Writing a reflective essay may seem easy on the ground, but in fact, it is not. It can be a real stumbling block for you if you do not know how to write this essay. It is an essay in which you need to reflect on an event in your life. Writing such an essay is not that challenging if you know what goes into it and what to exclude from it. As you are here, it means you do not know about writing a reflective essay. Well, there is no need to worry. In today’s article, we will look at the 5 simple steps you need to take to write this essay. So, let’s get started.
What is a reflective essay?
A reflection essay often called a reflection paper, is a type of essay that describes an event. It does explain not only the event but also analyses the lesson it gives. Why is it called a reflective essay? The one thing that makes it reflective is that the writer analyses the event and analyses it based on his understanding and perspective. While writing this essay, you need to open up and describe your emotions to paint a clear picture of the topic in the minds of the reader. Some example topics of this essay are as follows:
- The happiest and the most frightening moment of your life
- Ways you think you can make the world a better place for humans
- Is there a moment in your life that you want to relive? If yes, then why?
5 simple steps for writing a reflective essay
After reading the information above, you know what a reflective paper or essay is. You also have an idea of its topics. Now, your base is set. Therefore, it is time to discuss the steps needed for writing a good reflective essay. To write such an essay, you need to follow 5 simple steps. A brief description of each step is as follows:
Choose your topic
The first and most important step in writing a reflective essay is to choose its topic. Mostly, the teachers provide a list of topics. But what to do if they do not? In this scenario, you have to choose a topic for yourself. To choose a good topic, take some time out and reflect on your life. Brainstorm the major events that happened in your life and try to learn the lessons that you have learned from those events. Choose the one as your topic that excites you the most.
Perform an extensive research
The second step suggests performing extensive research on the chosen subject. Researching the topic of your reflective essay is important because it allows you to expand on the event you have chosen as your topic. Firstly, you should do some google research and see what is available there for your topic. Read every piece of information you come across on the internet that relates to the topic of your choice. However, if you cannot research properly, get assistance from a cheap essay writing service in the UK.
Brainstorm the topic
Before you start writing the essay, brainstorm the main ideas of your essay topic. How to brainstorm? Just close your eyes, be in a quiet place, and think rigorously about the event you are going to describe. Think about everything, like what it is, how the particular event has occurred, and how you feel about it. Answering these questions is extremely important as these are the basis of your reflective essay.
Write the essay
Once you are done answering the reflective questions outlined above, start writing the essay. Start it with a captivating introduction that grabs the attention of the reader. In the introduction section, you should explain what the event is briefly. After that, you have to craft the body paragraphs. These are the paragraphs where most of the information falls. It is where you reflect on the event and describe your feelings. In the end, comes the conclusion – a summary of all the points discussed.
Edit and proofread
Lastly, there is the step of editing and proofreading. Editing is the phase where you get rid of the major issues in your reflective essay. These include sentence structure issues and other major mistakes made by you. Proofreading is aimed at eliminating minor issues like word choice, spelling, grammar, and punctuation marks issues. Hence, you should edit and proofread the essay properly, leaving no mistakes behind.
Conclusion
To sum up, a reflective essay is a type of essay in which you reflect on a particular event from your life. It is also an essay in which you can reflect on the texts written by others. The main aim of this writing is to share your opinions and thoughts. The 5 steps to writing a perfect reflection essay are discussed above. So, read all of them and write your essay accordingly.