Reflective Writing

How Do I Write Reflectively? (mostly from https://student.unsw.edu.au/reflective-writing)

Reflective writing is:

• your response to experiences, opinions, events or new information
• your response to thoughts and feelings
• a way of thinking to explore your learning
• an opportunity to gain self-knowledge
• a way to achieve clarity and better understanding of what you are learning
• a chance to develop and reinforce writing skills
• a way of making meaning out of what you study

Reflective writing is not:

• just conveying information, instruction or argument
• pure description, though there may be descriptive elements
• straightforward decision or judgement (e.g. about whether something is right or wrong, good or bad)
• simple problem-solving
• a summary of course notes
• a standard university essay

What can I discuss?

• Your perceptions of the course and the content.
• Experiences, ideas and observations you have had, and how they relate to the course or topic.
• What you found confusing, inspiring, difficult, interesting and why.
• Questions you have
• How you:
  • solved a problem;
  • reached a conclusion;
  • found an answer;
  • reached a point of understanding.
• Possibilities, speculations, hypotheses or solutions.
• Alternative interpretations or different perspectives on what you have read or done in your course.
• Comparisons and connections between what your are learning and:
  • your prior knowledge and experience;
  • your prior assumptions and preconceptions;
  • what you know from other courses or disciplines.
• How new ideas challenge what you already know.
• What you need to explore next in terms of thoughts and actions.

Tips

• Think of an interaction, event or episode you experienced that can be connected to the topic
• Describe what happened
• What was your role?
• What feelings and perceptions surrounded the experience?
• How would you explain the situation to someone else?
• What might this experience mean in the context of your course?
• What other perspectives, theories or concepts could be applied to the situation?
• Start with a mindmap: put your topic in the centre, connect your personal experience situation or feelings, connect concepts from this course (e. g., classifications in respect of gender, class, race, sexuality, generation....; iconic representations and signifying codes...)