A reflection paper is a common writing paper among various institutions and colleges. Nearly all the subject requires you to express your opinion on some specific topic. For every student, it is an opportunity to articulate some own thoughts regarding an issue, something that you cannot habitually do due to strict laws of academic writing. Among all the assignments given to you while your college and university years; reflection paper is the one that provides you better opportunities for speaking your mind out. It encourages you to look at things from your own perspective and share views with others. In this article, we will explain how to write a reflection paper to make the process of writing easy for you.
What is Reflection Paper
A reflection paper requires you to write your opinion on a topic, which you support with your observations and personal examples. The range of the topic is endless. There are three types of a reflection paper, and acknowledgeable to which one you end up with, the tone you write with can be slightly different. The first type is the educational reflective paper. The second is professional paper and the third is personal type, which explores your thoughts and feelings about a personal subject. Reflection papers usually do not follow any precise format. As it is based on your personal opinion, professors typically let you handle them any way you are comfortable with. The word count usually ranges between 400-800 words.
Outline of Reflection Paper
While writing a reflection paper, it is essential for you to construct an outline first. The outline of your paper will include introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Your introduction should specify what you are reflecting on. State what you are analysing, it could be a passage, a lecture, an academic article, or an experience. Briefly summarize your work and include a thesis statement stating how the subject has affected you. In the body paragraphs include the ideas and experiences you had in context to your topic. If you are writing about a book, your reflection paper may understand your feedback fully. Also, feel free to explain what you saw, what you heard, and how you felt. Finally, in the conclusion part you should summarize what you have learned from the experience. Let your reader know how your newly found facts and figures has influenced your understanding of the subject in general. Besides, describe your sentiment and overall message you had of the reading or experience.
Steps for Writing a Reflection Paper
There are few steps you can follow, which will help you in constructing an effective reflection paper.
- Create a main theme: After you select a topic, write in brief about what you have erudite about your experience. Make the readers understand how you feel about your topic and be sincere in providing information. Create your reflection in that manner in which it will help them have a better understanding of your topic.
- Brainstorm your experience and ideas that you had related with your topic: Include specific predispositions and quotes, which have influenced you. Be personal and explain how you have felt in simple and easy words. Provide information clearly about what you have experienced and let your readers understand well about your overall experience and writing.
- Analyze how these ideas and experiences have influenced your interpretation: Pick an idea and analyze it further to make a clear opinion. Write reasons for agreeing and disagreeing on the topic.
- Make connections between your opinions, observations, and experiences: Make an effort to join your ideas and insights to structure a unified picture for your topic. Also try to identify and break down your assumptions, which you can also challenge in your future paper.
Conclusion
Before you start writing on your topic, read certain examples of papers written by others. It will definitely assist you to get a better understanding on how to write a reflection paper and how to approach towards your topic. While picking a subject, try to inscribe about something, which is unusual and memorable. It will capture your reader’s attention and help you construct a good reflection paper. Remember to space out the time slots as this will let your brain to generate new opinion and reflections.
Read Also – How to write better academic papers