A reflective report or essay is a piece of writing which summarises personal (or group) engagement with, and learning from, events, activities, experiences, processes or practice.
1. Make sure you have read and understand the assignment brief and know what you need to do.
2. Think about what you need to include. You may need to decide which are the main aspects of learning/reflection that you want to focus on for this assignment, that meet the requirements of the brief. Sometimes less is more and you only have a limited word count. A few reflections done well is better than including everything that you have learnt.
3. Take time to think about what you are reflecting on. Analyse and evaluate, don't just describe. Consider to emotions, biases, preconceptions brought in to the situation you are reflecting on.
4.Organise your thoughts into a logical order for your reader. Perhaps use a mind map or outline plan.
5. Write a first draft.
6. Revise and edit your writing. Do you need to add more or take out any unnecessary information? Do your paragraphs need re ordering?
7. Proof read your writing.
Always check your brief for instructions.
For a stand-alone piece of writing (and when part of a substantial report), create an introduction with outline of what you are going to be writing about and guiding concepts. Conclude with a summary and link to guiding concept. The guiding concept is a bit like argument – it is the idea which links everything together, or the story that the writing is telling. Eg through this module, ‘I have developed this understanding* of my development as a practitioner’. *insert here your understanding.
Style: concise, precise, appropriate technical language. More ‘personal’ than other academic writing but not a diary or confessional.
Yes! Use, for example, own journals and notes, academic sources, information about other practitioner’s work (via websites, performances, exhibitions etc) theories etc to support your reflections. Referring to credible sources helps to support your analysis and understanding.
When reflecting you can use 'I' or 'we' when writing. As for Images, check with your brief. Sometimes graphs, charts, illustrations and tables may also be included.
