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Writing Guides  /  How to Write a Reflective Paper (A Guide)

How to Write a Reflective Paper (A Guide)

Have you been asked to write a reflective essay but do not know where to begin? This article will help you understand what a reflective essay is and how to write one from start to finish. You will learn:

• The definition of a reflective essay
• How to choose the best topic for a reflective essay
• How to start writing a reflective essay
• The appropriate format for a reflective essay
• How to write a reflective essay outline
• How to perfect your reflective essay

Definition of Reflective Essay

All reflective essays share one thing in common: they do ask that you consider your personal thoughts, opinions, and experiences and apply those to the course you are taking.

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A reflective essay is a relatively broad category of academic essay writing. There is no one correct type of reflective essay. In fact, you could be asked to write a reflective essay that is written in the first person or the third person.

Most reflective essays will be thesis-driven. Even though a reflective essay can seem less formal than other types of expository essays you are writing in class, a reflective essay is still considered a type of formal academic writing.

Therefore, do not consider a reflective essay assignment to be any easier or harder than any other. A reflective essay can be just as challenging to write as an analytical essay or a research paper.

First Person vs. Third Person

A first-person reflective essay seems less formal than a third-person reflective essay, but this does not mean that you can take it easy and write as if you are speaking to a friend.

You still need to write in formal academic terms, avoiding slang and remaining focused on the course material.

A first-person reflective essay could begin with questions like:

My personal experiences show that…

Based on the course readings, I now believe that…

My background and upbringing created worldviews and biases related to…

Incorporating what we have learned in this class, I feel better prepared to…

Now that I understand the concepts of ____, I will take the next steps in my research by…

Course readings like ___ substantiate my personal experiences because…

Third-person reflective essays seem more challenging at first because you are being asked to internalize what you have learned without speaking about yourself.

How do you do this? With practice and help from a good writing tutor. Begin by thinking about how you might translate what you are learning in class into writing a good expository essay. Take yourself out of it by considering how you might inform others of your learning.

A third-person reflective essay could begin with questions like:

Course readings can help inform public policy related to…

Professionals can apply the theories of ___ to improving…

Reflecting on these novels lends insight into…

Note that third person reflective essays tend to invoke the passive voice, which is often discouraged in academic writing.

If you are in doubt as to whether to write a reflective essay in the first person or third person, ask your instructor now.

Why Reflective Essays Are Important

Some reflective essays ask you to write about yourself in ways you might not be used to doing in formal exercises.

Instructors sometimes assign reflective essays at the beginning or end of a class.

Many admissions essays are reflective in nature.

Reasons for assigning reflective essays include:

• Wanting to learn about why you are taking this course.
• Wanting student feedback as to how the course could be improved.
• Wanting to ascertain how much you have learned.
• Seeing if you can apply the abstract academic readings to the real world.
• Admissions essays to college or university, or for a scholarship

Where to Begin?

The start of every good essay is a solid topic.

Generally you will have two choices:

• Write about a topic chosen for you, also known as the essay prompt.
• Write about any topic you choose that is related to course content.

To choose the best topic for your reflective essay, think about all you have gone over in your class.

Brainstorming ideas can also help. Some methods of brainstorming include:

• Talking with friends or classmates in your peer study group
• Writing ideas down on paper
• Listening to music and making a list
• Drawing and allowing your mind to free associate ideas

Any method you select for brainstorming will help you to narrow down the best topics for discussion.

Unlike most other academic essays, reflective essays do ask you to delve deep into your personal opinions and how they were formed.

You can relate stories from your childhood, which are typically omitted from formal expository essays.

Alternatively, you can talk about why you have certain ideas, thoughts, or opinions, and how the course material has changed you.

Reflective Essay Topics

To help you get started on choosing the best topics for a reflective essay, refer to this handy list.

Literature Topics

How do you relate personally to the character in a book? Do you have similar personalities but different experiences, or different personalities but similar experiences? If you were in that character’s shoes, how would you have handled their crises or challenges differently?

Do you agree or disagree with the author’s take on things? Why do you feel the way you do?

How does this book relate or compare with others you have read before, in this class or in others?

In what way do you believe culture or gender affected the themes or outcome of the novel? If the novel were set in a different historical period or different cultural context, what would change?

To what degree is the character a product of his or her culture, reflecting on your own personal experiences?

Art and Music Topics

How does this work of art or music make you feel, and why?

How does this work of art or music compare to others you have studied in this class or others, and why?

Reflect on the link between the artist’s biography and the canon of their work.

Political Science Topics

Reflect on the course readings, and offer your own insights into how they can be applied to public policy change.

How do your personal experiences corroborate what we have read in class regarding specific political issues? Do you agree or disagree with the author(s)?

Reflect on different ways this theory can be applied to different political situations.

Psychology Topics

Reflect on the efficacy of various therapeutic interventions in treating different psychological disorders.

Integrate what you have learned in this class with your personal experiences.

Reflect on the ways you can apply this theory to either a counseling or clinical setting.

In what ways has this theory or therapeutic intervention changed over time?

Nursing Topics

Reflect on your personal nursing philosophy and how it might impact your practice.

Reflect on how a nurse leader’s theoretical orientation impacts their management style and the organizational policies they pursue.

How has diversity within your organization impacted job satisfaction and/or patient perceptions of quality of care.

General Course Reflections

How have you changed since taking this course?

How will you apply what you have learned in this course to your personal or professional life?

Reflect on the reasons why you took this course, and how this course changes your outlooks and opinions.

Admissions Essays

Describe a turning point in your life, and how it shaped who you are today.

Describe a situation where you demonstrated leadership skills .

Reflect on the people who have shaped who you are today. How do you hope to be an inspiration to others?

Reflective Essay Outline

After you have come up with a suitable topic, you can start to compose an outline for your reflective essay.

Most formal outlines use the Roman numeral method of organizing your paper.

For example:

I. Introduction

A. Open with a strong anecdote or powerful statistic that leads into the main topic of discussion.

B. Briefly list the main topics you will cover in the reflective essay.

C. Thesis statement

II. Body Paragraph/Section One

A. Topic sentence: The main idea for this paragraph

B. Examples and reasons for your claim

C. Explanations and discussion

III. Body Paragraph/Section Two

IV. Body Paragraph/Section Three

V. Conclusion

A. Restate the thesis statement in different words, leading to a strong conclusion.

B. Leave the reader with a sense of closure, summing up what you have learned or the gist of the reflection.

After you create an outline, it will be easier to stay on track as you write. A good outline will give you confidence as you start writing the essay.

Reflective Essay Outline Example

The following is an example of a reflective essay that is written in the first person.

A. Hook: My mother immigrated to the United States, arriving all by herself and knowing very little English.

B. My own personal experiences as a first-generation American in my family have shaped my own attitudes towards immigration.

C. Thesis: As we learned in course readings by Jones, Smith, and Wallabee, immigration experience blends the personal and the political.

II. Body Paragraph One

A. Topic Sentence: As Jones points out, immigration has a strong bearing on family unit cohesion.

B. My mother did not see her sister for over ten years after she immigrated.

C. Personal experiences and the readings point to the need for more compassionate immigration policy.

III. Body Paragraph Two

A. Topic Sentence: As Smith shows, immigration policy has at times been racially motivated.

B. Two years after my mother arrived, the United States changed their laws regarding immigration policies based on anti-immigrant rhetoric.

C. Course readings show why current immigration policy debates are also racially motivated.

IV. Body Paragraph Three

A. Topic Sentence: Although Wallabee is correct in saying that policy does need to reflect the prevailing interests of Americans, the author does not take into account the fact that the nation has always been comprised of immigrants.

B. With the exception of Native Americans, all of us came from somewhere else, creating the rich cultural tapestry of America.

C. Wallabee’s essay shows how Americans can be shockingly Euro-centric in their attitudes towards immigration.

A. Immigration is motivated by deep personal longing or needs, but is also subject to the prevailing political climate.

B. Immigration policy should take into account humanitarian ethics and ideals.

Tips for Writing a Reflective Paper

After you brainstorm and create an outline for your reflective essay, first create a rough draft.

At this stage, do not worry about grammar, punctuation, or anything technical like that. Just get your ideas on the page. It is better to refrain from self-censorship at this point.

After you write the rough draft, take a break. Go for a walk, eat dinner, or have coffee with a friend. Take your mind off the assignment so that you can return to it with fresh eyes.

When you do return to your rough draft, you can make necessary changes as needed. This is when you can clean up the grammar, polish your prose, or change the order of the thoughts or ideas.

Make sure you follow all the instructions! One of the most common mistakes students make is to rush into their assignments without reading the instructions carefully.

Avoid plagiarism—both intentional and unintentional—by citing each and every source you reference within the body of the paper and in the Bibliography, Works Cited, or References page. This is one of the most important tips for getting good grades: instructors use technological tools to detect plagiarism and you can and will get in trouble if you forget to cite your sources properly.

If you really want to improve your final draft, have a friend read your essay if possible, or take it to a writing tutor for advice.

E ssay Introduction

A strong introduction makes a huge difference in how your essay is received.

There are several ways you can start your essay with a bang, including:

• Briefly relate a story from your personal experience that relates to the topic.
• Find a powerful statistic or fact, using an appropriate citation.
• Use a hypothetical illustrative example.

Reflective Writing Thesis Statement

A thesis statement helps you stay organized. In some cases, you will be required to provide a strong thesis statement in your reflective essay.

Thesis statements tell the reader what your essay is about, and quickly outlines the main points of discussion.

Examples of thesis statements for reflective essays:

The three main things I have learned in this class include…

Personal experience corroborates the course themes including…

The readings can be used to inform policies related to…

Personal hardships can be blessings in disguise, calling upon us to become stronger people more capable of helping others.

From my experience working with the homeless, I recognize that affordable housing and access to stable jobs are the most important initiatives for creating change.

Reflective Essay Format

Even when you use first person, your reflective essay should follow the standard formats used in academic writing. The most commonly used essay formats include APA , MLA , and Chicago style.

A reflective essay follows the format of a five-paragraph essay, which starts with an introduction, proceeds in an organized fashion through the essay body, and reaches a strong conclusion.

While you do not need to persuade your audience to take action or make a strong argument, you do need to remain focused and support your thesis with examples.

The body of a reflective essay will be comprised of a series of paragraphs that is purposefully organized, all of which have a topic sentence. Each of your paragraphs also relates to the thesis statement.

Make sure your paper follows the assignment instructions for essay formatting, including using appropriate line spacing (usually double-spaced), correct margins (usually one inch all around), page numbers, headers, or footers, a title page, and a bibliography, references, or works cited list.

If you are in doubt as to whether your reflective essay should be written in the first person or third person, always ask your instructor for clarification.

Reflective Paper Example

The following is an example of a reflective essay written in the third person. This will show you that a reflective essay does not need to be written in the first person.

The trajectory of a professional nursing career begins with effective education and mentoring. Course readings reveal the importance of strong nurse leadership both in healthcare administration but also in nursing education. Leadership styles like transformational leadership and servant leadership have been shown to be linked to employee motivation and job satisfaction, which can lead to reduced turnover and even to improved patient outcomes. In the realm of nurse education, visionary leadership may be more critical to long-term goals such as creating universal ethical norms for the healthcare profession. Ultimately, the goal of a nurse leader should be to improve healthcare policy and advocate on behalf of patients.

Course readings in leadership show how some types of leadership styles like transformational leadership improve employee satisfaction. Transformational leadership empowers members of the team, encourages intrinsic motivation, and promotes a high sense of job satisfaction among nurses. The readings by Jones, Smith, and Arlington in the course reader all pertain to the ways transformational leadership can enhance organizational performance and help healthcare institutions meet their core objectives.

Servant leadership is another style of leadership similar to transformational leadership in that it empowers others and creates a supportive and collaborative environment. What sets servant leadership apart is that it is driven more by ethics and values. Most nurses will have had at some point a leader who embodies the principles of servant leadership, primarily because the nursing profession is guided by principles of caring and compassion. This course has shown how and why servant leadership promotes healthcare values, and can be an integral part of any institution’s human resources strategy. It is important that nurse leaders cultivate servant leadership models, even if they are orientated towards a different type of leadership style based on traits or personal preferences.

All nurses start out with education and training, which establishes the foundation of their careers. In this course, readings support what most nurses know intuitively: strong leadership from educators creates strong nursing ethics. However, visionary leadership might be even more important for nurse educators than it is for nurse administrators. Visionary leadership might also be more efficacious than either servant leadership or transformational leadership because a nurse educator is partly in charge of the curriculum and pedagogical methods. Visionary nurse leaders have the potential to see and convey big picture ideas in nursing, helping their students to become the most effective nurse leaders of the future.

All nursing careers begin with education and ultimately move towards patient advocacy. Whether nurses remain in one-on-one patient practice throughout their careers, move into leadership roles in healthcare organizations, or become nurse educators, they need to understand which leadership styles are most effective in meeting their goals and objectives. Servant leadership is ideal for nurse leaders in organizations, helping to embed ethics and values into the organizational culture, policies, and procedures. Transformational leadership is helpful for motivating employees, reducing burnout, and reducing turnover. Finally, visionary leadership helps nurse educators to inspire paradigm changes. This course has illustrated the importance of all three of these models of nurse leadership.

A reflective essay is an opportunity for you to apply what you have learned in a course based on your past experiences or future goals. You can also write a reflective essay based on your understanding of course materials or concepts. Reflective essays are often used for admissions to colleges and universities, which means you have probably already written one, whether you know it or not.

Reflecting on course concepts and readings means you are thinking critically and creatively, and are internalizing your learning. In essence, a reflective essay illuminates the goals of your education. If you need further assistance with your reflective essay, sign up for a trial of our service which gives you access to example documents, outlines, writing guides, writing tools, and more.

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Practice-based and reflective learning

• Reflective thinking
• Introduction

Key features

Using academic evidence, selecting the content, getting the language right, useful links for reflective learning.

• Reflective writing video tutorial (University of Hull) A clear explanation of things to think about when you are writing reflectively.
• Study Advice Helping students to achieve study success with guides, video tutorials, seminars and one-to-one advice sessions.
• Academic Phrasebank Use this site for examples of linking phrases and ways to refer to sources.
• Academic writing LibGuide Expert guidance on punctuation, grammar, writing style and proof-reading.
• Essay writing LibGuide Expert guidance on writing essays for university.
• Report writing LibGuide Expert guidance on planning, structuring and writing reports at university.
• Dissertations and major projects LibGuide Expert guidance on planning, researching and writing dissertations and major projects.

Follow the guidelines for your course. There is likely to be a word limit: you cannot write about everything, so select what will illustrate your discussion best. Remember that most of the marks awarded for your work are likely to be for the reflective insights and not for the description of events, so keep your descriptions brief and to the point.

• Reflective writing (Study Guide) You can also print off an abridged PDF version of this guide. This is designed to be printed double-sided on A4, then folded to make an A5 guide.

Reflective writing is a way of processing your practice-based experience to produce learning. It has two key features:

1) It integrates theory and practice. Identify important aspects of your reflections and write these using the appropriate theories and academic context to explain and interpret your reflections. Use your experiences to evaluate the theories - can the theories be adapted or modified to be more helpful for your situation?

2) It identifies the learning outcomes of your experience. So you might include a plan for next time identifying what you would do differently, your new understandings or values and unexpected things you have learnt about yourself.

You are aiming to draw out the links between theory and practice. So you will need to keep comparing the two and exploring the relationship between them.

Analyze the event and think about it with reference to a particular theory or academic evidence:

• Are your observations consistent with the theory, models or published academic evidence?
• How can the theories help you to interpret your experience?
• Also consider how your experience in practice helps you to understand the theories. Does it seem to bear out what the theories have predicted?
• Or is it quite different? If so, can you identify why it's different? (Perhaps you were operating in different circumstances from the original research, for instance.)

Collecting evidence

There are two sources of evidence which need to be used in reflective writing assignments:

1) Your reflections form essential evidence of your experiences. Keep notes on your reflections and the developments that have occurred during the process.

2) Academic evidence from published case studies and theories to show how your ideas and practices have developed in the context of the relevant academic literature.

1)  Write a log of the event. Describe what happened as briefly and objectively as possible. You might be asked to include the log as an appendix to your assignment but it is mostly for your own benefit so that you can recall what occurred accurately.

2)  Reflect . You should reflect upon the experience before you start to write, although additional insights are likely to emerge throughout the writing process. Discuss with a friend or colleague and develop your insight. Keep notes on your thinking.

3)  Select . Identify relevant examples which illustrate the reflective process; choose a few of the most challenging or puzzling incidents and explore why they are interesting and what you have learnt from them.

Start with the points you want to make, then select examples to back up your points, from your two sources of evidence:

ii) theories, published case studies, or academic articles.

Use the reflective learning cycle to structure your writing:

• plan again etc.

This will make sure you cover the whole process and explain not just what happened, but why it happened and what improvements can be made based on your new understanding.

As a large proportion of your reflective account is based on your own experience, it is normally appropriate to use the first person ('I'). However, most assignments containing reflective writing will also include academic writing. You are therefore likely to need to write both in the first person ("I felt…") and in the third person ("Smith (2009) proposes that …"). Identify which parts of your experience you are being asked to reflect on and use this as a guide to when to use the first person. Always check your guidelines if you are not sure. If guidelines are not available then, in your introduction, explain when and why you are going to use "I" in your writing.

You will produce a balance by weaving together sections of 'I thought… 'I felt,…' and the relevant academic theories in the same section or paragraph. This is more effective than having a section which deals with the theory and a separate section dealing with your experiences.

Try to avoid emotive or subjective terms. Even though you are drawing on your experiences (and they may well have been emotional), you are trying to communicate these to your reader in an academic style. This means using descriptions that everyone would understand in the same way. So rather than writing, "The client was very unhappy at the start of the session", it might be better to write, "The client was visibly distressed", or "The client reported that he was very unhappy". This shows that you are aware that the client's understanding of 'unhappiness' may be quite different from yours or your reader's.  

When writing about your reflections use the past tense as you are referring to a particular moment (I felt…). When referring to theory use the present tense as the ideas are still current (Smith proposes that...).

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Reflective practice - tips and resources

Introduction.

• Everyday reflection
• Models of reflection
• Barriers to reflection
• Free writing
• Reflective writing exercise
• Further reading

Many people worry that they will be unable to write reflectively but chances are that you do it more than you think!  It's a common task during both work and study from appraisal and planning documents to recording observations at the end of a module. The following pages will guide you through some simple techniques for reflective writing as well as how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls.

What is reflective writing?

Writing reflectively involves critically analysing an experience, recording how it has impacted you and what you plan to do with your new knowledge. It can help you to reflect on a deeper level as the act of getting something down on paper often helps people to think an experience through.

The key to reflective writing is to be analytical rather than descriptive. Always ask why rather than just describing what happened during an experience. 

Remember...

You can learn more about reflective writing in this handy video from Hull University:

Created by SkillsTeamHullUni

Where might you use reflective writing?

You can use reflective writing in many aspects of your work, study and even everyday life. The activities below all contain some aspect of reflective writing and are common to many people:

Think about ... When you reflect

Think about all of the activities you do on a daily basis. Do any of these contain elements of reflective writing? Make a list of all the times you have written something reflective over the last month - it will be longer than you think!

Reflective terminology

A common mistake people make when writing reflectively is to focus too much on describing their experience. Think about some of the phrases below and try to use them when writing reflectively to help you avoid this problem:

Always try and write in the first person when writing reflectively. This will help you to focus on your thoughts/feelings/experiences rather than just a description of the experience.

Using reflective writing in your academic work

Many courses will also expect you to reflect on your own learning as you progress through a particular programme. You may be asked to keep some type of reflective journal or diary. Depending on the needs of your course this may or may not be assessed but if you are using one it's important to write reflectively. This can help you to look back and see how your thinking has evolved over time - something useful for job applications in the future. Students at all levels may also be asked to reflect on the work of others, either as part of a group project or through peer review of their work. This requires a slightly different approach to reflection as you are not focused on your own work but again this is a useful skill to develop for the workplace.

You can see some useful examples of reflective writing in academia from California State University Channel Islands , Monash University ,  UNSW and Sage . Several of these examples also include feedback from tutors which you can use to inform your own work.

Laptop/computer/broswer/research by StockSnap via Pixabay licenced under CC0.

Now that you have a better idea of what reflective writing is and how it can be used it's time to practice some techniques.

This page has given you an understanding of what reflective writing is and where it can be used in both work and study. Now that you have a better idea of how reflective writing works the next two pages will guide you through some activities you can use to get started.

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

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.

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How to write in third-person

Although there are three narratives you can use in any form of writing when it comes to your papers and anything academic you produce, it’s best to choose the third-person. It’s pretty simple with a bit of practice, but if you’re completely new to this writing style, here’s what you need to know about how to write in third-person.

What does writing in third-person mean?

Writing in third-person is one of the three styles you can use when describing a point of view. Even though you might not know it, chances are you’ve used first, second and third person in writing projects throughout your education.

It’s a narrative where you’re totally independent of the subject you’re analyzing and writing about. You don’t take sides. You don’t try to influence what readers feel. It’s a completely unbiased, objective way of writing that tells a story or dissects a topic right down the middle.

There’s a lot of information out there about how you can differentiate between the three in roundabout ways, making it unnecessarily complicated. Here’s a quick breakdown to understand the differences for when you write your following paper:

First-person

This is from the I/we perspective. It’s where we talk about us , ourselves, and our opinions. If we go down the first-person route, writing will include pronouns like I , me , myself, and mine .

Second-person

This point of view belongs to the person you’re addressing — so its a you perspective. In your writing, you’d use second-person pronouns such as you , your, and yourselves .

Third-person

The third-person point of view is aimed at the person or people being talked about, which is the type of writing you’d find in stories. In this perspective, you’d use pronouns like he , she , him , her , his , hers , himself , herself , it , them , their, and themselves . Or, you’d use a name. But that tends to happen more in stories than research papers.

Notice the difference between the three?

When to write in third-person

The third-person point of view tells the reader a story and it’s often the go-to when you’re taking an authoritative stance in your papers, which is why it’s so common in academic writing.

So, always choose the third-person stance when writing academic copy, such as essays and research papers.

The reason for this is it’ll make your papers less personal and more objective, meaning the objectivity will make you come across as more credible and less biased. Ultimately, this will help your grades as the third-person view keeps you focused on evidence and facts instead of your opinion.

You can break third-person perspectives into three other types, including omniscient, limited, and objective. Although they’re more associated with creative writing than academic work and essays, your writing is likely to fall under the third-person objective point of view.

A third-person objective point of view is about being neutral and presenting your findings and research in an observational way, rather than influencing the reader with your opinions.

How to use the third-person point of view

Rule number one: Never refer to yourself in your essay in the third-person. That’s a no-no.

For instance, here’s how you shouldn’t write a sentence in your essay if you’re writing about virtual learning as an example.

“I feel like students perform better at home because they have more freedom and are more comfortable.”

It’s a simple sentence, but there’s a lot wrong with it when you’re talking about research papers and adopting a third-person narrative. Why? Because you’re using first-person pronouns and, as it sounds like an opinion, you can’t back up your claims with a stat or any credible research. There’s no substance to it whatsoever.

Also, it isn’t very assertive. The person marking your work won’t be impressed by “I feel like,” because it shows no authority and highlights that it came from your brain and not anywhere of note.

By including terms like “I think” or “I feel” like in the example above, you’re already off to a bad start.

But when you switch that example to the third-person point of view, you can cite your sources , which is precisely what you need to do in your essays and research papers to achieve higher grades.

Let’s switch that sentence up and expand it using the third-person point of view:

“A psychological study from Karrie Goodwin shows that students thrive in virtual classrooms as it offers flexibility. They can make their own hours and take regular breaks. Another study from high school teacher, Ashlee Trip, highlighted that children enjoy freedom, the ability to work at their own pace and decide what their day will look like.”

With a third-person narrative, you can present evidence to the reader and back up the claims you make. So, it not only shows what you know, but it also shows you took the time to research and strengthen your paper with credible resources and facts — not just opinions.

6 tips for writing in third-person

1. understand your voice won’t always shine in your essays.

Every single piece of writing tends to have a voice or point of view as if you’re speaking to the reader directly. However, that can’t always happen in academic writing as it’s objective compared to a novel, for example. Don’t try to ‘fluff’ up your piece to try and cram your personality in, as your academic work doesn’t need it.

2. Don’t focus on yourself or the reader — focus on the text

An academic piece of work always has a formal tone as it’s objective. When you write your next paper, focus on the writing itself rather than the writer or the reader.

3. Coach yourself out of using first-person pronouns

This is easier said than done if all you’ve ever done is first- or second-person writing. When you write your next paper, scan through it to see if you’ve written anything in first-person and replace it with the third-person narrative.

Here are a few regular offenders that pop up in academic papers — along with how you can switch the statements to third-person:

• I argue should be this essay argues
• I found that should be it was found that
• We researched should be the group researched
• I will also analyze should be topic X will also be analyzed

The same applies to second-person, as there are plenty of cases where it tends to slip through in academic writing. Again, it’s pretty straightforward to switch the more you practice. For instance:

• Your paper will be marked higher if you use a citation tool should be the use of a citation tool will improve one’s grades

4. Be as specific as possible

This is where things can get a little bit confusing. Writing in third-person is all about including pronouns like he, she, it, and they. However, using them towards the beginning of sentences can be pretty vague and might even confuse the reader — this is the last thing you want from your essay or paper.

Instead, try using nouns towards the beginning of sentences. For example, use the actual subject, such as the interviewer or the writer, rather than he, she, or they when you begin the sentence.

The same applies to terms like it. Start the sentence with the ‘it’ is that you’re describing. If it’s a citation tool, begin the sentence by referencing what you’re discussing, so you aren’t vague. Clarity is key.

5. Write in the present tense when using third-person

In any form of academic writing, you need to write your reports, essays, and research papers in the present tense, especially when introducing different subjects or findings.

So, rather than saying “This paper analyzed” (which does seem correct as technically that part was in the past and the writing is in the present), you should write “This report analyzes” — as if you’re analyzing right here and now.

However, the difference is when you highlight how you did the research, that should be in the past tense. This means you’d use third-person phrases like “The equipment that was used” or “The results were analyzed by”, for instance.

6. Avoid adding your own thoughts

If your report is on a subject that’s close to your heart, it can be super tempting to sprinkle in your own thoughts. It’s a challenge, but you need to coach yourself out of it.

In academic writing, you aren’t a commentator. You’re a reporter. You need to let readers draw their conclusions without over-analyzing them or making the reader lean one way or another.

The easiest way to get to grips with writing your academic papers in the third-person is to be consistent and practice often. Criticize your work and analyze it until it becomes the norm. Yes, it can be a little complex in the early days, but before you know it, you’d have mastered the technique, helping you take your papers and reports up a level.

Frequently Asked Questions about writing in third-person

In third-person, you’d use pronouns like he , she , him , her , his , hers , himself , herself , it , them , their, and themselves . Or, you’d use a name.

You is used in second person and is therefore not used in third person. The second person is used for the person that is being addressed.

The third-person point of view is aimed at the person or people being talked about, which is the type of writing you’d find in stories. When writing in third-person view, make sure to write in the present tense and avoid adding your own thoughts.

When writing in third person, you should actually always write in the present tense since you are mostly presenting results in this view.

The second person point of view belongs to the person you’re addressing — so its a you perspective. In your writing, you’d use second-person pronouns such as you , your, and yourselves .

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How to Write in Third Person

Last Updated: March 27, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Alicia Cook . Alicia Cook is a Professional Writer based in Newark, New Jersey. With over 12 years of experience, Alicia specializes in poetry and uses her platform to advocate for families affected by addiction and to fight for breaking the stigma against addiction and mental illness. She holds a BA in English and Journalism from Georgian Court University and an MBA from Saint Peter’s University. Alicia is a bestselling poet with Andrews McMeel Publishing and her work has been featured in numerous media outlets including the NY Post, CNN, USA Today, the HuffPost, the LA Times, American Songwriter Magazine, and Bustle. She was named by Teen Vogue as one of the 10 social media poets to know and her poetry mixtape, “Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately” was a finalist in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,131,587 times.

Writing in third person can be a simple task, with a little practice. For academic purposes, third person writing means that the writer must avoid using subjective pronouns like “I” or “you.” For creative writing purposes, there are differences between third person omniscient, limited, objective, and episodically limited points of view. Choose which one fits your writing project.

Writing in Third Person Academically

• Third person helps the writing stay focused on facts and evidence instead of personal opinion.

• Third person pronouns include: he, she, it; his, her, its; him, her, it; himself, herself, itself; they; them; their; themselves.
• Names of other people are also considered appropriate for third person use.
• Example: “ Smith believes differently. According to his research, earlier claims on the subject are incorrect.”

• First person pronouns include: I, me, my, mine, myself, we, us, our, ours, ourselves. [3] X Research source
• The problem with first person is that, academically speaking, it sounds too personalized and too subjective. In other words, it may be difficult to convince the reader that the views and ideas being expressed are unbiased and untainted by personal feelings. Many times, when using first person in academic writing, people use phrases like "I think," "I believe," or "in my opinion."
• Incorrect example: “Even though Smith thinks this way, I think his argument is incorrect.”
• Correct example: “Even though Smith thinks this way, others in the field disagree.”

• Second person pronouns include: you, your, yours, yourself. [4] X Research source
• One main problem with second person is that it can sound accusatory. It runs to risk of placing too much responsibility on the shoulders of the reader specifically and presently reading the work.
• Incorrect example: “If you still disagree nowadays, then you must be ignorant of the facts.”
• Correct example: “Someone who still disagrees nowadays must be ignorant of the facts.”

• Indefinite third person nouns common to academic writing include: the writer, the reader, individuals, students, a student, an instructor, people, a person, a woman, a man, a child, researchers, scientists, writers, experts.
• Example: “In spite of the challenges involved, researchers still persist in their claims.”
• Indefinite third person pronouns include: one, anyone, everyone, someone, no one, another, any, each, either, everybody, neither, nobody, other, anybody, somebody, everything, someone.
• Incorrect example: "You might be tempted to agree without all the facts."
• Correct example: “ One might be tempted to agree without all the facts.”
• This is usually done in an attempt to avoid the gender-specific “he” and “she” pronouns. The mistake here would be to use the “they” pronoun with singular conjugation. [5] X Research source
• Incorrect example: “The witness wanted to offer anonymous testimony. They was afraid of getting hurt if their name was spread.”
• Correct example: “The witness wanted to offer anonymous testimony. They were afraid of getting hurt if their name was spread.”

Writing in Third Person Omniscient

• For instance, a story may include four major characters: William, Bob, Erika, and Samantha. At various points throughout the story, the thoughts and actions of each character should be portrayed. These thoughts can occur within the same chapter or block of narration.
• Writers of omniscient narratives should be conscious of “head-hopping” — that is, shifting character perspectives within a scene. While this does not technically break the rules of Third Person Omniscience, it is widely considered a hallmark of narrative laziness.

• In a sense, the writer of a third person omniscient story is somewhat like the “god” of that story. The writer can observe the external actions of any character at any time, but unlike a limited human observer, the writer can also peek into the inner workings of that character at will, as well.
• Know when to hold back. Even though a writer can reveal any information they choose to reveal, it may be more beneficial to reveal some things gradually. For instance, if one character is supposed to have a mysterious aura, it would be wise to limit access to that character's inner feelings for a while before revealing his or her true motives.

• Do not use first person and second person points of view in the narrative or descriptive portions of the text.
• Correct example: Bob said to Erika, “I think this is creepy. What do you think?”
• Incorrect example: I thought this was creepy, and Bob and Erika thought so, too. What do you think?

Writing in Third Person Limited

• The thoughts and feelings of other characters remain an unknown for the writer throughout the duration of the text. There should be no switching back and forth between characters for this specific type of narrative viewpoint.
• Unlike first person, where the narrator and protagonist are the same, third person limited puts a critical sliver of distance between protagonist and narrator. The writer has the choice to describe one main character’s nasty habit — something they wouldn’t readily reveal if the narration were left entirely to them.

• In other words, do not use first person pronouns like “I,” “me,” “my,” “we,” or “our” outside of dialog. The main character's thoughts and feelings are transparent to the writer, but that character should not double as a narrator.
• Correct example: “Tiffany felt awful after the argument with her boyfriend.”
• Correct example: “Tiffany thought, “I feel awful after that argument with my boyfriend.”
• Incorrect example: “I felt awful after the argument with my boyfriend.”

• Note that the writer can offer insight or guesses regarding the thoughts of other characters, but those guesses must be presented through the perspective of the main character.
• Correct example: “Tiffany felt awful, but judging by the expression on Carl's face, she imagined that he felt just as bad if not worse.”
• Incorrect example: “Tiffany felt awful. What she didn't know was that Carl felt even worse.”

• Correct example: “Tiffany watched from the window as Carl walked up to her house and rang the doorbell.”
• Incorrect example: “As soon as Tiffany left the room, Carl let out a sigh of relief.”

Writing in Episodically Limited Third Person

• Limit the amount of pov characters you include. You don't want to have too many characters that confuse your reader or serve no purpose. Each pov character should have a specific purpose for having a unique point of view. Ask yourself what each pov character contributes to the story.
• For instance, in a romance story following two main characters, Kevin and Felicia, the writer may opt to explain the inner workings of both characters at different moments in the story.
• One character may receive more attention than any other, but all main characters being followed should receive attention at some point in the story.

• Multiple perspectives should not appear within the same narrative space. When one character's perspective ends, another character's can begin. The two perspectives should not be intermixed within the same space.
• Incorrect example: “Kevin felt completely enamored of Felicia from the moment he met her. Felicia, on the other hand, had difficulty trusting Kevin.”

• In a novel-length work, a good time to switch perspective is at the start of a new chapter or at a chapter break.
• The writer should also identify the character whose perspective is being followed at the start of the section, preferably in the first sentence. Otherwise, the reader may waste too much energy guessing.
• Correct example: “Felicia hated to admit it, but the roses Kevin left on her doorstep were a pleasant surprise.”
• Incorrect example: “The roses left on the doorstep seemed like a nice touch.”

• For instance, if Kevin had a talk with Felicia's best friend about Felicia's feelings for him, Felicia herself would have no way of knowing what was said unless she witnessed the conversation or heard about it from either Kevin or her friend.

Writing in Third Person Objective

• There does not need to be a single main character to focus on. The writer can switch between characters, following different characters throughout the course of the narrative, as often as needed.
• Stay away from first person terms like “I” and second person terms like “you” in the narrative, though. Only use first and second person within dialog.

• Imagine that you are an invisible bystander observing the actions and dialog of the characters in your story. You are not omniscient, so you do not have access to any character's inner thoughts and feelings. You only have access to each character's actions.
• Correct example: “After class, Graham hurriedly left the room and rushed back to his dorm room.”
• Incorrect example: “After class, Graham raced from the room and rushed back to his dorm room. The lecture had made him so angry that he felt as though he might snap at the next person he met.”

• Correct example: “When no one else was watching her, Isabelle began to cry.”
• Incorrect example: “Isabelle was too prideful to cry in front of other people, but she felt completely broken-hearted and began crying once she was alone.”

• Let the reader draw his or her own conclusions. Present the actions of the character without analyzing them or explaining how those actions should be viewed.
• Correct example: “Yolanda looked over her shoulder three times before sitting down.”
• Incorrect example: “It might seem like a strange action, but Yolanda looked over her shoulder three times before sitting down. This compulsive habit is an indication of her paranoid state of mind.”

Examples of Third Person POV

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://stlcc.edu/student-support/academic-success-and-tutoring/writing-center/writing-resources/point-of-view-in-academic-writing.aspx
• ↑ http://studysupportresources.port.ac.uk/Writing%20in%20the%20third%20peson.pdf
• ↑ http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/third_person.htm
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/use-the-singular-they/
• ↑ Alicia Cook. Professional Writer. Expert Interview. 11 December 2020.
• ↑ https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/point-of-view-first-second-third-person-difference
• ↑ https://ojs.library.dal.ca/YAHS/article/viewFile/7236/6278

About This Article

To write in third person, refer to people or characters by name or use third person pronouns like he, she, it; his, her, its; him, her, it; himself, herself, itself; they; them; their; and themselves. Avoid first and second person pronouns completely. For academic writing, focus on a general viewpoint rather than a specific person's to keep things in third person. In other types of writing, you can write in third person by shifting your focus from character to character or by focusing on a single character. To learn more from our Literary Studies Ph.D., like the differences between third person omniscient and third person limited writing, keep reading the article! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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7 Essential Tips for Writing in the Third Person

Table of contents

Alana Chase

Whether you’re a student, business professional, or writer, knowing how to write well in the third person is an essential skill.

But you may not be sure of all the rules or how to make your third-person writing shine.

As an editor and writing coach of 11 years, I’ve taught students and writers at all levels how to master the third-person point of view (POV). All you need to get started is a good understanding of third-person pronouns and a bit of practice for consistency. 

By the end of this article, you’ll know when and how to use third-person perspective. You'll also find helpful tips for taking your third-person writing to the next level.

Key takeaways 

• In the third-person perspective, the narrator is separate from the story. 
• Third-person perspective uses he/him/his, she/her/hers, and they/them/their pronouns. 
• Consistency is key: Don’t switch between perspectives in a single document.
• Practicing third-person writing and editing your work is vital to improving your skills.

What is third-person point of view (POV)?

In writing, there are three ways to tell a story: first-person, second-person, or third-person POV. 

First-person POV is from the narrator’s perspective: 

“ I saw the bird steal my sandwich, and I ran after it.”

Second-person POV is from the reader’s perspective: 

“ You saw the bird steal your sandwich, and you ran after it.”

Third-person POV, however, separates the narrator from the story and uses third-person pronouns (like he/him, she/her, and they/them) to describe events, actions, thoughts, and emotions. Characters are referred to by name or one of these pronouns: 

“ Alex saw the bird steal his/her/their sandwich, and he/she/they ran after it.”

Third-person POV is used in all kinds of writing — from novels to research papers, journalistic articles, copywriting materials, and more. Check out some examples below.

Examples of third-person perspective

• In a novel: “Robb and Jon sat tall and still on their horses, with Bran between them on his pony, trying to seem older than seven, trying to pretend that he’d seen all this before.” (From A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin)
• In a news article : “This weekend, Iceland experienced nearly 2,000 earthquakes within 48 hours. And they’ve kept coming since then – in swarms.” (From “Thousands of earthquakes have scientists watching for a volcanic eruption in Iceland” on NPR’s website )
• In copywriting : “Balm Dotcom’s formula has antioxidants and natural emollients to nourish dry lips.” (Website copy describing Glossier’s Balm Dotcom lip product )

7 tips for writing in the third person

Just like the first and second person, you’ve probably already written in the third person before. But to do it well , you’ll need some key tips and tricks in your writing toolkit. 

Let’s dive into the seven essentials for third-person writing.

Tip 1: Use third-person determiners and pronouns 

In grammar, determiners introduce and modify nouns. They’re used to specify what a noun refers to (like “ my laptop”) or the quantity of it (like “ many sandwiches”). 

Meanwhile, pronouns are substitutes for nouns, referring to people, places, or things. For example, “Caroline [noun] is a skilled musician, and she [pronoun] especially loves playing the piano.”

When you write in the third person, use only third-person determiners and pronouns. Let’s take a look at the different types of pronouns. 

Tip 2: Use names for clarity

In third-person writing, using names is crucial for clarity, especially when multiple people/characters share similar pronouns. Strategically incorporate names into your writing to help readers keep track of who’s who. 

For example:

‍ “She submitted the script draft to her, and she made suggestions for changes.”

‍ “Mira submitted the script draft to Lynn, and Lynn made suggestions for changes.”

Tip: Use a character or person’s name when introducing them in your writing. Then, alternate between using pronouns and their name to prevent confusion.

Tip 3: Keep the narration neutral

When you write in the third person, your narrator is an uninvolved observer. They have no opinions on the people, places, things, or events they describe. Their words and tone should be neutral (but not boring).

To achieve this in your writing:

• Think of your narrator as a reporter. Their job is to detail what’s happening, when and why it’s occurring, who’s involved, and any background information that can give context. They don’t offer a personal interpretation of events. Instead, they provide facts and supporting details.
• Save the judgment for characters. Rather than having your narrator share their critique of events or individuals, have a character offer their opinion — either through dialogue, actions, or reactions. For instance, instead of writing, “Dr. Shaw was a courageous woman,” let a character convey admiration by telling Dr. Shaw, “I’ve always admired your fearlessness.”
• Be objective with your descriptions. Avoid subjective adjectives and focus on observable features. For example, instead of describing a landscape as “breathtaking,” write that it’s “marked with snow-capped mountains and patches of tall pine trees.” 

Tip 4: Use descriptive language

Showing — and not just telling — is essential when writing in the third person. Instead of stating emotions and experiences outright, immerse your reader in your character’s reality. Create vivid descriptions of their thoughts, feelings, and surroundings. Use language that engages the senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. 

For example: 

“Aisha was nervous.”

‍ “Aisha’s hands trembled, and her tongue felt dry against the roof of her mouth. The spotlight above the stage shone white-hot, causing beads of sweat to form along Aisha’s hairline.”

Tip 5: Be consistent

Once you establish a third-person POV, stick to it . Avoid switching from the third person to the first or second person. Otherwise, you’ll confuse the reader and disrupt the flow of your writing.

“Hannah felt a surge of excitement when her telephone rang, anticipating good news about her mortgage application. I felt my heart rate quicken as I answered.” (Switches from the third person to the first person)

“Hannah felt a surge of excitement when her telephone rang, anticipating good news about her mortgage application. She felt her heart rate quicken as she answered.” (Remains in the third person)

Tip 6: Practice

Writing in the third person might feel strange at first, especially if you’re used to using the first or second person. However, it’ll come more naturally to you with practice.

Here are two writing exercises you can try right now:

Writing Exercise #1

Take an excerpt from an article or book written in the first or second person and rewrite it in the third person. Below is an example using The Catcher in the Rye , whose main character is named Holden.

Before: “The other reason I wasn’t down at the game was because I was on my way to say good-by to old Spencer, my history teacher.”

After: “The other reason Holden wasn’t down at the game was because he was on his way to say good-by to old Spencer, his history teacher.”

Writing Exercise #2

Turn on a movie or television show, mute the sound, and closely observe two characters. Give them each a name. Using third-person pronouns and their names, describe the characters’ actions and what you believe they’re thinking and feeling. 

Above all, write in the third person as often as possible , following the tips in this guide. Remember, your writing skills are like muscles: The more you exercise them, the stronger they become. 

Tip 7: Carefully revise 

After you’ve written something in the third person, carefully review and revise your work. 

Check that your writing :

• Uses third-person determiners and pronouns accurately and consistently
• Incorporates names where pronouns may cause confusion
• Maintains a neutral tone, where your narrator doesn’t offer personal opinions or interpretations
• Doesn’t shift to the first or second person

Make changes where necessary, then read through your work a final time.

AI tip: Wordtune can help you self-edit and help improve your writing overall.

Paste your work into Wordtune’s Editor, or write in it directly, and use the features to shorten or expand your sentences, make your tone more casual or formal, and more. Wordtune will also automatically flag spelling and grammar errors and suggest ways to improve concision, clarity, and flow.

Get Wordtune for free > Get Wordtune for free >

Bonus tip (advanced): Learn the different types of third-person POV

Did you know there are three types of third-person POV? Getting familiar with them can help you make your writing even more impactful.

• Third-person objective , where the narrator is “a fly on the wall”: They provide an objective account of events without exploring people/characters’ emotions or thoughts.
• Third-person omniscient , where the narrator has unlimited knowledge of all events and characters’ thoughts and feelings. 
• Third-person limited , also called “close third,” where the narrator has access to just one character’s emotions, thoughts, and experiences. 

With this knowledge, you can choose the right perspective for your writing depending on its purpose, tone, and goals. 

For instance, use third-person omniscient to show readers what’s happening with everyone in your novel. Or, you could go for third-person objective in an academic paper where you must present facts without sharing your interpretation of them.

Writing well in the third person takes thought and effort. You must use third-person determiners and pronouns, weave in descriptive language, and keep your narration neutral. You also need to be consistent with your POV, ensuring you don’t accidentally switch to the first or second person. Finally, review and revise your work to make sure it’s clear and error-free. 

Using this guide — and Wordtune’s tools to polish your writing — you’ll get the hang of the third-person perspective in no time.

To continue sharpening your writing skills, read our articles on mastering tone of voice and writing concisely (with help from AI). Then, check out our proofreading guide to keep your work flawless . 

What is a third-person word example?

Third-person words are pronouns like “he,” “her,” “they,” “it,” “hers,” and “theirs.”

Should I write in the first or third person?

It depends on the closeness you want to create with your audience. The first person allows for a personal connection between the narrator and the reader, while the third person creates distance between the narrator and the audience.

What are the disadvantages of writing in the third person?

Third-person writing can lead to a lack of intimacy with the reader. This can be a disadvantage for some writers but an advantage for others, like those in academic and professional settings.

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Reflective practice toolkit, introduction.

• What is reflective practice?
• Everyday reflection
• Models of reflection
• Barriers to reflection
• Free writing
• Reflective writing exercise
• Bibliography

Many people worry that they will be unable to write reflectively but chances are that you do it more than you think!  It's a common task during both work and study from appraisal and planning documents to recording observations at the end of a module. The following pages will guide you through some simple techniques for reflective writing as well as how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls.

What is reflective writing?

Writing reflectively involves critically analysing an experience, recording how it has impacted you and what you plan to do with your new knowledge. It can help you to reflect on a deeper level as the act of getting something down on paper often helps people to think an experience through.

The key to reflective writing is to be analytical rather than descriptive. Always ask why rather than just describing what happened during an experience. 

Remember...

Reflective writing is...

• Written in the first person
• Free flowing
• A tool to challenge assumptions
• A time investment

Reflective writing isn't...

• Written in the third person
• Descriptive
• What you think you should write
• A tool to ignore assumptions
• A waste of time

Adapted from The Reflective Practice Guide: an Interdisciplinary Approach / Barbara Bassot.

You can learn more about reflective writing in this handy video from Hull University:

Created by SkillsTeamHullUni

• Hull reflective writing video transcript (Word)
• Hull reflective writing video transcript (PDF)

Where might you use reflective writing?

You can use reflective writing in many aspects of your work, study and even everyday life. The activities below all contain some aspect of reflective writing and are common to many people:

1. Job applications

Both preparing for and writing job applications contain elements of reflective writing. You need to think about the experience that makes you suitable for a role and this means reflection on the skills you have developed and how they might relate to the specification. When writing your application you need to expand on what you have done and explain what you have learnt and why this matters - key elements of reflective writing.

2. Appraisals

In a similar way, undertaking an appraisal is a good time to reflect back on a certain period of time in post. You might be asked to record what went well and why as well as identifying areas for improvement.

3. Written feedback

If you have made a purchase recently you are likely to have received a request for feedback. When you leave a review of a product or service online then you need to think about the pros and cons. You may also have gone into detail about why the product was so good or the service was so bad so other people know how to judge it in the future.

4. Blogging

Blogs are a place to offer your own opinion and can be a really good place to do some reflective writing. Blogger often take a view on something and use their site as a way to share it with the world. They will often talk about the reasons why they like/dislike something - classic reflective writing.

5. During the research process

When researchers are working on a project they will often think about they way they are working and how it could be improved as well as considering different approaches to achieve their research goal. They will often record this in some way such as in a lab book and this questioning approach is a form of reflective writing.

6. In academic writing

Many students will be asked to include some form of reflection in an academic assignment, for example when relating a topic to their real life circumstances. They are also often asked to think about their opinion on or reactions to texts and other research and write about this in their own work.

Think about ... When you reflect

Think about all of the activities you do on a daily basis. Do any of these contain elements of reflective writing? Make a list of all the times you have written something reflective over the last month - it will be longer than you think!

Reflective terminology

A common mistake people make when writing reflectively is to focus too much on describing their experience. Think about some of the phrases below and try to use them when writing reflectively to help you avoid this problem:

• The most important thing was...
• At the time I felt...
• This was likely due to...
• After thinking about it...
• I learned that...
• I need to know more about...
• Later I realised...
• This was because...
• This was like...
• I wonder what would happen if...
• I'm still unsure about...
• My next steps are...

Always try and write in the first person when writing reflectively. This will help you to focus on your thoughts/feelings/experiences rather than just a description of the experience.

Using reflective writing in your academic work

Many courses will also expect you to reflect on your own learning as you progress through a particular programme. You may be asked to keep some type of reflective journal or diary. Depending on the needs of your course this may or may not be assessed but if you are using one it's important to write reflectively. This can help you to look back and see how your thinking has evolved over time - something useful for job applications in the future. Students at all levels may also be asked to reflect on the work of others, either as part of a group project or through peer review of their work. This requires a slightly different approach to reflection as you are not focused on your own work but again this is a useful skill to develop for the workplace.

You can see some useful examples of reflective writing in academia from Monash University ,  UNSW (the University of New South Wales) and Sage . Several of these examples also include feedback from tutors which you can use to inform your own work.

Laptop/computer/broswer/research by StockSnap via Pixabay licenced under CC0.

Now that you have a better idea of what reflective writing is and how it can be used it's time to practice some techniques.

This page has given you an understanding of what reflective writing is and where it can be used in both work and study. Now that you have a better idea of how reflective writing works the next two pages will guide you through some activities you can use to get started.

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Reflective Essay Writing

Reflective Essay: Step-by-Step Guide with Examples & Tips

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How to Create a Reflective Essay Outline | Easy Guide with Examples

Good Reflective Essay Topics For Your Paper

Thought and reflection are a major part of our inner lives. Whenever we engage with art and literature or experience anything novel, we tend to reflect on it later.

What if we write our reflections down in a structured way? That is a reflective essay. 

Among various types of essays , reflective essays stand out for being the most personal form of writing. Reflective writing lets you explore your thoughts and experiences about something and gain profound insights into yourself and the world around you.

So how can you write a great reflective essay? Read on to understand reflective essays better with examples and get useful tips.

• 1. What is a Reflective Essay?
• 2. How to Write a Reflective Essay?
• 3. Reflective Essay Structure 
• 4. Reflective Essay Examples
• 5. Tips for Writing Better Reflective Essays
• 6. Reflective Essay Topics

What is a Reflective Essay?

A reflective essay is a type of writing where a writer explores their thoughts, feelings, and observations about a personal experience. These essays are deeply subjective, personal, and introspective.

At its core, a reflective essay prompts you to answer the question: "How did a particular experience impact me?" Unlike narrative or descriptive writing, reflective essays are not just about recounting events. The goal is to analyze and interpret the event with your unique perspective and insights. 

In addition, reflective essays do not require you to provide external evidence or validation, nor do you have to argue or prove something. However, it's important to follow a structured approach that allows you to organize your thoughts and engage your readers. 

So what is that structured approach to writing a reflective essay? Read below.

How to Write a Reflective Essay?

Writing a reflective essay can become a lot easier if you follow a structured writing process. It allows you to effectively communicate your insights to your audience. 

Here is a step-by-step process to start a reflective essay:

Step 1: Brainstorm and Choose a Topic

Begin by brainstorming a specific event, experience, or topic to reflect upon. It could be a personal experience, a book you've read, a class you've taken, or a significant life event.

Here are some helpful tips for choosing a topic:

• Think about your personal experiences and select a topic that resonates with you and offers room for reflection. 
• Consider which one is most relevant to the purpose of your reflective essay. 
• Choose a topic that holds personal significance and allows you to explore and convey meaningful insights.

Step 2: Reflect Deeply & Gather Your Thoughts

Unlike other types of academic essays, reflection papers do not demand research or gathering sources. The source material for the essay can be found in your own thoughts. 

You can write down your thoughts in the form of a bulleted list, mind mapping, or other forms of note-taking. Take time to immerse yourself in the experience and consider its various aspects, including:

• Specific details, emotions, and observations from the event or experience.
• Your initial reactions and thoughts at the time. Recall how the experience affected you and what you learned.

You don’t have to write down complete sentences yet, you can simply note down keywords and phrases.

 Step 3: Organize Your Thoughts

To ensure a coherent and logical essay, organize the points you’ve gathered in an outline. The outline should clarify these aspects:

• A clear thesis statement that indicates the main idea of the essay.
• Body paragraphs that explore different aspects of your reflection, organized in a logical sequence.
• Key points, experiences, and insights you want to include in each paragraph.

This is the last step of your pre-writing preparation. With an organized outline for your essay, you have everything you need to start writing. 

Learn more about crafting efficient outlines in our reflective essay outline guide

Step 4: Write Your First Draft

With your outline in hand, start writing your first draft. Follow your organizational structure and express your thoughts and experiences clearly and concisely. As you write:

• Maintain a reflective and personal tone, as this is a chance to express your thoughts and emotions.
• Use specific examples, anecdotes, and details to illustrate your points.
• Ensure that each paragraph flows logically to the next, creating a smooth reading experience.

Don't worry too much about perfection at this stage; the first draft is about getting your thoughts on paper.

Step 5: Proofread and Revise

After completing your first draft, take a break before revising. Returning to your essay with fresh eyes will help you identify areas for improvement. During the revision process:

• Check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.
• Ensure clarity and coherence in your writing.
• Review the flow of your essay to ensure that it logically progresses from introduction to conclusion. Paragraphs should be connected to each other through transition phrases.
• Trim unnecessary or repetitive content and add details or insights where needed.

By following these five steps, you'll be well on your way to crafting a well-organized and impactful reflective essay.

Reflective Essay Structure 

A reflective essay typically follows a standard structure that includes an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. 

Let’s delve into each of these parts here.

Reflective Essay Introduction

The introduction aims to draw the reader in by catching their interest and providing some context to the topic. A good introduction clearly indicates the subject and type of essay and tells the readers what to expect ahead.

Follow the tips below to craft an engaging introduction.

• Start with a hook or an intriguing opening sentence to pique the reader's interest. For example, you might begin with a thought-provoking quote, a relevant anecdote, or a rhetorical question.
• Provide context by briefly introducing the topic or the experience you will reflect upon. Mention any necessary background information to help the reader understand the context.
• End your introduction with a thesis statement . The thesis statement for a reflective essay can be flexible and can be more than one sentence long. It states the main point you want to convey, such as what you learned, gained, or how were you changed by the experience.

Reflective Essay Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs of your essay are the heart of your reflection, where you dive deep into the experience and explore it from multiple angles. It's essential to organize your body paragraphs logically to maintain a coherent flow.

Here is how body paragraphs are organized in this type of paper:

First Body Paragraph

Provide a clear and detailed description of the experience or event you are reflecting upon. Set the stage by answering the basic questions: What, when, where, and who?

Share the most significant aspects of the experience. Consider the sensory details, the environment, the people involved, and other aspects. This will help your readers immerse themselves in the situation. 

Second Body Paragraph

Once you’ve described the structure of your experience in detail, now is the time to move on to your thoughts, experiences, and observations. 

Reflect on your immediate feelings and initial thoughts. Were you excited, anxious, or confused? 

What did you notice about the people or surroundings? This section allows the reader to connect with your emotional journey, helping them understand the initial impact of the experience.

Third & Fourth Body Paragraphs 

In the subsequent paragraphs, delve into in-depth reflection and analysis of your experience. 

This is where you critically examine the experience, asking yourself why it was significant and how it impacted you. Consider the implications and connections to your personal growth, beliefs, or values and analyze the experience in the context of your life, education, or career.

You should also engage in critical reflection. For instance, 

• What did you learn from the experience? 
• How did it challenge or reinforce your existing beliefs? 
• Did it change your perspective on certain issues?

Feel free to use multiple paragraphs for this reflection if needed. Each paragraph can explore different facets of your experience and offer a more comprehensive analysis.

Reflective Essay Conclusion

The conclusion of your reflective essay brings your reflection to a meaningful closure. It ties together the entire essay and aims to leave the reader with a lasting impression.

Here are some tips for writing a good conclusion:

• Summarize the key points you discussed in the body paragraphs without introducing new information. Reinforce the main message of your essay.
• Present the significance of the experience and its impact on your personal growth, beliefs, or understanding.
• Consider ending with a thought-provoking statement or a powerful insight to make it more impactful for the reader.

Reflective Essay Examples

Although you now know how to write a reflective essay, you should read some examples before you start writing. Reading the reflective essay samples below will help you get a feel of this type of writing. 

Reflective Essay Sample - Reflections on Reading a Book

Reflective Essay Example - A Visit to a Historical Place

Tips for Writing Better Reflective Essays

Only following the writing steps can help you write a good essay. But to make it even better, you should do something extra. Here are some writing tips that can help you polish your reflective writing.

• Be Genuine and Authentic: Reflective essays thrive on authenticity. Share your true thoughts and feelings without embellishment or pretense. Readers appreciate sincerity and honesty in your reflections.
• Show, Don't Just Tell: Instead of merely stating your emotions or thoughts, demonstrate them through concrete examples and anecdotes. Let readers experience your reflection alongside you.
• Be Concise and Focused: Avoid unnecessary tangents or excessive details that may distract from your main reflection. Keep your essay focused on the central experience and its significance.
• Engage the Reader's Emotions: Touch on universal emotions and experiences that resonate with readers. Connecting on an emotional level can make your reflective essay more relatable and memorable.
• Seek Feedback: Don't hesitate to share your reflective essay with peers, mentors, or writing tutors. Their feedback can offer valuable insights and help you refine your writing.
• Reflect on Your Reflection: After completing your reflective essay, take a moment to reflect on your own reflection process. Consider what you've learned about yourself and your writing style. Use this insight to improve future reflective essays.

Reflective Essay Topics

Reflective essays can be written on a variety of topics. Here are some ideas you can write about: 

• Engaging with Art: Reflect on your experience of reading a book, watching a documentary etc. 
• A Life-Changing Journey: Reflect lessons learned from a trip or adventure.
• Mentorship and Learning: Reflect on the influence of a particular teacher, mentor, or role model on your life. 
• Overcoming a Challenge: Write about a challenging experience or obstacle you've faced 
• Life Milestones: Write about a major life event, such as graduating from school, getting married, or becoming a parent, etc.
• Career Transitions: Share your reflections on transitioning between careers or jobs. 
• A Turning Point: Reflect on a specific moment or decision in your life that marked a turning point. 
• Relationships: Explore the dynamics of a significant friendship or relationship.
• Ethical Dilemmas: Discuss a moral or ethical dilemma you faced and how you navigated it. 
• Volunteer or Community Service: Share your experiences with community service. 

These are just a few general ideas. With the help of these topics, you can ignite your creativity and choose the most meaningful topic for yourself.

Need more ideas to find a great topic for your reflective paper? Here are 100+ engaging reflective essay topics for your help!

Reflective essays serve as powerful instruments for self-discovery. It allows you to delve into your thoughts and experiences and share them with others in a meaningful way. 

By following the steps, tips, and, examples above, you can explore the richness of your own experiences and engage others along the way. Trying to write a reflective essay can even become another one of your amazing experiences! So, embrace authenticity, engage your readers, and inspire those who read your words.

Need help writing a reflective essay? Don’t worry!

We understand the significance of these reflective journeys, and we've expert writers to assist you. At our reflective essay writing service , our team of writing professionals is dedicated to helping you craft insightful and impactful essays that meet your custom requirements.

So contact our essay writing service now!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you say i in a reflective essay.

Yes! First-person pronouns are a great way to give the reader insight into your life and thoughts. I, me, we - these words all have personal meaning. So, they should be used in a reflective essay.

What person is a reflective essay?

A reflective essay is a type of academic writing that can take on many different forms. You might be asked to write it in the first person or third person, and there's no one correct way to do so!

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Complete Guide to Writing a Reflective Essay

3466 words (14 pages)

06/05/20 Reference this

This article, written by the nursing professionals at NursingAnswers.net will show you how to write a reflective essay, and will guide you through the process of writing this specific type of paper. If you have been given a reflective essay assignment for the first time, you might have a lot of questions, such as: ‘ What is the point of this assignment?’, ‘How do I write a reflective essay?’, or ‘ What am I supposed to learn from this?’ The good news is that these are all valid questions, and you should be asking them. In fact, it is exactly these kinds of questions that provide the very foundation of reflective thinking—so if you’re already asking yourself such questions, then congratulations, you are well on your way to becoming a skilled reflective thinker. We will therefore address each of these questions in turn, and more, as we discuss the ins and outs of writing a reflective essay.

Reflective Essay Comparison Table

What is the point of a ‘reflective essay’.

To begin with then, your first question might be that of deriving the point of a reflective essay. The first thing you should know then, is that very essence of a reflective essay, at its most fundamental level, is that it should reflect on an experience that you have had—hence the name. This reflection will obviously vary depending upon your field of study, but the principle is the same: you will have had a particular experience in the field, or in life in general, and you will then write about it, and reflect upon it will various analyses. More specifically, you will do this by first briefly describing what happened, from your own unique point of view, before reflecting upon this, and trying to learn something from the experience by putting this in the context of any perspectives or theories that you have studied, or simply by analysing the experience after the event in a little more depth, and trying to understand what happened.

If you know in advance that you are going to write a reflective essay about a particular experience, then it can be useful to keep a journal as you go along, so that you’re not relying exclusively on your memories (as memories can be malleable, and are not as accurate as most people believe), and this journal might also include some reflections as you go along too, so that you have an immediate record of how you felt or viewed the events at the moment they unfolded. Indeed, on this subject, there can be said to be two main types of reflection, in: (1) reflections made during an event, and (2) reflections made after an event. So, you may need to decide which type of reflections you are going to focus on—but you will only be able to choose if you first know that you will be writing a reflective essay, before an event occurs. The bottom line is though, that the underlying point of writing a reflective essay is so that you can learn something about yourself, and about your field of study, by drawing on a practical experience.

How Do I Write a Reflective Essay?

Thinking About Tenses

As a result of talking about your personal experience, unlike traditional essays, which almost always use the third-person, a reflective essay will typically use the first-person style of writing (which means using the pronoun ‘I’ a lot, and talking from your own individual point of view). To clarify then, if you are not completely familiar with the third and first-person viewpoints, an example of a third-person and first-person account, is as follows:

THIRD PERSON: “Observations were made of the research participants, and notes were kept via a secure, password-protected, laptop computer”.

FIRST PERSON: “I made observations of the research participants, and I kept notes via a secure, password-protected, laptop computer”.  

This change in tense then, is the first clear distinction to be made between a traditional academic essay, and a reflective essay—so in order to write a reflective essay, you need to become adept at this first-person style of writing. Fortunately, though, most people find this first-person approach to writing much easier and more natural than the third-person viewpoint, so this should not be a major problem.

If you need help with your reflective writing then take a look at the reflective essay writing service at NursingAnswers.net.

Thinking About the Structure of Your Paper

Next, you need to think about the structure of your paper. A good reflective essay should describe an event or an experience, while it should also analyse what the experience means, and what you have learned from it. Simply by discussing and then analysing a past event, this in itself makes the piece reflective, by definition. However, there are various ways that you might go about this, from a structural point of view. For example, you might have a section that first briefly describes the experience or event, from your own point of view, before going on to an analysis section; or, you might decide to insert reflections and analyses as you go along, so that the reflective element is also contained within the description part—it’s up to you. In the end, there is no right or wrong answer, but the important thing is that you do include some significant reflective elements, and some analyses of the experience; otherwise, it is simply a descriptive piece, and not a reflective one. Therefore, the basic format of a reflective essay will be a standard: Introduction , Main Body , and Conclusion . However, as noted, you might split the main body into a distinct descriptive section and an analysis section, or you could merge the two.

• Essay Structure 1: Introduction, Main Body, Conclusion
• Essay Structure 2: Introduction, Description of Event, Analysis, Conclusion

Thus, if you choose to go with Essay Structure 1, then you will need to merge your description and reflective analysis, and you can do this by having a topic sentence (detailing this particular part of your experience), followed by some analysis and supporting details, and then by adding a paragraph-ending mini conclusion—and then you can follow this micro-structure within each proceeding paragraph in your Main Body. As such, in Essay Structure 1, each paragraph of your Main Body might look something like this:

• Topic Sentence: Describe this part of your experience and what happened
• Analysis and Supporting Details: Reflect upon this particular part of the experience (and try to explain it with the use of various theories, perspectives, or supporting evidence)
• Paragraph-Ending Mini Conclusion: Round off the paragraph by making some conclusions based upon the reflections

However, for many people, Essay Structure 2 might be easier to handle, as by taking this approach, you can simply write a description of your experience in full, and then analyse everything, in more general terms, and pick out particular parts that you find especially interesting. In the end, the approach you take is very much a personal preference, and you should not be marked down by taking either approach—unless, of course, your assignment has specifically requested a particular structure from the outset.

You can find hundreds of example reflective essays at NursingAnswers.net

Thinking About the Tone of Your Reflective Essay

The tone of your reflective essay is also important, and should be formal in nature, without being overly academic, as you will be including your personal thoughts and feelings, which are subjective in nature. Thus, you can include academic elements, and the piece should be referenced like any other academic piece of work if you include in-text citations in the piece, but this should also be balanced by a more subjective and reflective approach, which should naturally come across if you are writing in the first-person. Just remember that this, ultimately, is an essay, and treat it as such. Moreover, it is also important to get this tone right from the outset, as first impressions matter. This can be refined with each proceeding draft though; so don’t worry too much if you’re not able to nail this down right from the start. Therefore, as you progress, you should start to get a feel for what is required, and you can then fine-tune this with further drafts.

What Are You Supposed to Learn From Writing a Reflective Essay?

By going through the process of writing a reflective essay, it is hoped that you will come to some deeper understanding of yourself, of your experience, and that you will develop some insights into what you might do better next time to achieve different results. Therefore, by reflecting upon your experience, and analysing it, you might begin to view the event through a different lens, and this might shape your future experience and thinking. As such, depending upon your field of study, such shifts in your thinking could be extremely important.

For example, if you are working in the field of social work, you might have had an experience with a difficult client, who has physically abused you, and this might have left you confused and questioning your career choice if you do not fully understand why they became violent. However, by reflecting more deeply upon the event, you may come to the conclusion that the client was not involved enough in their own care, and were removed from the decision-making process, making them feel impotent—which in turn led to them lashing out at what they perceived to be someone contributing to that impotence. Thus, in this particular situation, you may come to the conclusion that, if they have the capacity to do so, the client should have more involvement in the decision-making process in respect of their care in the future. As such, these kinds of reflective practices can lead to profound changes in the way that you conduct your work, and in how you think about certain situations.

In addition, by becoming more proficient at reflective writing, you will also become more adept at analysing what you have read, observed, or listened to, and this a skill that will come in useful in other areas of your work, as critical analysis is an important part of most academic writing. Moreover, you will also become more skilled at making connections between academic texts and theories, and your own experiences, which is useful in joining the dots between theory and practice. Thus, if you can make such connections, then you are more likely to be enthusiastic about studying such theories, as you will be more convinced about their application in the real world. Furthermore, you will also become more skilled at subjective writing too, which can come in useful from time to time, even in your academic writing. As an example, on a very simple level, a reflective piece could look something like this:

Title: “ A Reflective Account of Working in a Psychiatric Hospital”

Description: I worked at a psychiatric hospital for a period of six weeks, on a voluntary basis.

Reflection: I was surprised at the severity of some of the patients’ conditions and the level of burnout I experienced as a result of working with them.

As such, based upon this particular reflection, it might be concluded that the writer reflecting on this experience might no longer wish to pursue a career in mental health. Or, they might decide that they would be better suited towards low-level counselling work (such as in a school), rather than working with people with chronic and severe mental health conditions.

Of course, reflective essays are likely to be much more in-depth than this, with your assignment perhaps specifying a particular number of words for the piece, such as 1,500 words, or 3000 words, for example. If this is the case, then you are going to need to go into some considerable depth, and this will likely lead to further revelations as your analysis of your experience becomes more extensive, and as you add theories and different perspectives into the equation.

In the end though, the overall purpose of a reflective essay is for the writer of it to reflect upon their experience, and to ultimately learn something from it. What writing a reflective essay does then, is to help the writer to make sense of their experience, through some in-depth analysis of it, so that some valuable lessons can be learned, moving forwards. In order to achieve this, a number of frameworks have been created over the years, to help guide the writing process of a reflective essay, and so some of these should be considered before you start.

Reflective Frameworks That Can Be Drawn From

There are a number of theoretical frameworks that can be drawn from to construct your reflective essay, and two of the most well known are those of Kolb (1984) and Gibb (1988).

For more detailed guides on the various models of reflection take a look at our reflective models guide on NursingAnswers.net

Kolb’s (1984) ‘Learning Cycle’        

Kolb (1984) reflective framework is known as the ‘Learning Cycle’, and there are four stages to this, in: (1) the concrete experience (a description of the event or experience), (2) a reflective observation (a reflection of the experience, including what was done, and why), (3) an abstract conceptualisation (making conclusions from the experience), and (4) active experimentation (trying out whatever it is you have learned from the process). Thus, the key difference here is that you should not only learn from a reflective experience, but you should also put what you have learned into action. You should note that this framework closely resembles Essay Structure 1 , which we discussed above, with the addition of a more practical element for the final step. Thus, you could try out what you have learned in a practical setting, and then add the result of this into your conclusion section.

Gibb’s (1988) ‘Reflection Cycle’

In addition, Gibb (1988) also offers a ‘Reflection Cycle’, which represents an extension of the ideas of Kolb (1984), and provides two more stages to the four already proposed. This is perhaps currently the most well known and popular model used in reflective essays. Thus, this time, the six stages are: (1) description, (2) feelings, (3) evaluation, (4) analysis, (5) conclusions, and (6) action plan. Therefore, the description is fairly self-explanatory, and involves, again, a description of the events. Next, you are to document your feelings about the events, both during the event, and after it; and this should be followed by an evaluation of the experience, and what the pros and cons were, including the reactions by those present, and whether the situation changed in any way. The analysis section can then include pertinent literature, which has relevance with the event, and this will be followed by a conclusion, showing what was learned, and what could have been done differently. The action plan then details what you would do if the situation unfolded again, and what preparations you might go through prior to it. As such, these frameworks provide a useful structure to work from, and this could also be incorporated into the structure of your essay if you prefer, if you work better with a more formulaic approach. This then, more closely resembles Essay Structure 2 , detailed previously, with the analysis section being split into sections on feelings, evaluating these feelings, and then analysing the events, in addition to the action plan suggested by Kolb (1984). Furthermore, the idea with both of these ‘cycles’ is to then also reflect further upon the action plan that has been derived from the initial reflection, so that this process can become finely tuned over time, with further reflections, and can lead to some significant development in the individual (see Figure 1 ).

Figure 1. Gibbs’ ‘Reflective Cycle’ (Source: UKEssays.com )

Final Thoughts…

The reflective essay has become a staple of assessment in educational institutions around the world, and is particularly commonplace on university undergraduate or postgraduate courses—and so it is important to understand the ins and outs of such assessments, so that you are better prepared when you get handed such an assignment. If you can become familiar with the reflective cycles of Kolb (1984) and Gibb (1988), then you will have a good idea of what is expected of you when you receive one of these assignments, and you should be adept at writing in the first person, and in an formal tone, so that you can hit the mark with the kind of style you should be aiming for. There are a number of things that you should and shouldn’t be doing with this kind of essay, and you can refer back to this article, as a reminder, when you begin such an assignment. However, the main thing to remember, when doing such an assignment (in addition to striving to get a good grade!), is that you should be learning something about yourself from the process, and about your field of study. In the end, what your teacher wants to see is that you are reflecting upon your personal experiences, rather than just letting them pass you by, and that you are linking theory with practice, and gaining a deeper understanding of your experiences. If you can do this, and your writing is solid, written in the correct tense, and with the right tone, then you are almost certain to get the grade that you want.

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Frequently asked questions

Can i write about myself in the third person.

In most contexts, you should use first-person pronouns (e.g., “I,” “me”) to refer to yourself. In some academic writing, the use of the first person is discouraged, and writers are advised to instead refer to themselves in the third person (e.g., as “the researcher”).

This convention is mainly restricted to the sciences, where it’s used to maintain an objective, impersonal tone. But many style guides (such as APA Style ) now advise you to simply use the first person, arguing that this style of writing is misleading and unnatural.

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