Introduction to reflective writing
Reflective writing assignments ask you to think about and write your responses to an experience, for example a reading, a teaching experience, a nursing or social work placement.
You may need to describe the experience or summarise the reading, but this is not the reflection. Your reflection or journal entry should make links between the experience, yourself and the concepts or theories in the course you are studying and any criteria that were developed in relation to the tasks.
Purpose of a reflective assignment
Reflective assignments encourage deep and evaluative thinking. Reflection helps people become better at what they do. Because reflection is part of learning in the workplace, reflective assignments allow you to identify your own values and assumptions and demonstrate your personal and professional development.
Reflection on a reading or tutorial topic
A reflection based on a reading consists of your analysis of your reactions to the reading:
- What did it make you think about?
- Did it help you understand or be able to explain some aspect of your own life or the life of someone else whom you know well?
- Does it relate to an event that has been in the media recently?
- Did it make you research further because it was so new, interesting, exciting or complex?
You may also find yourself writing about how a particular reading opened up your thinking about writings by other authors on the same topic.
You can help yourself by thinking about the content from different perspectives:
- Personal
- Social
- Organisational
- Cultural
- From other members of the team or group involved.
Reflection on a placement
A reflection based on a placement or field trip experience needs to focus on the outcomes for you, personally and culturally, and possibly for others (for example students or clients). Reflect on your successes and any problems or challenges, what you learnt from the experience and what effects that learning will have on you and your interactions in various situations in the future. Link your reflections to the course concepts, as you will need to evaluate your experience through the relevant theoretical constructs. Use relevant theories and concepts when you explore other possibilities and solutions.
You may consider the following perspectives in your analysis:
- Internal (personal) factors that you control
- External (environmental) factors
- Short term and long term consequences
- The roles and positions of others and power differences
- Social and cultural differences
- Process versus outcome
- Theory versus practice
Reflective tasks are challenging. Make sure you keep track of your thoughts, ideas, problems, and solutions regularly. Some lecturers will want evidence of your record-keeping. You will write a much better reflective assignment when you have your notes to work from rather than trying to brainstorm your thoughts about what happened over the weeks.
Reflective analysis can be organised in 2 stages and 5 steps:
The first stage of reflection
Focus on an experience or event
What was outstanding or meaningful, negative or positive? Brainstorm ideas for 5 minutes, then consider each idea for follow up. Other ideas may emerge, so consider them too.
Talk about the experience to stimulate a range of perspectives.
Describe the experience
Consider the sequence, outcomes and how you felt or feel.
Use free writing for 10 minutes – create a draft that is filled with your thoughts. It is alright if this explores some ideas more than others. Use it as a basis for a later draft that will bring in more conclusions as you continue to reflect.
Conduct an evaluation or critical analysis
Consider:
- Why did the event(s) occur in that particular way?
- What factors contributed to the outcome?
- Did you achieve your goals?
- Did your goals change?
- Did other people achieve the set goals?
- Were there any problems with resources?
- How did your actions influence the situation?
- How did other people impact on the situation?
- How did the situation affect you?
- Could you have reacted differently? If you had, what might have happened? Why did you react in that way?
- How might this experience affect you in the future?
The second stage of reflection
Seek out your key points and the issues of significance
Identify the important aspects of your reflection on your learning. You may find that you have formed new attitudes or values.
- Did you learn anything about yourself that was unexpected?
- What changes do you expect to make in yourself or your work?
Identify solutions for similar events
Develop a new perspective by conceptualising the situation differently. Communicate the results of your reflection clearly.
Often described as a cycle, the reflective process encourages you to use your learning and strive to improve through deliberate changes to your behaviour or to try new approaches. It is also a key part of the professional development process in many workplaces.
How reflective assignments are marked
Marking depends on the lecturer and how the assignment fits with the other assessments in the course. However, the lecturer is looking for the links you have made between the material and yourself and your experiences.
Example reflective writing assignment marking criteria
Each student is expected to write a weekly journal entry of approximately 1 typed A4 page. Students are asked to reflect on their responses to each of the 8 readings.
This sets the expectation for length and number of reflections.
They can include feelings and should consider the reading's impact on their other units of study or other readings, their experiences within the university and their world outside the university. They can describe a train of thought that occurred after or whilst they read.
This sets the task and gives a broad description of reflection.
Students should try to identify their own values, attitudes and beliefs that they think underlie their reactions to the readings. They should also reflect on how these might affect their learning and changes or affirmations in beliefs.
This gives some more details about what the students should consider as they reflect.
The highest marks will be given to those students who reflect at several levels:
- the reading to their study and learning in this and/or other courses
- the reading to the outside world
- the reading and personal/cultural/attitudinal reactions
- the reading and social/cultural/political reactions.
This gives further information on the perspectives students could use and that several perspectives should be included for each reflection to gain good marks for the assignment.
The journal should not be a summary of each reading. You do not need to provide references for these journal entries.
This is a statement of what the lecturer does not want.
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