Reflective writing

• Keep a reflective diary for events that you are expected to reflect on. It might seem like a drag but it will make your writing much easier.

• Start your reflection as soon as you can. You will forget things with time and may lose valuable learning experiences or even marks as a result.

• When selecting an experience to reflect on, it does not have to be a life-changing event. It can be an everyday experience (e.g. interaction with a service user).

• Reflective writing needs to be formal, just like any other written assignment. Although you are writing about real life, don’t be tempted to write as you speak.

• Remember that reflective writing is personal and uses the first person (‘I’); it’s OK to write about your feelings and emotions. 

• Reflection is not where you simply mull things over; think of it as a deep analysis of something that has happened.

• Reflective writing includes description and analysis but avoid writing a long account of what happened. The reader is interested in your analysis of why it happened and what you

• have learned from it.

• Be selective – you don’t have to write about everything that happened, just the key events and your analysis of them.

• Use the past tense when you are writing about a particular moment (e.g. ‘I felt…’) and the present tense when referring to a theory (e.g. ‘Smith (2013) suggests that…’).

• Be honest; it’s ok to say what you really thought and felt. It will be obvious to the reader if you give a false account of your thoughts and feelings.

• To demonstrate that you have learned from your experience, and convince the reader that you will use the learning in practice, lay out the specific steps that you will take and when you will take them – the more specific the better. 

Markers are looking for:

• Analysis, not description - Probably the most common mistake is to simply describe what happened rather than analyse it.

• Links with the literature – (e.g. references to theories which help explain what happened).

• Evidence of learning - The writing should clearly state what you have learned and how you will use that learning to improve your practice. 

Vocabulary aid:

• Having reflected on/analysed/read….I now feel/think/realise/wonder/question…..

• Most importantly, I have learned that…..

• I have significantly developed my skills in…/my knowledge of…/my ability to…

• However, I have still not sufficiently….

• Because I did not/am not yet confident about/do not yet understand….I will need to….

• As I next step I shall…

• Having considered how I still need to develop, I have identified the following steps…

Reflective writing - General information

An excellent pack with exercises (opens in a new tab) to complete and examples of good and bad reflective reports.