How to Write a Reflection Paper: Instructions and Tips

How to Write a Reflection Paper: Instructions and Tips

Quite often, we find ourselves with people and activities which require us to think. The essence of writing a reflective essay is to demonstrate how we feel or respond to the surrounding circumstances. A reflective paper can be written by anyone irrespective of their status in society because the assumption is that we all have some experiences that prove us to reflect. Reflection papers are articles written to convey such thoughts to the identified readers or audience.

Now that the reflective essay has been defined, the logical question that needs an answer is how to write a reflection paper.

Tips for Writing a Reflective Paper

Brevity and Conciseness

Because reflective papers are subjective and a representation of the thoughts of an individual about an event or what they have learned in class, reflective pears must be short and transparent in terms of how the content within it is represented. Do not give information that is ambiguous or jumbled up to your reader but unambiguously emphasize the key points.

Conceptualization of the Paper

Given again the fact that it is all about personal thoughts, the writer should take his or her time to gather his or her feelings by writing everything he or she reflects on. Your thoughts will be the points that will inform the whole essay, so it is imperative to concentrate on quality thinking and bring forth some good ideas. Engage your mind on some of your special memories and events by trying to think about their impact on your life.

To have a good plan for your ideas will demand good organization of thoughts. Come up with a table or a chart to record what both visual impressions that are in your mind without forgetting the social influences that you will relate with.

How to Write a Reflection Paper

The following are some of the steps necessary for writing a reflection paper:

Set Aside Time to Begin Thinking through What You Want

Because of the nature of the article, a reflective essay requires the writer to establish conditions that are conducive for thinking through the paper even before they begin writing. Of importance is that the writer must allocate the thought process time and environment that will not interfere with the flow of ideas. Some conditions are not appropriate for thinking, and they inhibit good ideas that can inform a good reflection paper. Try as much as possible to organize an environment that is less of interruptions and has cues necessary for triggering your thoughts.

Investigating the Experiences We’ve Had and Analyzing Them

You will not necessarily write about all your thoughts in a reflection essay. The most critical memories and experiences that we want to convey should be well analyzed and investigated to generate a quality reflection paper thesis that is devoid of mistakes. Think of the most compelling instance and check if it has all the points you need to bring to light. Do not hesitate to pull out only the best thoughts as they come through. Take your time to analyze the thoughts listed individually so that you end up with the one that you are convinced is the best. Note that you need to record or write down every idea as it comes through.

Synthesizing the ideas and Deriving Generalizations out of them

You have several ideas flowing in your mind, and you have written them all down. Synthesis, in this case, will be to merge the best ideas and generate one concept that will appear in the final Reflection paper because that is how to write a reflection paper. Several lessons were taught, and you probably attended all the classes, how can you then generalize all of them through a single sentence and then derive your points for the reflective paper? What in this case needs to be done is to make a summary of all the thoughts through synthesis and then break the idea into points for the reflection paper thesis.

Application of the Synthesis to our Reflection Paper

As earlier indicated, a synthesis is a summary and a fusion of the main ideas generated out of a thought process, which is essentially the basis of a reflective paper. In this case, you will have to write these synthesized ideas down and apply them as the main points to the article. Some ideas are the same but have more profound contents. Think about them as you make the synthesis.

Deriving a Proper Reflection Paper Thesis Statement

Reflection paper thesis is the backbone of the argument that we project to the reader. To tell the story well, there is a need to have a reflection paper thesis that is highly effective and is well thought about. The critical point to remember in this case is that every good article has a focal point where all the arguments refer to. It will therefore not augur well to write a document that is not hinged on any tangible claim. Not at any particular point should the writer forget that reflection papers should have a pointer statement that indicates the direction the article is taking.

Critiquing and Refining ideas Generated

Before the writer embarks on the final paper, it is necessary to check through the concepts at hand. Critically identify the flaws and the strengths of the ideas before you put them down in writing. What are some of the ideas that will not add any value to the task; do you need to talk about some of your experiences even if they appear as self-aggrandizing? How do you add some essential lessons to your readers? What final ideas are the best to put forth? When you can answer all these questions, then you have crossed the line of confusion, and you are now ready to offer the best in terms of the reflection essay.

Establishing the Best Methods of Writing Reflection Paper

How to write a reflection paper is not rocket science when you have set the best methods you wish to apply. The big question is, how do you then tell that indeed you have the best way applicable in writing the reflection paper? Thinking of our nature as humans and acknowledging the fact that we are superior in terms of our ideas and how we relate with the rest of creation is a strong basis to justify the quality of our thought output. There are, however, some basic ideas that we can use to establish the most appropriate method to apply in writing.

How We See Things

When you are writing a reflection essay, your worldview, and your relationship with the things around, you will be central in informing your overall output. How we directly perceive the surrounding environment is the key to unlocking the potential and writing an excellent reflective essay. What do you view of the classmates, the lessons taught, the sports games you attend, the chapel you visit and the books you read. The perception of these ideas, among others, can help justify the method that we will choose.

Inferring to Generate on How to Write a Reflection Paper

This is whereby we reach some conclusion based on the evidence or ideas we have. We have been in the classes so long to have some evidence of the things we have learned. Additionally, we have gained sufficient information to warrant some form of conclusion, and we have read so much to know what we want. All these are bases for creating good reflection essay, and we should not fear to engage our thought by interrogating our knowledge of these sources.

Comparing and Using Analogies to Write Reflection Papers

How about going through some of the experiences you have had with your peers and comparing it with the ones you think they have had with you too? And, how about telling of stories you have had or events you saw which shaped the way you think? Comparisons and analogies are useful when we think of how to write a reflection essay. We can justify our paper because we did compare our thoughts with the inherent circumstances and events and then wrote it out of such. There is no shame in weighing your options against the actions of others because thinking involves a lot, and that is the basis of any good reflection paper.

When writing a reflection paper, it is essential to realize that the human race has been active in letting the world know about the innovations and activates that they engage in. There is always a motivation to think because to do so is human. Think about professional counselors and their role. They have to listen to experiences from their clients that are making them behave in specific ways. They have to think deeply about how impactful such experiences have been in their lives. This is just one of the examples of the audiences who we expect to consume our reflective products.

Example of a Reflection Paper

My teaching course has taught me a lot in life, a mathematician, I have been faced with right moment s in class as well as bad one that has made me relook at the teaching methods recommended for the teachers by our government. Interestingly, I now know that individuals vary in terms of how they retain the information and how they apply it in their life, and this is the case with my students. Some of the students are quick learners who get the math concepts very fast, others are slow, but they eventually get it, but some are just disinterested. I keep on asking myself where possible I ranked when I was a math student.

In essence, I have never doubted that I was not an average student; neither was I the slow student. I lost interest at some point, but I still found every reason to do the math and excel in it. Today as a student pursuing my second degree in math, I am unraveling the details surrounding math as a subject and appreciating just how challenging it can be for some of the students. My lecturer has brought a new idea in my mind that if I apply, I am sure my students will find where they fit with regards to the subject.

In the past, I had issues with how my professor introduced geometry, and I thought it was probably the worst approach, I have however come to appreciate that it is all about my attitude by then and not the method he used. When I graduate, I intend to show that every decision, whether bad or good lies with an individual and a change of attitude can yield to more significant results in the classroom.

My brain readied up the point that I can authoritatively say that my initial ideas about how I can train my students will only work well when I teach them how to change their attitude just as I did. Mathematics can be an enjoyable subject, but it can also be difficult for some student, but the best way to deal with the challenges that we face in life is to believe in ourselves just as I remember my professor telling me.

Today, I am better off because I appreciate math as my course and I am willing to take the extra steps just like I was advised by my professor to exploit the opportunities and new experiences that come with my cause. Mathematics is doable; it is enjoyable, and it not a difficult subject.

Conclusion

When writing a reflection paper, the rules you need to apply are quite simple, even though the process might seem a bit complex. First of all, you need to tell your potential readers what a reflective essay is. In such a case, the best idea to define it lies with the fact that it is all about how people react to different situations and what they make out of such situations. After an occurrence or an event, one may need to take some time and think about how it impacted his or her life.