academic reflective writing examples

academic reflective writing examples

The Importance of Academic Reflective Writing

1. Introduction

I believe that to the reader, the essay will start to show a more balanced argument and the realization by the writer that television can be useful in learning. As the writer, I can see both sides of the argument. Reflective writing on an essay is done to understand if the writer is able to explain a particular topic or subject using his own words. It is a way for the writer to get the readers to understand his position by providing the reasons as to why he feels a certain way about something. This could lead to the reader changing his perspective and agreeing with the writer. Step four questions the ethics of reality television. A television show is said to be a good form of reality television if it can provide social interaction between the viewers by providing views of the general public on the show. Viewers are likely to place themselves in the shoes of others and compare the views of the public with their own views. Step five provides the conclusion to the whole essay. This step is crucial because there are some viewers who are not able to appreciate the satire and ridicule and can be led to believe that reality television is a good form of entertainment. Overall, the students would not normally get into this topic in great detail but will discuss between themselves the night’s episode of Big Brother. Hopefully this essay will open the eyes of society to the fact that reality television does not always entertain and can go as far as to exploit certain members of the public. Learners would use magazines or newspapers to find information on a certain topic for an essay or just to increase their general knowledge. The section on reality television and channels will be of great interest to the reader. It is an easy-to-read piece with simple vocabulary; therefore explaining the popularity of reality television. This essay is written from the view of a school teacher of a social sciences class in a secondary school. The teacher will be critical of his students watching reality television as this could be practice material for them to use in the near future.

2. Benefits of Academic Reflective Writing

One of the benefits of reflective writing is that it will help you to focus on what you are doing well and identify areas where you might be less effective. Reflective assignments will require you to think about how to improve or what went wrong. It is a good way to address any problems you are experiencing with your learning. In the short term, it is not as painful as failing an assignment and getting feedback, but in the longer term, it will make you more aware of what it takes to be successful within a particular subject or discipline. Being aware of what it takes to do well is an important part of the learning process. It will help you to prepare for the future in terms of career and develop a better understanding of your own abilities. When you reflect on a learning experience, this is a personal event and the requirement to produce evidence of this learning in a formalized manner during a module can seem set and artificial. However, the process of reflection should result in tangible change. To reflect effectively is to make sense of an experience in order to learn and improve. Changes to behavior are related to one’s awareness of what has caused one to act in a specific way (which is a context or a set of triggering factors). If you can identify these events and the factors influencing you, you can begin to shape your behavior and ultimately your quality of work. This means that you should be aware of what will and won’t work for you and cause you to make informed decisions about things like effective approaches to problems or assessment, for the requirement is to raise our abilities and hence our confidence and independence, and reflective practice is the conscious realization of that aim.

3. Examples of Academic Reflective Writing

Using Gibbs reflective cycle, we can apply this to an example illustrated by a football match. An excellent start is made by clearly setting out the basic details of the event, the date, and time, etc. (What? Where? When?). Phase one of the cycle is to describe the event in detail and to consider thoughts and feelings throughout. An example: “The match was yesterday at two o’clock at the university pitches against a team called Albion. It was the first round of a cup which we are desperately seeking to win.” After recounting his activity, the footballer needs to assess what was good or bad about it. This will identify main points to be worked on and give rise to aims and objectives for improvement. Next time, the footballer will be able to compare the success of the same or similar case of action. This could be related to a coaching session. The first time a new coach delivers a session, he may not have known impulsively chose what sorts of exercises would benefit his team the most, and there may even be interruptions to the session as it may be unclear what to do. By thinking about what was attempted and comparing it to the results, the coach can decide whether his approach was effective and even look for alternative and better solutions to the same situation. Step three is to make sense of the situation and give it a sense of purpose. This is easily applicable to anything we do, and often the higher the significance of the task, the greater the analysis and thought that goes into it, usually resulting in a better performance. At this point, it’s probably useful to give another brief example from teaching. Post-graduates who are training to be lecturers in higher education can find this particularly useful when related to their own academic practice. They can reflect on, say, a lecture they have given, execution of a seminar, or the learning process of the students they were responsible for. The final step is to plan action of problem-solving and/or goal-reaching. This will bring purpose and conclusion to any activity, and Gibbs’ cycle provides someone with a logical and methodical way for people to develop strategies and to constantly improve.

Introduction The purpose of these examples is to demonstrate how students have put into practice the theory and skills of reflective writing described in the section “What is reflective writing?”. To this end, it is important to first set out a clear definition of the task in this context. The academic reflective writing that I am asking you to produce for your portfolio is not an account of a specific act or event. Although it is well illustrated by the first example, reflective writing is not simply recounting what has happened. This is a common misunderstanding among students and teachers. During this first year of my teaching, the best way I have found to explain the task is to say that I want a record of the thinking that has been going on in your head reflecting on your practice and experience, attempting to understand, and learning what about what you do in the light of theory. This is intended to be challenging and uncomfortable for it involves breaking from the habitual and familiar patterns of thinking and examining them from a new perspective, but it is these conditions which precipitate learning and development. In order to move out of our comfort zone and harbor of taken for granted assumptions, it’s good practice to use a model or framework for self-assessment and reflection on our practice.

4. Tips for Effective Academic Reflective Writing

It is important to keep your thoughts and feelings in mind when writing a reflective paper. The worst thing that could happen is that the writer will come to a conclusion that they do not feel comfortable putting onto paper, or even writing something which seems quite shallow. This is why planning what you want to write is effective. With a clear idea, you will know what to write when you start.

Think about what knowledge and skills you have gained from this experience. In doing this, it is easy for the reflective process to become skewed purely because the writer is focusing on negative aspects. Never forget, a reflection is about what you have learned and so it is important to make this clear, rather than just focusing on the areas which have not been so useful. Step back and ask yourself, how has this experience influenced you? How will it affect your future? What are the results of your learning?

Delay writing a reflection. It is best to take time and thoroughly prepare before beginning to write. Keep in mind, reflective writing is a process and because of this you may need to revisit earlier stages. Shaping and planning are the most crucial stages as it is the ideas of what you are going to write that will give you a guide, so it is important that you make clear what your ideas are.

5. Conclusion

In this essay, I have put forward the argument that writing is a mode of learning unlike any other. In making the argument, I have addressed the features that make academic writing different from other forms of writing. I have suggested ways in which students can be helped to engage with the form and conventions of this writing in their disciplines. I have also begun to explore the many contexts in which students write, and I have considered some of the difficulties teachers face in guiding students through these practices. The pedagogy for this mode of learning and teaching is underdeveloped. There are considerable gaps in our knowledge, and contradictions and tensions in the comments made about teaching writing. This is true for specific disciplinary areas and more generally for the forms of ‘generic’ academic writing. When we try to evaluate strategies for teaching students to write reflectively or analytically, or in any other learning mode, one problem is deciding whether the writing itself is the target of the teaching, or whether it is seen mainly as a way of getting students to think. An example of the former would be traditional ‘writing across the curriculum’ initiatives. An example of the latter is the use of journals in many forms, and I shall discuss an example from my own teaching of health professionals.