6 Tips to Writing a Solid Reflection Paper (With a Sample Essay)

6 Tips to Writing a Solid Reflection Paper (With a Sample Essay) A reflection paper is an essay that focuses on your personal thoughts related to an experience, topic, or behavior. It can veer toward educational as a reflection of a book youve read or something youve been studying in class. It can also take a more professional slant as you reflect on a certain profession or your experiences within that profession.A lot of students enjoy writing this type of essay, especially if they find it easy to discuss their feelings and experiences related to a topic or profession. However, some students find this type of subjective writing to be difficult and would rather a more objective writing assignment.Whether youre the former or the latter, for this article, were going to look at 6 tips for writing a solid reflection paper that will help you get through the outlining and writing processes. Weve also provided a sample reflection paper so you can see these tips in action.A reflection paper is an essay that focuses on your personal thoughts related to an experience, topic, or behavior. It can veer toward educational as a reflection of a book youve read or something youve been studying in class. Photo by Bruce Mars on Unsplash.Tip #1â€"Choose a topic youre passionate aboutHowever you choose to focus your reflection paper, if youre able to choose your own topic, choose one that is highly interesting to you or that you find important. Youll find that your paper will be much easier to outline and draft if you do. There are a range of potential topics that have been used or have the potential of turning into a great reflection paper. Here are a few suggestions:Describe your internship experience.Discuss a recent book you read that changed you.What is family to you and why?What are some of the qualities demonstrated by your favorite employers and/or managers? What makes them your favorite?Discuss music that has altered your way of thinking or made you see the world from a different perspective.Reflect on your favorite memory of a pet or l oved one.Tip #2â€"Outline your reflection paper before you writeBe sure to outline your reflection paper first before you start to write. Even though this sort of essay is written as a personal reflection, youll still need to make sure you stay on topic and organize your writing in a clear, logical way. As with other traditional essays, there should be an introduction with a thesis statement, a body, and a conclusion. Each paragraph within your body should focus on a different sub-topic within the scope of your overall topic.Tip #3â€"Write in first-person singularWrite in first-person singular. Format the essay according to your teachers instructions, using whatever citation style required. Your teacher will likely request that it is double-spaced, with 1 indentation in each margin, in 12 pt. font. Also keep in mind that most reflection papers will be around 750 words or less.Tip #4â€"Avoid too much descriptionAvoiding adding too much description of events. This is not the kind of e ssay where you need to discuss a play-by-play of everything that happens. Rather, it is the kind of essay that focuses on your reflection of the topic and how you felt during these experiences.Tip #5â€"Avoid colloquial expressions or slangAvoid colloquial expressions or slangâ€"this is still an academic assignment. Also, be sure to edit your essay thoroughly for any grammar or spelling mistakes. Since a reflection paper is written in first-person point of view, its easy to mistake it for an informal essay and skip the editing. Regardless of the type of essay you submit to your professor, it should always be edited and error-free.Tip #6â€"Critical reflection goes deeperIf your assignment asks you to write a critical reflection paper, it is asking for your observations and evaluations regarding an experience. Youll need to provide an in-depth analysis of the subject and your experience with it in an academic context. You might also provide a summary, if the critical reflection paper i s about a book or article youve read.Sample reflection paperMy student teaching experience with the Masters in Education program has been a great learning opportunity. Although I was nervous at first, it didnt take long to apply lessons I have been learning in my academic program to real-world skills such as classroom management, lesson planning, and instruction.During my first week of student teaching, I was assigned a mentor who had been teaching middle school grades for over 12 years. She assured me that middle school is one of the most difficult grades to teach and that there is a high turnover rate of teachers, which worried me. However, once the week got started and I began to meet the students, my fears abated. These young people were funny, inquisitive, and eager to begin reading the assigned book, Lord of the Fliesâ€"especially after we started with a group project scenario that included kids being stranded on an island without adults.The first few weeks of applying classro om management skills I had read about in my Masters program were a definite learning experience. I had read enough about adolescent development to know that they were not yet at the age where they were able to control all of their impulses, so there were moments when some would yell out an answer or speak without raising their hand first. So, at my mentors suggestion, I worked with the students to create their own classroom rules that everyone would agree to abide by. Since they played a role in coming up with these rules, I believe it helped them take more personal responsibility in following them.When we finished that initial group project, I began to see how tasks such as lesson planningâ€"and plans that have to be turned in to the administration weeklyâ€"can easily become overwhelming if not worked out on the front-end of the semester. My mentor explained that most seasoned teachers will work on their lesson plans over the summer, using the proper state curriculum, to have them ready with the school year begins. Having scrambled to get my lesson planning done in time during the first few weeks, I saw the value in this and agreed with her that summertime preparation makes the most logical sense. When the school year gets started, its really a whirlwind of activities, professional development and other events that make it really difficult to find the time to plan lessons.Once the semester got well underway and I had lesson planning worked out with as little stress as possible, I was able to focus more on instructional time, which I found to be incredibly exciting. I began to see how incorporating multiple learning styles into my lesson, including visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles, helped the students stay more actively engaged in the discussion. They also enjoyed it when I showed them short video clips of the movie versions of the books we were reading, as well as the free-write sessions where they were able to write a scene and perform it wit h their classmates.Finally, my student teaching experience taught me that above all else, I have truly found my calling in teaching. Every day was something new and there was never a dull momentâ€"not when youre teaching a group of 30 teenagers! This lack of boredom and the things I learned from the students are two of the most positive things for me that resulted from the experience, and I cant wait to have my own classroom in the fall when the school year begins again.