Tips on Writing a Reflection Paper
As many people would ask WHAT IS A REFLECTION PAPER? Well the answer to that question as I would like to say is in the question itself. A reflection paper is any writing that someone writes to cite or state (reflect) his or her feelings about a certain experience or encounter. It may be a trip, camp, event, lecture or a talk. Although a reflection paper is not as professional and formal as research survey done to establish the feelings and feedback of the participants, it is equally informative but has an added advantage of the writer being free to express themselves.
Thoughts and Reactions
When writing a reflection paper it is important to keep the encounter, experience, lecture or reading in mind since the reflection paper should clearly and with much clarity the thoughts and reactions it stirred up in you. This hereby calls for concentration on the writing or experience in mind.
Summarizing
Do not make a mistake of re-writing or summarizing while writing a reflection paper. The main point of writing a reflection paper is voice your reaction on whatever you are writing the paper on. It is not a must for the reflection paper to have a free flow of ideas but it is more formal than writing a journal or diary.
Thought organization
Like any other form of formal writing a reflection paper should be organized and appealing. The basic format of an introductory paragraph, detailed body and a summary or ending should be implemented. In the introduction you should at least mention your expectations before the beginning of the reading, talk or lecture.
Then briefly quote some of the major reactions that you experienced during the experience that you are going to expound on in the body. This is accompanied by the conclusions that you draw from the reactions that you experienced during the readings. And last but not least you should end the paper with a conclusion that is realised after contrasting your expectations with your reactions and feelings.
Writing a Reflection Essay in a superb manner
After understanding what a reflection essay is it now becomes easier to write and just as pointers on how to go about it. First you will need to have the knowledge on the topic in question. Like we earlier on stated; a reflection paper conveys personal insight of different individuals on a specific topic/experience.
So it important to pose a questionnaire to yourself in order to help you gather the information that you are to write in the essay. Especially the type of questions the answer how you reacted to the experience and why. These questions could be; how does this topic make me feel? Why does it make me feel that way? Does this topic affect me? How does it affect me? You will notice that all this questions will concentrate mainly on your opinion and reactions not forgetting a reflection essay is a basically a formal journal or diary.
The answers to this small questionnaire will be your guide in writing your essay. By arranging they answers into one sentence or paragraph and evolving or building your essay from the same will ensure a quality body in your reflection paper.
After you have written the paragraphs of the body, you will need to conclude and draw a termination from the basic questions you had asked yourself. For example how do i feel about the topic if i do at all. If you don’t, then state why? It’s essential that you be truth full and avoids ideas in different paragraphs clashing. In conclusion, briefly state your thesis. You can also challenge readers to reflect on the same topic.
