Reflective writing essay structure

Academic reflections or reflective writing completed for assessment often require a clear structure. Contrary to some people’s belief, reflection is not just a personal diary talking about your day and your feelings. Both the language and the structure are important for academic reflective writing.

One difference between the structure of reflective writing and the structure of models is that sometimes you may choose to present your learning in the introduction of a piece of writing, whereas models (given that they support working through the reflective process) will have learning appearing at later stages.

Structure of reflective writing. The structure of a piece of reflective writing varies greatly. If you have a reflective writing task, read the instructions carefully to see if a structure is provided. A reflective essay should follow the classic essay format of introduction, body, and conclusion.

If you’re writing a reflection on a certain text, annotate your initial emotions and thoughts while reading it. If you are writing about yourself or an event in your life, brainstorm by making a chart with three columns: past experiences, descriptions, and reflections.