Reflection Paper, Tips for Writing

Tips for Writing a Reflection Paper

A reflection paper is intended to citing your reactions to a subject, article, movie, in a personal way instead of writing a more formal research or analytical essay. A reflection paper focuses on your reactions, reactions, feelings and analysis of a piece or experience in a personal way more than formal research or analytical essay would require. Check with your instructor for verification, but in general first person writing (using personal pronouns like I, me, my, our) is appropriate for this type of assignment. Include your thoughts and reactions to the reading or experience. You can present your feelings upon reading what you read and why. You can also use a reflection paper to analyze what you have read. Maintain good organization of your thoughts and cite specific passages, if appropriate. Personal experiences are OK to include but dont rely solely on your experiences. Dont use a reflection paper to simply summarize what you have read or done. It is not simply a free flow of ideas/thoughts. The idea of a reflection paper is to write an essay describing your reactions and analysis to a reading or other experience; its more formal than a journal and less formal than a research essay.

Organizing your Reflection Paper

Organize it like any other essay (consider jotting down an informal outline and working from it). Include 1. An introduction great place to present the expectations you had for the article based on the title, before you read it. 2. Body - explain the conclusions you arrived at and your rationale. Base your conclusions on concrete details from your reading and experience. Separate paragraphs for each conclusion (you should have more than one). 3. Conclusion/Summary - End the paper by summing up what you got from the reading. Put your critical thinking skills to the test here.
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Most students will be required to submit a reflection paper once or twice in high school or college. But what is a reflection paper? Aside from writing in general is not easy for most people, it will be more difficult if you dont know what you need to write.

Reflection Paper: What Is It?

A reflection paper is an essay of your thoughts about something that could be a movie, book, incident, etc. To put it simply, it is a paper on what you think about something. Most teachers would require students to write about a similar subject such as a reflection essay on this movie or that event. Others would give a general topic such as the best childhood experience.

Reflection Paper: What Its Not

To ensure that you will write the right type of essay, it is also important that you know what it is not. For instance, a reflection paper is not a piece composed of mixed thoughts of other people. No matter how well known the people you will quote, you will end up with a failing grade as this type of essay requires your own thoughts.

What Should Be in the Reflection Paper?

To understand what is a reflection paper, knowing what should be in it might also help. A reflection paper should be mostly about your personal insights. It could be your experiences and beliefs. It could also be your personal observations. It is a simple reflection paper. It is easy to write because you just have to express your thoughts and how you see things. To make it easy for you (considering that you already have a subject), you can start by describing the big picture in the introduction. There is no rule on how you should write the introduction but it is best to give them an idea a general statement that prepares them for the body of your reflection paper. Be sure to include your thesis statement in the introduction. It is the statement that sums up the entire essay. Aside from the introduction and a narration or description of the subject, a reflection paper should also have a judgment, a conclusion, etc. It is usually in the latter part of the essay. Since it is a reflection essay, it should be your own words and how you exactly perceive things. It should state your personal insight, which makes it different from other types of essay. What is a reflection paper? To put it simply, a reflection paper or essay is something that reflects your insights, opinion, or observation. You could quote once in a while but the essay should not be

entirely what other people think about the subject. Like other types of essays, it should have an introduction (thesis statement), body and conclusion (judgment and summary).