Writing Reflections
Ideas for writing, organizing, and editing your reflections for impact
Regardless of which set of reflective guidelines you use, check your work using the Writer's Checklist at the bottom of this page.
Some of your courses will require you to write critical reflections over assigned readings. These reflections involve synthesizing key points gleaned from the reading as well as analyzing the information using a framework. The framework may come from a theory or concept you are learning in class, or it may come from one of the analytical tools (or modes of discourse) we use to help us understand a topic in more depth.
For reflecting on course readings or projects, consult the TAMU University Writing Center for guidelines on preparing Critical Reflections.
For your Medal of Excellence reflections, consult the program-level outcomes corresponding to your degree program (INTA or PSAA) for guiding questions that will help you develop each outcome. Prepare a well-developed response, i.e., reflection for each outcome. You can also use the model described in reflecting on individual projects and experiences or reflecting on positive and negative experiences to help you generalize about the skill sets gleaned from individual experiences.
Writing Reflections
Prepare
Use the guiding questions to help you prepare your response for each learning outcome. The first set of questions asks you to identify and analyze specific evidence before generalizing about what they mean and who would benefit. This evidence may come from something you have completed, such as a paper you have written, work that you have performed, or a role you have fulfilled. Since this evidence is unique to you, it will help you prepare a compelling personal response, especially if you reflect upon the importance of your experience to both your professional growth and to the workplace. While other students may generalize about a topic in much the same way as you do (i.e., reaching similar conclusions), they won't have the same evidence to back their claims. Thus, it is important not to skip this step in the process of formulating a response.
Some students find the S.T.A.R.T. approach helpful for analyzing their experiences.
(S) = Situation: What was the situation or context that resulted in a significant outcome? Describe it, providing enough details that someone else not familiar with the situation could understand it.
(T) = Task: What was required? What steps, roles, or responsibilities were required?
(A) = Action: What did you do? How did you contribute to the task?
(R) = Results: What happened because of your actions? How was your work, or the contribution you made to the group work, assessed? See external evidence below.
(T) = Takeaways: What are the key principles you have learned from this experience? How will they transfer to new contexts?
Remember to include external evidence of your claims, i.e., "proof" that you can do/have done what you claim. For example, in a course or project, did you achieve your goal? What evidence supports the claims that you did? Did you receive a high mark, award, praise from a supervisor? Did you receive a promotion or increased responsibility based upon your performance record? Did the organization profit from something you contributed? What types of evidence provided by others best supports your claims?
Write
Write with the end in mind, the "takeaways." Thus, the organization of your response does not have to follow the same path you used to build it. In fact, it may begin by answering the last set of questions: who benefits and how. Organizing your response this way (i.e., with the bottom line up front or BLUF) will be good practice for preparing the executive summaries you will be expected to write on the job. See Writing Umbrella Statements for more help using a BLUF approach.
Check
Use the writer's checklist below to edit and revise your work. You may find it helpful to receive a peer review of your work and to Ms. Raisor about the quality of your response.
Download the attachment (bottom of page) for more information and an example of reflective writing.
Writer's Checklist
Does my response . . .
Analyze
Examine the topic from a theoretical, critical, or academic framework that explains why something happened the way it did?
Project
Explain the value of what I learned to new contexts in a way that is compelling and reasonable?
Evaluate
Describe my specific plans to improve or adjust my behavior to achieve desired future results?
Develop
Identify key points ("takeaways") I want the reader to know about the topic?
Clearly explain each of these points?
Provide sufficient and compelling evidence for each point?
Contextualize examples (or evidence) so that the reader knows where they come from and how each contributes to the point (or conclusion) I am trying to make?
Organize
Order the information to suit the reader's most pressing needs or answer the most crucial questions?
Contain an executive summary?
Organize paragraphs using topic sentences that support the bottom line?
Design
Use strategic typography and/or graphics to help the reader to "see" the key points?
Style
Use the appropriate level of formality for the context?
Use diction and sentence structure that facilitate reading (i.e., the style doesn't call attention to itself)?
Convention
Demonstrate my competency with written English (i.e., it is error free)?
Demonstrate that I care about details because I have proofread my work multiple times?
