrict.org/assets/SharedBlogs_2010_v5-completeFinal.doc

Writing to learn learning logs (n.d.). http://www.wku.edu/3kinds/mfllmpg.html#Independent%20Study

Suggested citation

Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2012). Reflective journals and learning logs. In Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching assistants. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide

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Structure of academic reflections

Guidance on the structure of academic reflections.

Academic reflections or reflective writing completed for assessment often require a clear structure. Contrary to some people’s belief, reflection is not just a personal diary talking about your day and your feelings.

Both the language and the structure are important for academic reflective writing. For the structure you want to mirror an academic essay closely. You want an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion.

Academic reflection will require you to both describe the context, analyse it, and make conclusions. However, there is not one set of rules for the proportion of your reflection that should be spent describing the context, and what proportion should be spent on analysing and concluding. That being said, as learning tends to happen when analysing and synthesising rather than describing, a good rule of thumb is to describe just enough such that the reader understands your context.

Example structure for academic reflections

Below is an example of how you might structure an academic reflection if you were given no other guidance and what each section might contain.  Remember this is only a suggestion and you must consider what is appropriate for the task at hand and for you yourself.

Introduction

Identifies and introduces your experience or learning

• This can be a critical incident
• This can be the reflective prompt you were given
• A particular learning you have gained

When structuring your academic reflections it might make sense to start with what you have learned and then use the main body to evidence that learning, using specific experiences and events. Alternatively, start with the event and build up your argument. This is a question of personal preference – if you aren’t given explicit guidance you can ask the assessor if they have a preference, however both can work.

Highlights why it was important

• This can be suggesting why this event was important for the learning you gained
• This can be why the learning you gained will benefit you or why you appreciate it in your context

You might find that it is not natural to highlight the importance of an event before you have developed your argument for what you gained from it. It can be okay not to explicitly state the importance in the introduction, but leave it to develop throughout your reflection.

Outline key themes that will appear in the reflection (optional – but particularly relevant when answering a reflective prompt or essay)

• This can be an introduction to your argument, introducing the elements that you will explore, or that builds to the learning you have already gained.

This might not make sense if you are reflecting on a particular experience, but is extremely valuable if you are answering a reflective prompt or writing an essay that includes multiple learning points. A type of prompt or question that could particularly benefit from this would be ‘Reflect on how the skills and theory within this course have helped you meet the benchmark statements of your degree’

It can be helpful to explore one theme/learning per paragraph.

Explore experiences

• You should highlight and explore the experience you introduced in the introduction
• If you are building toward answering a reflective prompt, explore each relevant experience.

As reflection is centred around an individual’s personal experience, it is very important to make experiences a main component of reflection. This does not mean that the majority of the reflective piece should be on describing an event – in fact you should only describe enough such that the reader can follow your analysis.

Analyse and synthesise

• You should analyse each of your experiences and from them synthesise new learning

Depending on the requirements of the assessment, you may need to use theoretical literature in your analysis. Theoretical literature is a part of perspective taking which is relevant for reflection, and will happen as a part of your analysis.  

Restate or state your learning

• Make a conclusion based on your analysis and synthesis.
• If you have many themes in your reflection, it can be helpful to restate them here.

Plan for the future

• Highlight and discuss how your new-found learnings will influence your future practice

Answer the question or prompt (if applicable)

• If you are answering an essay question or reflective prompt, make sure that your conclusion provides a succinct response using your main body as evidence.  

Using a reflective model to structure academic reflections

You might recognise that most reflective models mirror this structure; that is why a lot of the reflective models can be really useful to structure reflective assignments. Models are naturally structured to focus on a single experience – if the assignment requires you to focus on multiple experiences, it can be helpful to simply repeat each step of a model for each experience.

One difference between the structure of reflective writing and the structure of models is that sometimes you may choose to present your learning in the introduction of a piece of writing, whereas models (given that they support working through the reflective process) will have learning appearing at later stages.

However, generally structuring a piece of academic writing around a reflective model will ensure that it involves the correct components, reads coherently and logically, as well as having an appropriate structure.

Reflective journals/diaries/blogs and other pieces of assessed reflection

The example structure above works particularly well for formal assignments such as reflective essays and reports.  Reflective journal/blogs and other pieces of assessed reflections tend to be less formal both in language and structure, however you can easily adapt the structure for journals and other reflective assignments if you find that helpful.

That is, if you are asked to produce a reflective journal with multiple entries it will most often (always check with the person who issued the assignment) be a successful journal if each entry mirrors the structure above and the language highlighted in the section on academic language. However, often you can be less concerned with form when producing reflective journals/diaries.

When producing reflective journals, it is often okay to include your original reflection as long as you are comfortable with sharing the content with others, and that the information included is not too personal for an assessor to read.

Developed from:

Ryan, M., 2011. Improving reflective writing in higher education: a social semiotic perspective. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(1), 99-111.

University of Portsmouth, Department for Curriculum and Quality Enhancement (date unavailable). Reflective Writing: a basic introduction [online].  Portsmouth: University of Portsmouth.

Queen Margaret University, Effective Learning Service (date unavailable).  Reflection. [online].  Edinburgh: Queen Margaret University.

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Reflective Journal: How to Write One and Prompts

• Self-development

Keeping a reflective journal is one of the most common ways of keeping a diary. Many people use it to write about their experiences, impressions, feelings, or doubts, and that’s exactly what reflecting is all about: gaining an insight into your inner life.

What is a Reflective Journal?

Imagine this: you’re out having dinner with your partner. Suddenly, they propose moving in together when you least expect it. How do you react?

Perhaps there’s a smile on your face — you’re happy to take your relationship to the next level. But, you also notice that your palms are suddenly sweaty and you’re simply not ready to just scream: ‘yes!’.

Reactions like these are normal. Moving in with someone, apart from being amazing, is also scary, complicated, and new. Just like many other situations life has to offer.

Keeping a reflective journal can be extremely helpful in situations like these.

All you need is a little time to yourself, just 5 minutes of focus, and an open mind. A self-reflective journal can help you gain a deeper understanding of certain situations in your life, untangle complex emotions, and make better decisions.

A reflective journal can be a curated notebook with various reflective journal prompts, or you can use a simple blank notebook to freely express what’s on your mind. What’s important is that you’re honest and open-minded when approaching your reflective journal.

In this article, we would like to tell you more about this amazing practice and give you some tips on how you can keep a reflective journal.

Why Keeping a Reflective Journal is Good for You

Expressive writing is one of the most efficient ways to combat stress, right after talking to someone you’re close with. Journaling about life events, feelings, insights, and relationships can have a tremendous positive impact on both your mental and physical health.

A large body of research shows that journaling can improve our immune system response , clarify our thoughts, improve our relationships with others, help us stay well-organized, and bring many more positive changes to our lives.

Whether you choose to reflect on what’s burdening you deeply, or how grateful you are for everything that’s good about your life, either way, you’re doing yourself a favor.

According to Dr. Mark Dinwoodie, practicing reflection has a number of benefits that might help you be a better person:

• Helps you gain deeper insights into your thought processes and actions;
• Brings you closer to making significant changes in your life;
• Helps you build a different approach to problems.

If you’d like to find out more about why expressive writing about your life is good for you feel free to check out our article about the benefits of journaling.

How to Write a Reflective Journal

There are no clear rules on how to write a reflective journal , but there are some useful guidelines you can follow to benefit the most from this activity.

If you’re a fan of expressive writing, that’s great, as reflective journaling requires you to document situations that happen in your life. It’s sort of a critical dialogue that you’re having with yourself, only in written form.

One thing to avoid when approaching your reflective journal is obsessing over your use of language or phrasing. This kind of restrictive behavior can be uninspiring and push you away from journaling. Your self-reflective journal is for your eyes only, so you can talk gibberish, be pathetic, or tell bad jokes as much as you like!

Reflective Journal Tips

Here’s a short list of tips to help you get started with your reflective journal.

Keep it close: this doesn’t mean you have to carry it around everywhere if you don’t feel like doing so, but in order to get into the habit of journaling, it should be with you most of the time. Imagine thinking of something important to add to your journal while riding a train from one city to another. It’s hard to believe that you’d be able to hold on to that thought until you come home. That’s why it pays off to have your journal with you, or at least an online one that’s accessible from your phone.

Build a habit: journaling every now and then is okay, but if you really want to feel its benefits, you need to make it into a daily habit. Make sure to fill out your journal regularly, even when you’re not inspired. Building a habit is not easy, but luckily, there are some helpful tools: mobile reminders or alarms. After a while, you’ll be surprised by how much you have to share with your diary even when nothing big is going on.

Engage deeply: in order to be able to reflect properly, you need to be deeply engaged in the journaling process. Consider turning off your mobile phone for a while, so you can fully commit to it. Describe the situation in detail, as that’s how you warm up for reflection.

Appreciate small wins: it’s not necessary to have a profound life-changing experience every time you finish an entry. Also, you don’t have to spend an hour or two filling out your reflective journal, as sometimes 10-15 minutes is enough. According to psychologist and researcher Teresa Amabile, the highest driver of positive emotions is making progress with the tasks at hand. Small steps lead to big revelations.

Review: after finishing a reflective journal entry, processing that specific situation is not over. It’s recommended that you return to it after a while, and re-contemplate it. Do you feel any different? Do you have something to add? Did you learn something meaningful?

Effective Reflecting

Now you know how to approach writing in your reflective journal, but how do you actually reflect on things?

Again, there are no special rules, and no one can tell you that your thoughts and insights over a certain situation are not a reflection. However, when it comes to self-improvement, we can always do better, so let’s see what the experts have to say.

According to Donald Schon , reflective practice can take two forms:

• Reflection-in-action
• Reflection-on-action

Reflection-in-action happens while participating in a certain activity. It’s a cognitive habit of observing our thought processes in-action, and adapting them according to the situation. Reflection in-action means to analyze the situation, be aware of our presumptions, and understand the problem we’re facing. In Schon’s words, it's a ‘ conversation with a situation’ .

Here are some examples:

• Thinking about your experience in a given moment;
• Thinking what to do next;
• Making presumptions about another person’s feelings;
• Acting in the moment;
• Defining your feelings on the run.

Reflection-on-action usually happens once the activity is done. It’s based on what you can remember about the situation. First, you need to explore your memory and try to remember as much as you can. Then, you try to understand the event more deeply and learn a valuable lesson from it.

Examples of reflection-on-action:

• Recalling the details of a specific event;
• Thinking about various solutions to it;
• Thinking how that event has affected various areas of your life;
• Defining your emotions over that certain event.

Keeping a reflective journal is practicing reflection-on-action. However, this practice is also considered to improve our reflection-in-action, as we become more and more sensitized to observing and identifying our emotional and mental states.

Besides Schon’s, there are other ways to approach the process of reflection. Yes, we can always reflect on past situations, journal about them, and rethink them multiple times. We can also become increasingly self-aware and learn how to reflect while being present and engaged in a certain situation. However, sometimes we expect a situation to happen, and the process of reflection starts before the event.

So, another approach to efficient reflection is to reflect before, during, and after the experience.

For example, you’re preparing for a job interview. Today is Tuesday, your job interview is on Thursday. One part of your psychological preparation can be to reflect on your expectations from the situation.

Before the interview :

• What could the interviewer ask you?
• What’s the worst thing that could happen?
• What are you going to wear and why?
• How will you describe yourself?
• How will you describe your previous experiences?

During the interview :

• How are you feeling at the moment?
• Is this job a good decision?
• Are you as confident as you expected?
• How do you like the interviewer?
• How are you handling the challenges?
• Is there anything more you can say?

After the interview:

• Take your reflective journal and describe the situation from an emotional distance.
• Would you do or say anything differently?
• What did you learn from this job interview? How do you evaluate this experience?

Reflective Journal Prompts

If journaling is new to you (especially reflective journaling), you might find yourself sitting and staring at a blank page for hours. As they say—beginnings are the toughest.

This can become quite frustrating, and even impact your will to continue keeping a reflective journal. In order to prevent such outcomes, and boost your ideas and creativity, we’ve prepared a list of reflective journal prompts.

We’ve divided these prompts into four subsections, however, you are free to change or reorganize them however you like. The more creative you get—the better!

When you don't know where to start, it’s always best to start with yourself. A reflective journal is a great space to think about who you are and how you feel about yourself. Here are some examples:

• What are the five traits that describe you the best? Why?
• Can you recall any situations when you exhibited these traits?
• What unique skills do you have? When and how do you use them?
• Where do you see yourself in a year/5 years/a decade?
• What kind of person would you like to be?
• How are you going to become such a person?
• What do you value the most? Why? How did you gain those values?
• What makes you happy? When was the last time you were happy? Get into details.
• What do you fear the most? Why?
• What’s an ideal gift for you? Why?
• What are you looking forward to?
• What makes you sad? Or angry?

Things that Happen to You

This category of prompts is probably the broadest, as it encompasses all of your experiences. You can dig through your personal history and reflect on your childhood, first sex, first refusal, or last week’s events.

• In what ways have you grown throughout the last year?
• What were some key events that happened last month?
• Which memory do you cherish the most?
• What is your least favorite memory?
• What’s your first memory?
• What was your day like? How did that business meeting/interview/date/road trip go?

Relationships

One of the most important aspects of our existence are other people. Relationships with other human beings encompass and define our reality, so they definitely should be a part of your reflective journaling. Here are some relationships prompts:

• Name the 3 most important relationships in your life. Try to explain why they are so important.
• Is there a person in your life on whom you’ve had a major impact, or who had a major impact on yours? In what way? Describe.
• Who is your best friend? What are their top 3 qualities that you cherish? Why?
• What qualities are important to you in a loving relationship?
• What are the most important lessons you learned from your previous relationship with someone?
• Are there any rituals or traditions that your family has? Try to think about their meaning.
• What do you love the most about your parents? Why?
• What values do your parents have that you feel aren’t aligned with your values? Why?
• What do you think about the society you live in? What do you find good or empowering about it, and what do you dislike?

Things You Believe In

These are a bit more abstract, but always valuable to think about. Every human being sticks to a ton of explicit and implicit beliefs about themselves, the world, other people, nature, space, or religion. Exploring these can tell you a lot of things about yourself that you never thought about before!

• What do you see as the most important invention for humankind? Why?
• Do you believe in destiny or miracles? Are there any personal examples that support your beliefs?
• Do you think that we’re alone in the universe? Or you believe there are other forms of life somewhere out there? How does the idea of (not) being alone in the universe make you feel?
• Are you spiritual? If yes, in what way?

As you can see from this article, reflective journaling is a kind of self-therapy in a way. The only thing that could happen if you practice it is your personal growth. At first, your entries may seem more chaotic, but it doesn’t matter—they’re yours.

If you’re interested in finding out more about journaling—you’re at the right place. There are so many types of journals you could keep apart from the reflective journal. If you’d like to find out more about the various types of journals to keep , pay a visit to our blog and dive into the magnificent world of journaling .

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How to Write a Reflection Paper

Why reflective writing, experiential reflection, reading reflection.

• A note on mechanics

Reflection offers you the opportunity to consider how your personal experiences and observations shape your thinking and your acceptance of new ideas.  Professors often ask students to write reading reflections.  They do this to encourage you to explore your own ideas about a text, to express your opinion rather than summarize the opinions of others.  Reflective writing can help you to improve your analytical skills because it requires you to express what you think, and more significantly, how and why you think that way.  In addition, reflective analysis asks you to acknowledge that your thoughts are shaped by your assumptions and preconceived ideas; in doing so, you can appreciate the ideas of others, notice how their assumptions and preconceived ideas may have shaped their thoughts, and perhaps recognize how your ideas support or oppose what you read.

Types of Reflective Writing

Popular in professional programs, like business, nursing, social work, forensics and education, reflection is an important part of making connections between theory and practice.  When you are asked to reflect upon experience in a placement, you do not only describe your experience, but you evaluate it based on ideas from class.  You can assess a theory or approach based on your observations and practice and evaluate your own knowledge and skills within your professional field.   This opportunity to take the time to think about your choices, your actions, your successes and your failures is best done within a specific framework, like course themes or work placement objectives.  Abstract concepts can become concrete and real to you when considered within your own experiences, and reflection on your experiences allows you to make plans for improvement.

To encourage thoughtful and balanced assessment of readings, many interdisciplinary courses may ask you to submit a reading reflection.  Often instructors will indicate to students what they expect of a reflection, but the general purpose is to elicit your informed opinions about ideas presented in the text and to consider how they affect your interpretation.   Reading reflections offer an opportunity to recognize – and perhaps break down – your assumptions which may be challenged by the text(s). 

Approaches to Reflective Inquiry

You may wonder how your professors assess your reflective writing.  What are they looking for? How can my experiences or ideas be right or wrong?  Your instructors expect you to critically engage with concepts from your course by making connections between your observations, experiences, and opinions.   They expect you to explain and analyse these concepts from your own point of view, eliciting original ideas and encouraging active interest in the course material.

It can be difficult to know where to begin when writing a critical reflection.  First, know that – like any other academic piece of writing – a reflection requires a narrow focus and strong analysis.  The best approach for identifying a focus and for reflective analysis is interrogation.   The following offers suggestions for your line of inquiry when developing a reflective response.

It is best to discuss your experiences in a work placement or practicum within the context of personal or organizational goals; doing so provides important insights and perspective for your own growth in the profession. For reflective writing, it is important to balance reporting or descriptive writing with critical reflection and analysis.

Consider these questions:

• Contextualize your reflection:  What are your learning goals? What are the objectives of the organization?  How do these goals fit with the themes or concepts from the course?
• Provide important information: What is the name of the host organization? What is their mission? Who do they serve? What was your role? What did you do?
• Analytical Reflection: What did you learn from this experience? About yourself? About working in the field? About society?
• Lessons from reflection: Did your experience fit with the goals or concepts of the course or organization?  Why or why not? What are your lessons for the future? What was successful? Why? What would you do differently? Why? How will you prepare for a future experience in the field?

Consider the purpose of reflection: to demonstrate your learning in the course.  It is important to actively and directly connect concepts from class to your personal or experiential reflection.  The following example shows how a student’s observations from a classroom can be analysed using a theoretical concept and how the experience can help a student to evaluate this concept.

For Example My observations from the classroom demonstrate that the hierarchical structure of Bloom’s Taxonomy is problematic, a concept also explored by Paul (1993).  The students often combined activities like application and synthesis or analysis and evaluation to build their knowledge and comprehension of unfamiliar concepts.  This challenges my understanding of traditional teaching methods where knowledge is the basis for inquiry.  Perhaps higher-order learning strategies like inquiry and evaluation can also be the basis for knowledge and comprehension, which are classified as lower-order skills in Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Critical reflection requires thoughtful and persistent inquiry.  Although basic questions like “what is the thesis?” and “what is the evidence?” are important to demonstrate your understanding, you need to interrogate your own assumptions and knowledge to deepen your analysis and focus your assessment of the text.

Assess the text(s):

• What is the main point? How is it developed? Identify the purpose, impact and/or theoretical framework of the text.
• What ideas stood out to me? Why? Were they new or in opposition to existing scholarship?

Develop your ideas:

• What do I know about this topic? Where does my existing knowledge come from? What are the observations or experiences that shape my understanding?
• Do I agree or disagree with this argument?  Why?

Make connections:

• How does this text reinforce my existing ideas or assumptions? How does this text challenge my existing ideas or assumptions?
• How does this text help me to better understand this topic or explore this field of study/discipline?

A Note on Mechanics

As with all written assignments or reports, it is important to have a clear focus for your writing.  You do not need to discuss every experience or element of your placement.  Pick a few that you can explore within the context of your learning.  For reflective responses, identify the main arguments or important elements of the text to develop a stronger analysis which integrates relevant ideas from course materials.

Furthermore, your writing must be organized.  Introduce your topic and the point you plan to make about your experience and learning.  Develop your point through body paragraph(s), and conclude your paper by exploring the meaning you derive from your reflection. You may find the questions listed above can help you to develop an outline before you write your paper.

You should maintain a formal tone, but it is acceptable to write in the first person and to use personal pronouns.  Note, however, that it is important that you maintain confidentiality and anonymity of clients, patients or students from work or volunteer placements by using pseudonyms and masking identifying factors. 

The value of reflection: Critical reflection is a meaningful exercise which can require as much time and work as traditional essays and reports because it asks students to be purposeful and engaged participants, readers, and thinkers.

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Reflective Journals

Reflection is a critical 21st Century and social-emotional skill

What is it.

Reflective journals are notebooks or pieces of paper that students use when writing about and reflecting on their own thoughts. The act of reflecting on thoughts, ideas, feelings, and their own learning encourages the development of metacognitive skills by helping students self-evaluate and sort what they know from what they don't know. The process of examining one's own thoughts and feelings is particularly helpful for students who are learning new concepts or beginning to grapple with complex issues that go beyond right and wrong answers.

Examples of Reflective Journals:

History Alive Reflection (Fifth Grade) "The character I chose for history alive was Sequoya. He was a Native American who invented the first Cherokee alphabet so his people could read and write a language. "Sequoya had a lot of perserveracne because he never game up when he was making his Cherokee alphabet. No matter how hard it was to come up with all eighty-sox symbols and even when other Cherokee members burnt down this house for writing the alphabet, he never gave up. That is one of the best skills you can ever have. "Sequoya also had a lot of confidence and organization. Confidence explains how Sequoya knew he could make an alphabet and how he knew he could prove to the Tribal Council that the alphabet was no fake. Organization explains how well organized he arranged his alphabet. From learning about Sequoya, I learned that I need to be more confident in myself and by that I can achieve my goal and be successful in anything that I may want to do." ~Natalie R.

Reflection on Teamwork (Middle School) Group Members: Brian, Kristin, and CJ Responsiblities: Brian – Leader (Paper), Kristen – PowerPoint, CJ – Outline General Feeling: If we can get to the computer to work on Power Point and get some more info, we should be fine. Progress: Today we got any information that was left out of the books. Our paper is started, and our bibliography is all caught up. Concerns: I am concerned about getting everything done, I think we can do it but CJ is going to have to help.

Why Is It Important?

John Dewey (1938) believed that education should serve not only as a means of acquiring information but also as a way to bring learning to our everyday actions and behaviors. Most successful learners know how to identify questions and problems as they reflect on what they already know, what they want and need to know, and how they will proceed to increase their understanding. Less successful learners need to develop the habits of mind that are the underlying strategies of the learning process.

Reflective practice can be supported in classrooms by creating opportunities that allow students to think about their learning, their own lives, and the world around them. The process often illuminates problems, misunderstandings, and confusions and helps determine new growth, independence, and responsibility for learning (Strong, Silver, and Perini 2001).

Reflective journals allow students to practice their writing skills in an open-ended format that encourages the same thought process that is used in analytical writing. Zemelman, Daniels, and Hyde (1993) believe that the most powerful learning happens when students self-monitor, or reflect. As learners continue to distinguish what they know from what they need to reevaluate or relearn, they begin to translate discoveries they have made about their own learning into plans for improvement. Just as reflective journals open the windows of a student's mind, they also allow teachers to look in. In this way, the journals become a useful assessment tool that gives teachers additional insight into how students value their own learning and progress.

How Can You Make It Happen?

Model the journaling process, especially with younger students, by thinking aloud, debating what and what not to write. The main idea is to show students how to transfer their thinking into writing, not necessarily how to produce a finely polished piece of writing. Students can take from 3-15 minutes to write reflective entries in their personal journals before, during, or after a learning activity. The entries may build on areas covered in the classroom or promote students' thoughts about their own lives or the world beyond the classroom.

The most important aspect of reflective journal writing is to encourage students to begin to think about their own thinking. The reflective process transfers the responsibilities of self-appraisal and understanding the elements of quality work from the teacher to the student. Reflective journals should encourage students to develop their own personal values, going beyond summary conclusions such as "I hate this class" or "I didn't learn anything." Students should consider what they personally think and feel, drawing their own conclusions instead of just parroting what the teacher thinks. Journal prompts and questions should not be superficial but should encourage students to explore their thoughts in depth. For example, consider the difference between the following questions.

The questions in the first column are vague and may lead children to respond with egocentric or superficial facts and feelings, while the questions in the second column ask them to explore assumptions and values. Good journaling questions will help students develop critical-thinking skills and expand, analyze, or defend ideas.

It is important that journaling become a regularly scheduled activity. As with any other writing form, reflective journaling takes time and practice. Creating a routine for journaling will give students an opportunity to anticipate and prepare for other writing activities.

Encourage students to reread and revise previous entries as well as any they have just written. Help them observe the progression of their thoughts and understanding by letting them rewrite or comment on earlier entries. This exercise will help students appreciate their own learning and the process they have gone through to arrive at an understanding of concepts and knowledge. When journals are not formally assessed, students are free to experiment without fear of outside evaluation. Open assignments, or having students choose topics to write about, can allow students to express ideas in new forms and contexts. Encourage students to extend, defend, debate, and question their own ideas.

If you do assess the journals, give students feedback on what they have written. It may not always be possible to comment on each entry, so try using stickers to recognize what students have written. A smiley face sticker can give positive feedback while a star can be used to signify good ideas or thinking.

Students should keep their reflective journals in a folder or spiral or bound notebook. This allows students to review what they have written and monitor their own reflective process and thoughts throughout the school year. Establish a system for identifying each entry in the journal, and create a shared understanding concerning the time frame allowed for journal writing. Some students will want to have time to reflect before they begin to write. Others will need to know when journal time is about to end. A timer may be used to warn and then signal the end of the reflection time.

Depending on the grade level of your students, you may want to keep the journals in a place that is easily accessible. Students should know where to find their journals and understand that they need to be returned to this area. You may want to establish a clear procedure for the distribution and collection of journals. Older students may want to keep their reflections between themselves and the teacher, and it may be more appropriate to have students keep track of the journals individually.

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Writing in the sciences...: Reflective Journals

• Lab Reports
• Reflective Journals
• Referencing

What is Reflective Writing?

Reflective writing differs from the more objective forms of writing you do in assignments and reports.

Reflective writing encourages you to reflect upon your own thoughts, actions and experiences as they relate to what and how you are learning.

"Learning to write reflectively will equip you with the relevant ethical and analytical ability to benefit from your practical experiences.Reflection may be articulated differently, depending on whether you are speaking or writing about your experiences."

(Howatson-Jones, L (2010). Reflecting writing. In  Reflective practice in nursing.  Exeter; Learning Matters p. 120-121)

Examples of Reflective Writing

• Monash University
• University of Leeds
• Canberra University (PDF)

What is a Reflective Journal?

A reflective journal is a personal and unstructured form of reflective writing. In a learning journal you can write about:

• what you and others did on any particular occasion
• what you thought; what others might have thought
• what you felt; what others might have felt

Why write a reflective journal?

• helps clarify thinking
• allows you to express feelings about yourself/peers/lecturers/course content/your writing/others' writing
• helps identify misunderstandings / non-understandings
• can help you identify learning needs
• can inform dialogues between you and your lecturer / peers
• allows you to perceive links between knowledge/experience - past/present

Your journal could include reflective running notes on:

• experiences with others
• personal experiences which impinge on your work
• interactions with peers / lecturers
• things you did / would not say, but did think
• feelings about your writings
• comments on your reading
• any increase in your knowledge
• increase in your ability to articulate and identify issues
• the expansion of your depth of understanding
• changes in beliefs, theories, attitudes, relationships or practices

    ( Adapted from Gillie Bolton (2005).  Reflective Practice: writing and professional development.2nd Ed.)

Guided reflection

Guidelines for keeping a reflective diary/journal & writing up critical reflective incidents

• Keep a journal of experiences over the year
• Write up the journal entry/incident
• Below the entry write up your reflections / analysis notes of the situation
• Write up experiences the same day if possible
• Use actual dialogue wherever possible to capture the situation
• Make a habit of writing up at least one experience per work day/shift
• Balance problematic experiences with satisfying experience
• Challenge yourself at least once a day about something that you normally do without thought / take for granted
• Ask yourself 'why do I do that?'  (i.e. make the normal problematic)
• Always endeavour to be open and honest with yourself - find the authentic 'you' to do the writing

Ask yourself: 

What did I learn from the situation?  

In what way has it assisted my learning to be a health practitioner? 

Could the situation have been better managed?

(From: Johns (1992) & Carper (1978) in P. Palmer, S. Burns and C. Bulman, C.,   Reflective Practice in Nursing  (1994). London. Blackwell Scientific Publications. p. 112).

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Common Assignments: Journal Entries

Basics of journal entries, related webinar.

Didn't find what you need? Email us at [email protected] .

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

• Annotated Bibliography
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• About Informed Consent
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• Writing a Reflective Paper
• Writing a Research Proposal
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• Acknowledgments

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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2018 Presentations (Communicative Events)

Reflection Journals - Examples of using this powerful tool to help students synthesize course content

Marquart, Matthea S. ; Counselman Carpenter, Elisabeth A.

For new and experienced online instructors, or those who work with them, this interactive session will share examples of well received reflection journal assignments from online courses at Columbia University. The presenters will open by touching on research on the value of reflection journals, sample uses of reflection journal assignments, and how to provide instructor feedback and grading to deepen student work on future journal entries while maintaining a feasible instructor workload. Next, the presenters will share examples of reflection journal assignment instructions, grading rubrics, and lessons learned from two online courses. Finally, the presenters will facilitate a chat-based discussion to encourage the session participants to share their experiences, advice, and questions. Most learning management systems, including Blackboard and Canvas, include a journal tool. This session will help instructors share and spark ideas of ways to use this tool effectively in their own online courses, regardless of the course topic or academic discipline. The presenters will be Beth Counselman Carpenter, Assistant Professor, Southern Connecticut State University's School of Health and Human Services; and Matthea Marquart, Director of Administration, Online Campus, and Lecturer, Columbia University School of Social Work.

• Web-based instruction
• Critical thinking
• Teaching--Methodology
• Columbia University

Also Published In

More about this work.

Presented at the Excellence in Higher Education 2018 Conference on September 24, 2018 CITATION: Marquart, M., and Counselman-Carpenter, B. (2018, September 24). Reflection Journals - Examples of using this powerful tool to help students synthesize course content. Workshop presented at Columbia Southern University’s Excellence In Higher Education: Innovation In Theory And Practice Virtual Conference, Online via Adobe Connect.

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• Journal Types
• Reflective Journal

What is a Reflective Journal?

A reflective journal is a place to write down your daily reflection entries . It can be something good or bad that has happened to you that you can self-reflect on and learn from past experiences.

A reflective journal can help you to identify important learning events that had happened in your life. The events include your relationships, careers and personal life. By writing a reflective diary , you can find the source of your inspiration that defines you today. A reflective journal also provides a better understanding of your thought process.

Reasons to Write a Reflective Journal

• To understand the things that have happened.
• To reflect on why it happened this way.
• To align future actions with your values and lessons learned from your past experiences.
• To share and get your thoughts and ideas out of your head.

How to Reflect Effectively

According to Schön, there are two types of reflection, one during and one after an activity or event.

Reflection In-Action

When you are thinking about or reflecting while you are in an activity, you are using reflection in-action. Some reflection include:

• Experiencing
• Thinking on your feet
• Thinking about what to do next
• Acting straight away

Reflection On-Action

You can do reflect-on-action once the activity has finished based on what you can remember about it. Step back into the experience, explore your memory and retrieve what you can recall. Reflect and understand what has happened and draw lessons from the experience.

• Thinking about something that has happened
• Thinking what you would do differently next time
• Taking your time

Examples to Reflect Effectively

Before the experience.

• Think about the things that could have happened.
• What are the things that you feel might be a challenge?
• The things that you can do to prepare for these experiences.

During the Experience

• Observe what is happening at the moment, as you make a particular decision.
• Is it working out as expected? Are you dealing with the challenges well?
• Is there anything you should do, say or think to make the experience successful?

After the Experience

• Describe your thoughts immediately after, and/or later when you have more emotional distance from the event.
• Is there anything you would do differently before or during a similar event?
• What are the takeaways from this experience/lesson?

How to Write Reflectively

Use the three "W"s to write reflectively. The three "W"s are What , So What and What next .

What (Description)

Recall an event and write it down descriptively.

• What happened?
• Who was involved?

So what? (Interpretation)

Take a few minutes to reflect and interpret the event.

• What is most important / interesting / relevant / useful aspect of the event, idea or situation?
• How can it be explained?
• How is it similar to/different from others?

What's next? (Outcome)

Conclude what you can learn from the event and how you can apply it next time.

• What have I learned?
• How can it be applied in the future?

Reflective Journal Prompts

Here are the 10 writing prompts to guide you in self-reflection and self-discovery.

• What makes you unique?
• Name someone that means a lot to you and why?
• Write a letter to your younger self.
• What is something you can do to focus more on your health and well-being?
• What makes you feel at peace?
• List 10 things that make you smile.
• What does it mean to live authentically?
• What is your favourite animal, and why?
• How do you maintain your physical/mental health? What can you do to improve the methods of recovery?
• List the things that you want to achieve this week.

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Journal Basics

Understand what a journal is, and it's functions

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Your guide to understanding how you can benefit from journaling

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Your guide to starting your very own journal today

Journaling prompts to guide you along your reflection

Diary Basics

Your guide to understanding and starting a diary of your own

Record your life with a series of diary entries

Tips and tricks to start your very own diary today

Your guide to the many diary types you can explore

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Simple and effective templates to help you start writing and reflecting

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A self-reflective journal helps you to create your life with intention.

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Inspiring list of over 100 prompts for enhancing journal creativity.

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Reflective Journal as assignment

These materials were developed for the course Integrative Seminar 4: Societal Challenges (3803ISQPVY), an interdisciplinary 4 weeks course at the PPLE college (UvA). The course was taken by 183 2nd year students and taught by 12 tutors. One of the prime learning outcomes of the course was formulated as "The student is able to reflect on his or her own biases and assumptions". In relation to this learning goal, the assessment was decided to stress reflective writing as prime means of training this skill. As appropriate formal Reflective Journal was chosen. The document was kindly put together to communicate the learning activity and assessment form to the network of teachers at the UvA.

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Tutors India

In this topic, we have discussed the key theories on critical reflection. The present article helps the USA, the UK, Europe and the Australian students pursuing their master’s degree to identify the best theories, which is usually considered to be challenging. Tutors India offers UK dissertation in various Domains. When you Order any reflective report at Tutors India, we promise you the following Plagiarism free Always on Time Outstanding customer support Written to Standard, Unlimited Revisions support High-quality Subject Matter Experts. Contact: Website: www.tutorsindia.com Email: [email protected] United Kingdom: +44-1143520021 India: +91-4448137070 Whatsapp Number: +91-8754446690 Reference: http://bit.ly/2uuv1FO

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Eszter Szenes

Chhaya Sawhney

As a part of their pre-service for the four year teacher-training programme, my students in college are required to engage in practice teaching for four months in their fourth year. The final year is quite demanding for them as they prepare themselves as interns for their first teaching assignment. The preparation includes making weekly lesson plans, writing journals and doing two projects, along with attending classes for three theory papers. While all of this is an essential requirement of the programme, it also is a great opportunity for them to learn and grow personally and professionally. As they engage with elementary school children, they begin to weave valuable and meaningful threads of learning experiences, insights and perspectives

European Scientific Journal ESJ

As part of the evaluation process, some strategies are implemented to foster students' learning in the English Language Teaching Degree. Professors from a Universidad Autónoma located in the South part of Mexico are conducting action research based on the new educational model in which reflective journal is one of those strategies to be developed, therefore, a study based on the use of reflective journal learning in a course was carried out. The purpose was to investigate if learners find it useful during their learning process and their willingness to use it in all courses. In order to gather data, researchers designed a weekly reflection sheet where students were asked to provide their reflections about the topics and the difficulties found during the summer course, which is a course from the curricula. After the analysis of the information, researchers noticed that students found the use of reflective journals productive for their learning; however, they do not want to use them in all the courses. In conclusion, although reflective journals from students' perspectives are useful, it is a strategy that requires time and they do not want to use them for all the courses, hence the professors will have to vary this strategy among the courses.

Alvyda Liuolienė

This study assessed the benefits of keeping reflective journal writing on improving English writing skills, increasing motivation, enhancing creativity, and critical thinking among university students. It also explored differences in students’ performance and attitudes due to gender, and some writing practices. The sample consisted of 120 male and female students from four sections of an undergraduate writing course. A 19-item questionnaire was distributed and the items were structured according to three dimensions: improving learning, motivation and self confidence, and value and convenience. The results of the study indicated the positive effects of the use of reflective journal writing in enhancing motivation and self-confidence and improving learning in general and the writing skills in particular. The results also indicated that female students favored reflective journal writing more than male students. Furthermore, students who voluntarily wrote their own paragraphs were more ...

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