How to Write a Self Reflective Essay?

Guide for writing influential Self Reflective Essays with easy to understand instructions and compelling tips. This article includes 5 powerful steps and 8 incredible tips for helping you to write better Self Reflective essays.

A self reflective essay is a personal opinion piece from the author. It is an opportunity for them to convey their own feelings on subject matter. This article will help writers planning on writing just such material understand the main areas to cover to make for an interesting and entertaining read.

What Is A Self Reflective Essay?

As mentioned earlier, a self reflective essay is all about giving a personal opinion on a piece of subject matter, whether it is a book, movie or artwork. As per the description, this kind of writing is mostly used in the creative arts field but can still be used elsewhere. This style of writing is what many of us encounter when reading a movie or book review, particularly those written by laymen.

In order to write a self reflective essay, there is no amount of research needed. The aim is simply to communicate an opinion and provide reflections and experiences that led up to this conclusion. Some writers may however have some expertise that allows them to make some references to support the validity of their opinion, although this is not necessary for such a piece of work.

This form of writing is very enjoyable as it allows the writer to express personal opinion and he or she is does not have to go to a library or online to provide evidence to back up their opinion. This form of writing is very free-range and enjoyable for those with a creative mind and lots to say.

Instructions (Steps)

1. Understand the topic

A lecture or teacher will definitely give a topic on which the student will need to write a self reflective essay on. The writer should then take time to think about the subject and use an outline to note down their impressions. If the essay is about a book or movie, the writer should read the book first or watch the movie and note their impressions. If the self reflective essay is supposed to be based on an experiment carried out or event attended, the same guideline applies.

They can identify the highlights and where they were disappointed. They can then give an overall assessment of the entire subject and use this to create a working title and the thesis statement on which the self reflective essay is to be built upon.

2. Introduction

At this point the writer is supposed to give some general information on the subject being discussed. If it the subject matter is a book, then the writer can mention if this is the author’s first novel. If not, the writer can mention a past bestseller from the author. He can also mention how many copies of the book have been sold and the general opinion of critics on the work.

A thesis statement should also be brought out at this point. It helps to give the reader an idea of what the writer’s general pinion of the subject matter is and what to expect with the rest of the essay.

3. Main Body

In the main body, the writer gets to elaborate on the key points that support the opinion they have formed. Ideally in the first stage of understanding the topic, the writer will have noted down the impressions that made them form the opinion they formed. It is from this they can draw the main body of the self reflective essay.

The main body is typically made up of three main points spread over three paragraphs. For instance, if writing a favourable review about a book, a writer can detail how colourful the characters were, the excitement of the conflict being faced and the happy ending to the story.

The flow of the points being made in the main body should be practical. It may be done by using chronology of events or even the strongest advantage to the weakest one. Ensure the narration is entertaining to hold the reader’s attention.

4. Conclusion

The conclusion should be a summary of the points illustrated in the main body and should show the reader why the writer came to the opinion they did in the thesis statement. It should be kept short and still entertaining.

5. Have your work reviewed

The essay should be reviewed by a colleague or classmate. They can tell the writer whether the piece is interesting and where they may need to make improvements. It is better to give a classmate the chance to offer a critique than to hand in the paper and receive a low grade. It is also a chance to have the work proofread by someone else.

Tips

1. Writing Style

A self reflective essay is about offering a individual opinion so it should be reflected in the style of writing. Use first person narration in putting down the essay. This makes it personal. Make use of phrases like: ‘I enjoyed’, ‘My favourite part was’ and ‘I disliked’.

2. Expression

Free rein to express one’s personal opinion is not an opportunity to use colloquial language. Teacher or lecturer may want to see what kind of critical reasoning you are using and they still require proper English to be used and the formatting of the document to be the same as with other formal essays.

3. Language

Make good use of descriptive language. Even though a writer does not have to explain why they made the impression they did, it helps for them to give a clear account of what parts of the subject matter caused the reaction and describe concisely the reaction itself.

4. Memories

Similarly to an observation essay, if the writers are aware before the experience that they are going to write an essay about it, they should take time to make notes during or directly after the event. This keeps the memories fresh in the mind.

5. Expectation

Although the student is being given freedom to express an opinion with such writing, they should be smart enough to learn more about the teachers’ expectations. There are normally aspects they would want covered such as, how the title tied in with the body of work, was the event described believable, were the characters interesting and in what way. For a teacher who has been at the job for several years, there are specific areas they like covered and it is up to the student to find out which areas they are.

6. Thoughts

The writer should make use of the outline to organize his or her thoughts. A well organized essay makes for easier to understand reading.

7. Opinion

Do not be afraid to state a personal opinion even if it may differ from anyone else’s. As long as the body of your essay supports the overall thesis statement, your opinion will have been justified so just be consistent.

8. Attention

Pay attention to the limitations which you have been given to work within. A student is normally guided on such issues as the numbers of words so ensure the essay is written along those parameters.

I am feeling excited to read and reply your valuable comments.