how to write a reflective essay on personal development

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Reflective Essay Writing Made Easy: Here’s an Example on Personal Development

Author : kristy.

• Essay Writing

On a serious note, reflective essays seem surprisingly easy to write at first, and yet, they overwhelm so many students around the globe as they can be pretty hard to get right at the same time. In layman terms, the reflective essay is analogous to a critical reflection or introspection of life. With the right advice and guidance from veterans at My Assignment Services, we are sure that you can nail writing your Reflective Essays.

Have you ever written a diary entry? Well, you can compare a reflective essay with a diary entry as it requires you to describe the events that happened sequentially along with writing down the learnings from the event. However, unlike a diary entry, a reflective essay is coherent, well structured, properly referenced, and well researched.

If you have been looking for a Reflective Essay Example or reflective essay writing help, then you could keep reading this article to learn some quick tips and tricks to write a reflective essay. However, you can also avail of our dissertation writing help and have impressive pieces delivered right in your inbox. Our experts are veterans at essay writing and can write essays that will score HD grades for you.

Here is a Reflective Essay Introduction Example!

So now that you have seen critical analysis essay examples, let us explore tips and tricks to help you write reflective essays!

Learn how to acknowledge any source of information using the APA 7th style .

4 Must Haves For a Reflective Essay!

Personal Character

While writing a reflective essay, you should keep in mind that your essay must have some personal touch to it. It should put forward your perspective instead of portraying anyone else’s view on the reader.

Professors solicit students to write reflective essays to help them learn and grow from their own mistakes and actions. Writing reflective essays teaches one to introspect, analyse, and correct one’s course of work in the future. Furthermore, it has been noted that reflective writing essays help people develop better emotional intelligence than other people.

Coherence and Clarity

Clarity is a paramount requirement of the essay. You may write perfectly logical and impressive arguments, but it won’t fetch you any marks until they are expressed enough to communicate your message to the reader. Thus, an essay should be coherent, and all things should be connected in a structure. Make sure to include tangible and digestible takeaways for the reader in the essay.

Tangible Structure

Well, like coherence, organising the different sections of the essay is also an essential aspect of writing a reflective essay. You should follow an intuitive structure that does not make the information hard to digest for the reader. Thus, dividing your essays into proper sections would help you stay organised and relevant to the topic.

Know The Rules! Or Should I say “Play By The Marking Rubric

They say that good food is the way to a man’s heart. Likewise, they say that marking rubric is the way to your professor’s heart. The marking rubric is like an instruction manual to score top-notch grades. If your essay stands up to all the criteria of the marking rubric, it will score top grades.

Format of a Reflective Essay!

Like any other essay, a reflective essay also consists of an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Here is how you should write these sections:

Introduction

A good introduction briefs up the reader with the agenda of the essay, the problems, and the methodologies. However, an impressive introduction also draws the attention of the reader with hooks. It briefs up the background and establishes the context for the text in the body of the essay. Experts at My Assignment Services that provide reflective essay examples and essay writing help believe that an introduction should always brief the reader with the general theme of the essay.

In the body, make sure to discuss and reveal your experiences and ideas in depth. As a general rule, the body explains an author’s views and arguments in detail. However, in the reflective essay, it should consider your experience of the event and your key takeaways from it. Try answering questions like:

What did I learn from the event?

What factors made me behave the way I did at that time?

Could I have made better decisions?

What emotions did the event incite in me?

The concluding sentence can summarise the contents of the essay. In a reflective essay, the concluding paragraph can summarise the experiences and key learnings of an individual. However, you can personalise your conclusion based upon your perception as well. Just make sure that it makes everything fit together and provide the reader with some tangible takeaways.

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You would be glad to know that with us, you can not only avail of critical analysis essay examples, but you would also be able to avail essay writing services from experts at My Assignment Services. Our subject matter experts are all veterans at writing impressive essays. They come with over a decade of experience in providing essay writing help to students across the globe.

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Our experts scan through numerous research papers and journals to refer to only high-quality sources. Then, they leverage their knowledge and extensive research to furbish impactful arguments and deliver a mesmerising essay to you.

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How to Write a Reflective Essay: Easy Guide with Pro Tips 2023

Defining What is a Reflective Essay: Purpose + Importance

Being present is a cornerstone of mindfulness and meditation. You must have often heard that staying in the moment helps you appreciate your surroundings, connects you with people and nature, and allows you to feel whatever emotions you must feel without anxiety. While this is helpful advice as you become more focused and avoid getting lost in thought, how can you truly appreciate the present without reflecting on your past experiences that have led you to the current moment?

We don't say that you should dwell on the past and get carried away with a constant thought process, but hey, hear us out - practice reflective thinking! Think back on your previous life events, paint a true picture of history, and make connections to your present self. This requires you to get a bit analytical and creative. So you might as well document your critical reflection on a piece of paper and give direction to your personal observations. That's when the need for reflective essays steps in!

In a reflective essay, you open up about your thoughts and emotions to uncover your mindset, personality, traits of character, and background. Your reflective essay should include a description of the experience/literature piece as well as explanations of your thoughts, feelings, and reactions. In this article, our essay writer service will share our ultimate guide on how to write a reflective essay with a clear format and reflective essay examples that will inspire you.

How to Write a Reflective Essay with a Proper Reflective Essay Outline

To give you a clear idea of structuring a reflective essay template, we broke down the essential steps below. Primarily, the organization of a reflective essay is very similar to other types of papers. However, our custom writers got more specific with the reflective essay outline to ease your writing process.

Reflective Essay Introduction

When wondering how to start a reflective essay, it is no surprise that you should begin writing your paper with an introductory paragraph. So, what's new and different with the reflection essay introduction? Let's dissect:

• Open your intro with an attention-seizing hook that engages your audience into reflective thinking with you. It can be something like: 'As I was sitting on my bed with my notebook placed on my shaky lap waiting for the letter of acceptance, I could not help but reflect, was enrolling in college the path I wanted to take in the future?'
• Provide context with a quick overview of the reflective essay topic. Don't reveal too much information at the start to prevent your audience from becoming discouraged to continue reading.
• Make a claim with a strong reflective essay thesis statement. It should be a simple explanation of the essay's main point, in this example, a specific event that had a big impact on you.

Reflective Essay Body Paragraphs

The next step is to develop the body of your essay. This section of the paper may be the most challenging because it's simple to ramble and replicate yourself both in the outline and the actual writing. Planning the body properly requires a lot of time and work, and the following advice can assist you in doing this effectively:

• Consider using a sequential strategy. This entails reviewing everything you wish to discuss in the order it occurred. This method ensures that your work is structured and cohesive.
• Make sure the body paragraph is well-rounded and employs the right amount of analysis. The body should go into the effects of the event on your life and the insights you've gained as a consequence.
• Prioritize reflecting rather than summarizing your points. In addition to giving readers insight into your personal experience, a reflective stance will also show off your personality and demonstrate your ability to handle certain challenges.

Reflective Essay Conclusion

The goal of your reflective essay conclusion should be to tie everything together by summarizing the key ideas raised throughout, as well as the lessons you were able to take away from experience.

• Don't forget to include the reasons for and the methods used to improve your beliefs and actions. Think about how your personality and skills have changed as well.
• What conclusions can you draw about your behavior in particular circumstances? What could you do differently if the conditions were the same in the future?

Remember that your instructor will be searching for clear signs of reflection.

Understanding a Reflection Paper Format

The format of reflective essay greatly differs from an argumentative or research paper. A reflective essay is more of a well-structured story or a diary entry rife with insight and reflection. You might be required to arrange your essay using the APA style or the MLA format.

And the typical reflection paper length varies between 300 and 700 words, but ask your instructor about the word length if it was assigned to you. Even though this essay is about you, try to avoid too much informal language.

If your instructor asks you to use an APA or MLA style format for reflective essay, here are a few shortcuts:

Reflective Essay in MLA Format

• Times New Roman 12pt font double spaced;
• 1" margins;
• The top right includes the last name and page number on every page;
• Titles are centered;
• The header should include your name, your professor's name, course number, and the date (dd/mm/yy);
• The last page includes a Works Cited.

Reflective Essay in APA Style

• Include a page header on the top of every page;
• Insert page number on the right;
• Your reflective essay should be divided into four parts: Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, and References.

Reflective Essay Writing Tips

You may think we've armed you with enough tips and pointers for reflective writing, but it doesn't stop here. Below we gathered some expert-approved tips for constructing uncontested reflection papers.

• Be as detailed as possible while writing. To make your reflective essay writing come to life, you should employ several tactics such as symbolism, sentence patterns, etc.
• Keep your audience in mind. The reader will become frustrated if you continue writing in the first person without taking a moment to convey something more important, even though you will likely speak about something from your own perspective.
• Put forth the effort to allow the reader to feel the situation or emotion you are attempting to explain.
• Don't preach; demonstrate. Instead of just reporting what happened, use description appropriately to paint a clear picture of the event or sensation.
• Plan the wording and structure of your reflective essay around a central emotion or subject, such as joy, pleasure, fear, or grief.
• Avoid adding dull elements that can lessen the effect of your work. Why include it if it won't enhance the emotion or understanding you wish to convey?
• There must be a constant sense of progression. Consider whether the event has transformed you or others around you.
• Remember to double-check your grammar, syntax, and spelling.

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Reflective Essay Topic Ideas

As a reflective essay should be about your own views and experiences, you generally can't use someone else's ideas. But to help you get started, here are some suggestions for writing topics:

• An experience you will never forget.
• The moment you overcame a fear.
• The most difficult choice you had to make.
• A time your beliefs were challenged.
• A time something changed your life.
• The happiest or most frightening moment of your life so far.
• Ways you think you or people can make the world a better place.
• A time you felt lost.
• An introspective look at your choices or a time you made the wrong choice.
• A moment in your life you would like to relive.

You may find it convenient to create a chart or table to keep track of your ideas. Split your chart into three parts:

• In the first column, write key experiences or your main points. You can arrange them from most important to least important.
• In the second column, list your response to the points you stated in the first column.
• In the third column, write what, from your response, you would like to share in the essay.

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Reflective Essay Sample

Referring to reflective essay examples can help you a lot. A reflective essay sample can provide you with useful insight into how your essay should look like. You can also buy an essay online if you need one customized to your specific requirements.

How to Conclude a Reflective Essay

As we come to an end, it's only logical to reflect on the main points discussed above in the article. By now, you should clearly understand what is a reflective essay and that the key to writing a reflective essay is demonstrating what lessons you have taken away from your experiences and why and how these lessons have shaped you. It should also have a clear reflective essay format, with an opening, development of ideas, and resolution.

Now that you have the tools to create a thorough and accurate reflective paper, you might want to hand over other tasks like writing definition essay examples to our experienced writers. In this case, feel free to buy an essay online on our platform and reflect on your past events without worrying about future assignments!

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The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Reflective Essay: Format, Tips and 5 Examples

Jul 28, 2023

Jul 28, 2023 | Blog

A reflective essay is not so much a conventional college essay as it is. A piece of writing that allows you to explore a particular experience in your life and then come up with meaningful conclusions based on that experience. The main point here is that this writing assignment is designed to make you think and analyze what you think about something.

What Is a Reflective Essay?

A reflective essay is a unique form that aims to observe, examine, and describe an individual or personal experience that the author has had. When writing such an essay, you must remember that the focus is on your deeper inner emotions rather than the event. The key is to make your essay reflective, and the key to achieving that is to put your personality into it.

Below we will explain how to write reflective essays, various formats, the purposes, and the importance of a reflective essay, and provide useful tips to make the writing process easier.

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What Is the Purpose of Reflective Writing

• Unlike essays you’ve been writing for class, this essay is meant to reflect yourself. It’s meant to reveal something about you that isn’t already obvious.
• Reflective writing also helps you learn from a particular practical experience. It will help you connect what you are taught in theory and what you must do in practice.
• Reflective writing encourages you to observe your life experiences and beliefs – for instance, your own experiences as a learner or your observations from teaching rounds – and link these with the theoretical learning in your subject. This can help you develop and reinforce knowledge about theories, better understand particular concepts, and reflect critically on the practical realities of specific situations and the theoretical knowledge that informs your understanding of them.
• To improve your critical thinking skills,
• To think about past events more objectively,
• To gain new knowledge about an event or similar situation,
• To learn from your past experiences,
• To become aware of your strengths and weaknesses.

What Do I Write About?

It is the question that every student must ask before writing a reflective article. Here is a list of reflection questions and ideas to help you get started:

• A time you felt lost .
• A time your beliefs were challenged.
• The moment you overcame a fear.
• A moment in your life you would like to relive.
• Ways you think you or people can make the world a better place.
• The most difficult choice you had to make.
• An introspective look at your choices or a time you made the wrong choice.
• The happiest or most frightening moment of your life so far.
• An experience you will never forget.
• A time something changed your life.

Reflective Essays Format

A reflective essay format is not very different from other essays, such as argumentative or expository essays. The basic difference between them is that it is written about personal experiences.

Here is the format:

Introduction

• Identify the focus
• Outline scope
• State thesis statement

Main Body Paragraphs

• Supporting details
• Background information
• Summarize the main essay
• Restate the thesis statement

You might also be required to arrange your essay using the APA style or the MLA format. If asked to format your paper in MLA or APA styles, apply these shortcuts:

Reflective Essay in APA Style

• Insert page number on the right;
• Times New Roman 12 pt font double spaced;
• Your reflective essay should be divided into four parts: Title Page, Abstract, Main Body paragraphs, and References.
• Include a page header on the top of every page;
• 1” margins;

Reflective Essay in MLA Format

• The header should include your name, your professor’s name, course number, and the date (dd/mm/yy);
• Titles are centered;
• The top right includes the last name and page number on every page;
• The last page includes Works Cited.

How to Write a Reflective Essay?

Writing a reflective essay is not persuasive; you have to convince your readers to accept your opinion. You have to share an experience. However, writing such essays can be challenging for students as it requires them to use high-level thinking skills. To make it easier for you, here is a guide on how to write a reflective essay:

Choose a Good Topic

The first step is to choose a topic that is meaningful or important to you. Think about things that have happened recently in your life or experiences. Consider situations or events that inspired you made you emotional or changed your outlook on life. You could even think about something that happened to someone else and how it somehow impacted them (or even yourself). For example, if your friend could not physically exercise for several weeks due to a broken leg, you might reflect on how this impacted them emotionally, socially, and academically.

Research your Topic

After choosing your topic, start by doing some research on it. If you chose a moment, determine what caused the event or memory and the outcome. If conflict or issue arose because of this event, try to see why it happened and what lessons you learned. Take notes while conducting your research so that you don’t forget any details or facts when writing the body paragraphs of your essay.

Create a chart or table to keep track of all your information

To ensure you haven’t missed anything, we recommend creating a chart or table to keep track of all your information. This will help you organize your thoughts and keep them on the right track for an effective essay.

Recognize your Experience

It would help if you considered writing a reflective essay as an opportunity to reflect on what you’ve done and how it affected you. Take some time to think about your experiences and how they impacted you before jumping into the writing process.

This can be done by thinking about what happened on that particular day, what it was like when it happened, how you felt, and anything else that may have occurred.

Ask Yourself Some Questions

The next important thing you need to do is ask yourself some reflection questions. For example, did something happen that day? What made you feel the way you did? If it was something that didn’t make you feel good, what did you do about it? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? How could someone else benefit from what you learned in this difficult situation?

Organize the Essay

Like many other essays, a great reflective essay should be between 300 and 700 words long. If you find yourself exceeding that number of words, look at your reflection paper outline and see if there are any areas where you can cut down on words or omit them entirely. This can often mean removing some of the less important facts about your experience or the experience of others. Following this guideline will help ensure that your paper does not feel too short or wordy.

Follow the Best Reflective Essay Structure

First, write an introductory paragraph that grabs your reader’s attention and lets them know what they’re getting into. Then comes the essay’s body: three or four paragraphs discussing the main arguments or position (depending on whether or not you’re writing an argumentative paper). Each paragraph should have one central point, written clearly in a topic sentence at the end, so your reader knows where you’re headed next. Then wrap up everything you’ve said by writing a conclusion.

Revise your Reflective Paper

One of the critical points of your reflection paper is revising it. The first step to a well-written reflective essay is to read through your essay more than once. This might be time-consuming, but it is worth it. That’s because you will have a chance to review the ideas you’ve expressed in the paper and ensure they are relevant and logical. Also, revising your paper allows you to correct grammatical or spelling mistakes and add some new information you might have missed while writing the first draft.

Steps for Writing a Reflective Essay

1. make a mind map..

Before you begin writing, make a mind map of your experience. A mind map is a diagram that helps writers organize their thoughts. It’s easy to create, and it can be done by hand or on a computer. The goal of the mind map is to identify key points, then branch out into relevant subtopics.

A mind map will help you structure your essay and organize your thoughts and experiences. It’s also a good way to see where there are gaps in your recollection so that you can fill them in later on.

For example, if you want to write about your first day of school (a common topic), start with a central point: “I didn’t make any friends.” From there, branch out into subtopics like “it was hard for me because I was shy and didn’t know anyone” or “I was scared because I didn’t know where my classroom was.

2. Make an outline

Although reflective essays aren’t fictional and don’t require a plot, you should still outline them. In our previous post, ‘How to Write an Informative Essay Outline – Full Guide,’ we mentioned the importance of listing relevant talking points before writing. This helps organize your thoughts so that your discussion is more organic. This applies to the experiences you want to feature in your reflective essay.

In an interview on her writing process,  Samantha Irby explained to EW that her ideas and memories are usually outlined. That much was evident in her essay “Lesbian Bed Death,” which chronicled moments in a relationship and how her perceptions of love changed. Likewise, “Body Negativity” cataloged how women maintain their appearance to satisfy societal expectations. Ultimately, outlining helps you structure your essay so that your story or message is better conveyed to readers.

3. Entertain different perspectives in the piece

Reflective essays usually require a bit of meandering. This lets you explore different topics in your piece, like events, people, or places. In Leslie Jamison’s essay “Since I Became Symptomatic,” she ponders when she and her daughter were both sick and in quarantine. Her experiences became the stepping stone to discussing parenthood and the American healthcare system.

Reflective essays aren’t only limited to your memories and can revolve around your perceptions about culture.  The Scribd document “Why Art Involves Experience”  meditates on the intersection between art and experience. In it, Full Diane Siño doesn’t touch on any one specific memory and instead gravitates more towards weaving different ideas by philosophers like John Dewey. It can be a fascinating read if you don’t confine your reflective essay to one subject alone.

4. Open with a powerful paragraph

A strong paragraph (solid first sentence) will interest your reader. Virginia Woolf’s essay “Death of a Moth” is an excellent example of a powerful opening. She began by imbuing moths with humanistic traits, stating they aren’t excited over autumn nights or content with life.

As the essay progressed, it became clear that the moth was a way for Woolf to talk about life and death. This revelation stood out more upon recalling the first paragraph.

Similarly, Reshma Memon Yaqub started “The Washing” with, “I hadn’t planned to wash the corpse. But sometimes you just get caught up in the moment….” The line naturally evoked curiosity but was about the traditional Muslim ritual of washing a relative’s body before death. All those considered, ensure your opening paragraph contains vivid details about an experience. This way, it’s packed with an emotional punch.

5. End by posing a question to your readers

It would be best to conclude reflective essays with a summary of your thoughts. For one, look back on the experiences you’ve covered. What have you learned from them? More importantly, it would be best to encourage your readers to do the same. What can they yield from the moments and ideas you presented?

Interestingly, Hanif Abdurraqib is a compelling essayist who offers his readers one last thought to chew on. He ended “Carly Rae Jepsen and the Kingdom of Desire” by asking if love and everything in between were genuinely fleeting. And in his essay “They Will Speak Loudest of You After You’ve Gone,” Abdurraqib left readers wondering  about the value of black people’s lives within the media. Those endings can ensure that your essay will leave a lasting impression on your readers.

Reflective Essay Topics

• What is the best thing that happened to you this year?
• Name a time when you felt like an outsider at school. How did it make you feel?
• Do you have any regrets from high school? If so, what are they, and why do they bother you?
• A time when you made a mistake but learned from it
• The most challenging situation you’ve faced in life and how you overcame it
• A positive change you would like to see in the world
• How You’ve Changed as a Person Over Time
• Your Views on Love and Relationships
• What You Want to Accomplish in Life
• The Things That Make You Feel Happy and Satisfied With Yourself
• The Reasons Why You Make Certain Decisions in Life
• List three movies that changed your life, and describe how they did so.
• Describe an experience that made you appreciate the value of silence in a noisy world.
• Share a story about how your parents’ strict rules helped you mature.
• How do you think people will remember your time on this earth?
• What is one thing that has been weighing on your mind lately?

Reflective Essay Outline

Don’t know how to write a great reflective essay outline ? Here’s how:

The introduction is where you introduce your topic, state the purpose of your paper, and give any background information that the reader needs to understand the rest of the essay. This is where you tell the reader why they should care about what you’re writing about, so make it count! You can also use this space to provide context for your topic—you might want to give a short history lesson here or explain why it’s important to understand this topic. There should also be a thesis statement, which is one sentence that describes the overall point of your essay.

The introduction of your reflective essay should start with a hook statement — an attention-grabbing statement that sets the tone for your entire piece. You can do this in a variety of ways, such as:

• Sharing an anecdote that relates to the topic at hand
• Asking a question for readers to answer
• Giving a fact about the subject you will be discussing in your essay

You can move on to give a little background and context on the topic, leading up to the thesis statement, which is what you want readers to walk away thinking about.

Body Paragraphs

You will build each body paragraph around an idea or event related to the topic of your reflective essay. Under each idea or event, you will want to write about how it impacted you and somehow changed your life (or at least thinking). This is where you may need to reexamine and reflect upon instances in your life that have led to changes in how you think about your subject.

Include three main points in your body paragraphs—these will become the topic sentences for each that relates to the thesis statement, followed by evidence supporting that idea. Each body paragraph should have three sentences: one stating what the paragraph is about, one explaining why this is important in your larger thesis statement, and a final sentence that sums up what you said in this paragraph.

Write a concluding paragraph that wraps up what you’ve said in the body paragraphs and leaves the reader with something new to

In the last paragraph of your essay, tell the reader why they should care about what you’ve written. What is its purpose? Hopefully, this will make them think more deeply about their lives and how they interact with other people around them.

Reflective Essay Examples

Referring to reflective essay examples can help you a lot. A sample paper can provide you with useful insight into how a reflection essay should look like.

Reflective Essay Example for High School

Reflective essay example, tips for writing a reflective essay.

Reflective essays are a fun way to allow yourself to reflect on your experiences. They can be a great way to get to know yourself better and allow you to dig deep and explore your emotions. The following tips can help you write an excellent reflective essay:

• Start by identifying what you’d like to reflect on. Maybe it’s your first time driving long-distance solo, or maybe it’s a book that impacted you. Whatever it is, make sure it’s something significant in your life or that has been significant in the lives of others.
• Pick a topic that interests you. You’ll have to think about and reflect on this topic, so you should pick something engaging or important to you.
• Map out how you want your essay to flow for clarity. Planning helps ensure you don’t waste time wondering what comes next in your essay.
• Explain the significance of each event or new experience you describe in your essay. This will help show how the experience fits your life and why it’s important.
• Write about specific events or experiences in depth rather than covering too many topics simultaneously. This will help ensure that it is easier for readers to follow along and understand what’s going on in your essay.
• Write in the first person without using “I.” For example: “my teacher,” not “I.”
• Don’t worry about using formal language—the main goal is for the reader to feel like they’re getting a glimpse into the inner workings of your mind. Because of this, try to use language that is natural and easy to read.
• Try starting with a personal anecdote or powerful quote, then follow it up with some analysis of its significance to you or the topic.
• Support your thesis statement with strong arguments
• Keep it short and to the point
• Provide your point of view about the related topic
• Do not add irrelevant details
• Write the essay with an overall emotion or theme in mind
• Try to make the essay credible and informative
• Don’t make any grammatical errors

Get Help from the Experts with your Reflective Essay

Whether you are a student or a professional, we are ready to assist you when you are looking for reflective essay help with writing your reflective essay paper. We have a lot of experience writing reflective essays and can provide you with a high-quality paper that reflects your personality and thoughts.

We have an essay writer on standby who will help you write reflective essays to get your desired grades and achieve your academic goals. Our experts know exactly what professors are looking for in a reflective essay, and they know how to make sure yours comes out on top of the pile.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you start a reflective essay.

As with all essays, your reflective essay must begin with an introduction that contains both a hook and a thesis statement. The point of having a ‘hook’ is to grab the attention of your audience or reader from the very beginning.

Can you say I in a reflective essay?

In your reflective essay, use the first person with terms like I, me, my, and mine. The essay accounts for something that happened to you and your thoughts on the event.

What makes a good reflective essay?

Academic reflective writing requires critical and analytic thought, a clear line of argument, and the use of evidence through examples of personal experiences and thoughts and often also theoretical literature. It would help if you aimed to balance personal experience, tone, academic practice, and rigor.

Through my engaging and informative blog posts, I aim to provide helpful tips on topics such as essay writing, research skills, and academic planning, empowering students to thrive in their academic pursuits.

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Personal Development Plan Final Reflection Essay

In my previous personal development plan , I had made several initiatives through which I hoped to achieve certain goals both in academics and in social life. In the previous personal development plan, I had embarked more on the process that I believe would help me to think about my own learning, performance and achievements as well as to plan my personal, educational, social and career development. Since I made the plan within the PDP , there are certain changes that I have witnessed happening in my career, social and learning areas. For example, I have noted that for the last one semester, I have improved in a number of areas that I had pointed in my last PDP.

In academics, I have achieved a lot, as my average grades have improved from the previous B+ to an A. This is primarily because I was able to develop clear SWOT analysis , in which I recognized my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats not only in academics, but also in my social life, extra-curricular activities and any other activity I took. With this plan, I worked hard to perfect my strengths, correct the weaknesses and make them my strong points, utilize the opportunities placed within my abilities and finally recognize and avoid any negative effect that was posed by the threats in the SWOT analysis (Bolton 2010).

From these considerations, I recognized that some of my strengths were the ability to work under strict deadlines, carry out extensive research, attend classes, and do personal studies and to submit all the papers and assignments at the right time. However, I also recognized that I actually had some weaknesses that caused my performance to dwindle in certain areas. For example, I realized that I had a problem relating with other students, tutors and friends. I did not attend discussion and group work, and seemed to ignore the strength of teamwork. I realized that I did not consult my tutors in academics; rather I attempted to do my own research. In co-curricular activities, I realized that I had done little in games and clubs within the university, despite having a number of athletic teams, training personnel as well as other facilities. I was not able to attend any of the activities before I made the last PDP, and even spent much time playing games on my personal computer rather than being involved in real athletics. In this plan, I set strict schedules to allow me attend my favorite games – soccer and American football. Within this reflection, I had also recognized a number of opportunities that I should have utilized to perfect my skills in education and social life. For example, the university has a number of games, societies and clubs, all of which are equipped and staffed to help the students achieve their goals in academics and other activities important in social and personal life. In addition, the university encourages teamwork, from which students realize their weaknesses and strengths, and work to perfect their strengths and to improve their weak areas. These were opportunities that I ought to have utilized before, but which had been the priority in the previous personal reflection plan . I further realized that there were certain threats that challenged my performance. For example, I was running a risk of being lonely due to my weak approach to teamwork. In addition, it was possible that I would face academic failures in future because I was becoming possessed with video and computer games rather than being involved in real physical exercises.

Several significant changes have resulted from the previous personal reflection plan . For example, apart from the increase in the academic grades, I have developed a good habit of relating with others in the university, and especially in my department. In addition, I have been involved in a number of discussion groups and even contributed to the development of general classroom discussion groups, in which students present their findings to the class during discussion time, while others try as much as possible to challenge the presenter. This has increased my confidence in academics, and I am more able to express myself than I would have done some few months ago before I embarked on self-reflection plan. Moreover, I am perfect in both soccer and football because I have dedicated enough time for these activities, and in fact, I have joined the university teams in both of these games. Moreover, I have joined the rangers association, a university society that is involved in environmental issues. I have realized that I am good in keeping and maintaining a good environment within our localities. During the last semester, we have taken part in national environmental programs, workshops and seminars, in which we have been taught the importance of maintaining good environment. In addition, we have organized a number of workshops for the community, where we teach elementary and high school students about the benefits of a good environment. In this way, I have realized that I have perfected my teaching, social and organizational management skills.

From the personal development plan I created last semester, I have pointed out three main key learning areas that need much attention, and which have been very pivotal as far as the incline in my grades is concerned. First, I have realized that education is not all about understanding of what has been taught in class, and thereafter reproducing it in the examinations. It is a fact that education is not all about passing exams, rather it is a matter of understanding the courses, and how the classroom gained knowledge can be applied in the real life (Bolton 2010). Therefore, I have learned that one needs to do a lot of research and experiments to practice the classroom gained knowledge in the related fields, and to imply the information gained in books to the actual world. Secondly, I have learned that time management is the most critical tool towards achieving personal goals not only in education, but also in the other aspects of life. From the reflection, I have realized that the increase in my overall academic grades, as well as in extracurricular activities, is a result of proper time management, and the ability to work with strict time schedules. Lastly, I have learned that education required coordination of activities between personal efforts and the teamwork. I have observed that students perform better when they participate in class activities, work in groups and challenge each other (Jasper 2007). Moreover, it makes one obtain courage to conduct a research on vital topics, and have the pride to present it in front of the others. This is important for future researchers and scholars like me because at least, I am able to express ideas and ideologies to a number of people, and to meet the challenges they pose (Jasper 2007).

Analysis of the Current Situation

Currently, there is a number of issues that have to bbe improved as far as academics and other activities are concerned. I have achieved a lot in education, sports and social activities in general. Moreover, I have improved my communicative skills. However, I still have to target my main goal, which is to obtain straight A’s in all the courses I take each semester, and at the same time, achieve other goals in other activities apart from education.

Currently, there are certain internal factors that are affecting me in a number of ways, both positively and negatively. For example, when I develop a personal SWOT analysis, I realize that I have internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to my education as well as other activities. Currently, my strengths in education are defined by my abilities to correct my past mistakes and improve weaknesses. I never ignore my weak points, though it is very common for a number of students in my faculty. In addition, I am able to learn from daily life experiences, especially from other people’s mistakes. Apart from these strengths, I have also realized that I am able to identify opportunities within my learning environment, and utilize them to increase my knowledge and skills in education and career. However, I have some weak points, which are currently affecting my performance. For instance, I do not possess even basic skills to lead other people in the class, groups and the teams, which means that I may not become a good organizational leader unless I perfect my leading skills. I also do not have the courage to communicate with my tutors more. I have one more weak point – I tend to believe that I can perfect my skills either on my own, or with the help of small groups of students. This is not quite good for my educational development, as I require help from my tutors in order to achieve best results. The main reason of my weak points is that I started using personal development and reflection plans only two semesters ago. Earlier, I did not consider such plans to be of great importance. But now, as I see a great progress in my personal development, and taking into account that the university provides a lot of resources for each student to master all the necessary skills, I will continue planning my self development.

There are also some external factors that affect me in one way or the other, and which can be regarded as threats and opportunities. For instance, a number of opportunities are evident in my current situation. Other students in my class and the faculty have intensified their need to have personal reflection programs, and are in fact comparing their performances with the others in the class. This implies that we, as a class, have a chance to develop our skills together, as we have common goals in learning (Jasper 2007). Earlier, the students were allowed to participate only in 2 of the university clubs at once. Now we have the ability to participate in four of them, which will help me to gain much more experience. I will need to manage all my plans wisely, as apart from the extra-curricular activities, I need to perform well in the classroom too.

Personal development plan

I hope to come up with new ideas for my personal development, which will ensure success in both academic and social life. In regards of education, I want to try to approach my tutors for help in difficult situations, and to acquire skills needed for my future job. In addition, I must embark on increasing my grades from B+ to an A. Another desired outcome is to be a full time member of at least three clubs or societies, and to participate in all the events planned by these groups. I hope to achieve these goals within the next four months, which is till the end of this semester.

Bolton, G, 2010, “ Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development ”, SAGE Publications Ltd, Hoboken, NY.

Jasper, M, 2007, “ Professional development, reflection and decision-making ”, Wiley-Blackwell, New York.

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Home Essay Samples Psychology Adolescence

My Adolescent Experience and Development: A Reflection

Table of contents

Adolescent experience in my life, physical development, emotional development.

“Perhaps you looked in the mirror on a daily, or sometimes even hourly, basis as a young teenager to see whether you could detect anything different about your changing body. Preoccupation with one’s body image is strong through adolescence, it is especially acute during puberty, a time when adolescents are more dissatisfied with their bodies than in late adolescence.” (Santrock)

Social changes

• Arnett, J. J. (2015). Adolescence and emerging adulthood : A cultural approach. Pearson Education.
• Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. WW Norton & Company.
• Gullotta, T. P., & Adams, G. R. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of adolescent behavioral problems: Evidence-based approaches to prevention and treatment. Springer.
• Steinberg, L. (2014). Age of opportunity: Lessons from the new science of adolescence. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
• Steinberg, L., & Morris, A. S. (2001). Adolescent development. Annual review of psychology, 52(1), 83-110.
• Suler, J. R. (2018). Adolescent development. In Psychology of Adolescence (pp. 11-38). Springer.
• Rutter, M., & Smith, DJ (1995). Psychosocial disorders in young people: Time trends and their causes. John Wiley & Sons.
• American Psychological Association. (2019). APA handbook of the psychology of adolescence.
• Offer, D., & Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (1992). Debunking the myths of adolescence: Findings from recent research. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 31(6), 1003-1014.

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• Confirmation Bias
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