Or, what have you learned from where you have been? Reflection Essays Or, what have you learned from where you have been?

Writing… “I believe in miracles in every area of life except writing. Experience has shown me that there are no miracles in writing: the only thing that produces good writing is hard work.” Isaac Bashevis Singer

What are Reflection Essays about? Reflection essays are based on personal experience. Writers of reflection have modest goals. They do not set themselves up as experts. They simply try out their ideas.

Do I need sources? Reflective writers present something they did, saw, overheard, or read.

How do I write? They attempt to make their writing vivid so that the reader can imagine what they experience.

Why should I write? The writer’s goal is to present the experience in order to explore its possible meanings. To use events in their lives and people and places they have observed as the occasions or springboards for thinking about society—how people live and what people believe.

What is reflective writing? Reflective writing is explorative, lively and creative. It often surprises the reader with its insights and unlikely connections. Reflective writing encourages the reader to look in new ways at familiar things, examining with a critical eye what they usually take for granted.

How do I start? Begin by thinking about what your experiences have taught you about yourself, your world, society in general, etc. Look for those aha! moments that crystallized in your memory.

Reflective Writers: Present a particular occasion in a vivid and suggestive way that encourages readers to want to know more about the writer’s thoughts. Use your own voice

Developing Your Reflections: Giving Examples Illustrate your ideas with specific examples. Ask yourself: What examples would be best to help the reader understand your ideas?

Developing Your Ideas: Comparing and Contrasting Think of a subject that could be compared with yours, and explore the similarities and differences.

Developing Your Reflections: Extending Take your subject to its logical limits, and speculate about its implications. Where does it lead?

Developing Your Reflections: Analyzing Take apart your subject. What is it made of? How are the parts related to one another? Are they all of equal importance?

Developing Your Reflections: Applying Think about your subject in practical terms. How can you use it or act on it? What difference would it make to you and to others?

Keep your Purpose in mind… Consider this question: What do I want my readers to think about the subject after reading my essay?

Maintaining Topical Coherence The writer turns the subject this way and that, looking first from one perspective and then from another—piling up examples to illustrate their ideas.

A Mind at Work The writer arranges the parts carefully to give the appearance of the writer’s mind at work.

Repeat Key Words or Phrases: First Method Each new idea or example may seem to turn the essay in an unexpected new direction, making the essay seem to ramble. However, referring to the subject at various points of the essay by repeating certain key words or phrases associated with the subject pulls the reader back to the topic.

Carefully Placed Transitions: Method Two Time and place markers within the essay to introduce a series of examples will also help achieve topical coherence.

Engaging Readers Remember, readers have no pressing reason to read a reflective essay. The writer’s goal is to create common ground with the reader—something must catch the reader’s eye—a hook.

A Few Examples of Hooks for Reflection Essays A familiar author’s name An Intriguing title A unique quote An intriguing question Humor

How to Keep the Reader Reading The writer needs to project an image of themselves—sometimes called the writer’s persona or voice—that readers can identify with or at least find interesting.

Proofreading Remember, proofreading the final copy for spelling, grammatical errors and sentence formation makes all the difference in the world if the writer’s goal is to present their writing as something they care about. If the writer doesn’t care, why would the reader?

And Finally—An Appropriate Quote “I see but one rule: to be clear.” Stendhal