How to Write a Reflection Paper
Reflection papers are a huge part of my life as a counseling psychology graduate student. Perhaps they will play a big role in your graduate program too. I write critical reflection essays about every other week for a couple of my classes, and will be writing longer versions of the same style for final assignments in others.
For me, the writing process actually begins while I’m doing the readings for each week. While reading for every course, I not only note what the author is actually saying in each reading and summarize the main points, but note my own responses to the material as well. I colour code with a dark grey for basic notes from the readings and orange for my own thoughts. These thoughts might be anything from “hmm I should look up this other concept later” to “jeez, I can sure relate to this part…” I note where I strongly agree or disagree with the material, where I want to go further in my own research, and what seems most interesting to me personally, almost making the reading/note-taking process into a conversation between myself and the author.
Having my own personal notes in bright orange is especially helpful when I’m reading through my notes before class or during class discussions. I know what stands out to me and what I’d most like to talk about. Later when I am writing a reflection paper, I can pull these orange notes together to create a list of topics to write about. Doing this work of reflecting as you are going along is so helpful later on. I create the same kind of dark grey/orange notes during lectures as well.
When I’m done the readings and lectures and ready to write a reflection paper for the week, I craft together a very basic, rough collection of notes from the past two weeks of class. I’ll include the main points I may or may not want to touch on from the readings and the lectures and gather it all into one Google Doc document. It’s a very rough outline of what to reference and pull from as I begin writing my reflection. Big picture, main ideas type stuff, organized by source so I know what to cite as I go.
Once I have gathered all of my main topics and rough notes into a document, I’ll start writing. If possible, I usually break up the note-gathering stage and the beginning writing stage into two different days so that I have time to let the thoughts percolate in my mind for a while. When I come back to the rough notes later, I usually have a more clear idea of what was interesting to me from the past two weeks of lecture and what I really want to reflect on and relate to my own life.
When beginning the writing process, just begin with a really shitty first draft. Write whatever. Don’t worry about clunky transitions and awkward wording, although you can make notes to self using comments along the sidebar to come back and edit those later. I’ll usually start with whatever feels most poignant and natural to talk about. Usually there was some “main theme” defined for that week in class and I might start with how that theme relates to my own life. If the particular “theme” didn’t stand out to me, but a certain reading did, then I’ll start there. Pick whatever gets your writing juices going. Just start from whatever you can write a sentence about and gain momentum from there. You can always reorder your ideas and paragraphs later.
As I write about the main topics, I weave in how I relate to the ideas. I’ll write my own opinions, feelings, history, reactions, and plans. Some classes are focused on correct APA formatting and proper citations and some are not. (Either way, you should know how to use APA and be familiar with how to properly cite and reference your work.) I’ll cover one main topic, then when I’ve said all I had to say, I’ll check my rough notes section and continue working though the main topics until I’ve hit at least 3-4 main points. Hopefully I can weave the ideas together into a coherent narrative but at this stage I don’t pressure myself to write perfectly. I just write. I’ll delete the rough notes as I go, leaving only what I have left to be covered. Keep writing until you hit your page count or run out of things to say.
At this point, I always leave my first draft for a day or two and work on something else. I’ll do readings or take a day off. If that’s not possible then I would at least like to write in the morning and edit at night. When I come back to edit the draft with fresh eyes, it’s much easier to weave together smooth transitions, delete what’s not necessary, and add more detail where needed.
When writing reflection papers, the depth of your disclosures is up to you. Personally, I like to go for the jugular and write about what’s really true for me, what I’m genuinely grappling with and what actually relates to my life the most. I trust my professors to treat this vulnerability and openness with respect, since all of them are also practicing therapists. Nobody besides me, the professor and maybe the TA will ever see these papers, so why not spill it onto the page? I could write about something that is less emotionally resonant, but part of going to graduate school is doing your “work” of personal development and healing. Why wouldn’t I use every opportunity I have to get useful, personalized feedback from the therapists I’m learning from?
Writing reflection papers like these can be a pain in the ass, I admit. It’s a lot of work and can take a lot out of you emotionally. Sometimes readings will make you cry or at least sigh. Sometimes you’ll be exhausted just from thinking about all the material you’ve learned, let alone writing about it. I would urge you to use your own intuition when it comes to writing these - don’t go deeper or further than you feel comfortable going. Don’t push yourself too hard if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Don’t be too hard on yourself if it’s taking longer than you’d like to finish. Take a break if possible. Write in very short chunks if that’s what you need to do. Remember that you can always ask for an extension if you need one, and most professors will be very amenable to giving you one. Reflection papers are a good way to keep your writing skills sharp, help you ground the theory you’re learning to reality, and since they’re written in your own words with reference lists of things you found interesting, they could end up being very useful to look back on in the future. Good luck on writing your own and I hope they are useful and personally meaningful to you in some way.
Some links that might be useful:
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) APA Style Guide. Here you can look up how to cite and reference absolutely anything, and see a sample paper complete with cover page and references list. I have been writing in APA style for years and still always have this guide open in a tab whenever I am doing academic writing.
Thesaurus.com - I usually have this tab open while writing as well.
Background music - lofi hip hop radio - beats to study/relax to 🐾, obviously.
A helpful list of transition words.
University of Waterloo’s page on how to write a Critical Reflection Essay.