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4 Reflective Writing Guidelines 2024

The document provides guidelines for engaging in effective reflective writing through journaling and essays. It explains what reflective writing is, how to structure a reflective essay with an introduction, body and conclusion, how to analyze experiences, and how the reflective assignments will be graded.

Uploaded by

Mohamad Fattah
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34 views4 pages

4 Reflective Writing Guidelines 2024

The document provides guidelines for engaging in effective reflective writing through journaling and essays. It explains what reflective writing is, how to structure a reflective essay with an introduction, body and conclusion, how to analyze experiences, and how the reflective assignments will be graded.

Uploaded by

Mohamad Fattah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to Engage in Effective Reflective Writing

What is Effective Reflective Writing?


In semester 8, you will be asked to engage in reflective writing activities that will support
active learning, encourage student engagement, and foster a more meaningful learning
experience. In an academic context, reflective thinking and writing allows you to draw
connections between what tasks you have been asked to complete, what specific steps
you took to get there, and what you learned about yourself in the process. This learning
process allows you create new understandings.

Reflective writing allows you to engage critically with a particular set of learning experiences
through the lens of your own personal experiences. The purpose of reflection is to provide a
platform for you to not only recount a particular situation, but also to explore how you have
changed or learned from that situation.

In semester 8, you will engage in reflective writing through a reflective essay assignment
which will be a structured, academic piece of writing. These guidelines—along with
directions given by the instructor in class—are designed to explain the reflective
assignments and provide students with guidance throughout the semester.

These guidelines should be used in conjunction with the “How to Engage in Effective
Reflective Thinking through Journaling” handout to…

Reflective Writing through an Academic Essay


In semester 8, you will be asked to write a reflective essay based on your experience of
researching a global issue and a specific job in the field of IT. Reflective writing should not
involve merely describing something that happened, and it does not mean pouring out all
of your thoughts or feelings in an unstructured way. Reflective writing requires an organized
line of thought, the use of concrete examples to illustrate your reflections, and an analytical
approach. You are aiming to strike a balance between your personal perspective and the
requirements of effective academic writing. This means you will:
• Develop a clear perspective with a defined line of reasoning
• show that you recognize that situations are often more complicated than they
initially seem
• write in an appropriate, academic style

During your penultimate class in week 5, students will write an in-class final reflective essay.
For this assignment, you will be given one hour to plan and write your reflective essay in
response to the provided reflective prompts. You will receive one prompt that you must
respond to, and then some optional prompts that you will choose from. An example of the

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type of prompt you may receive might be: Please reflect on the process of collaborating
with the other members of your team.

You will prepare for the final reflective essay by coming to class each week, completing
the assigned work, and reviewing your weekly reflective journal entries. You will need to
think critically about you experiences throughout the course of your semester, and then
write an academic-style essay that responds to the prompts.

Writing Your Reflective Essay


For each idea that you want to develop, you must include and respond to the following
elements:

• Description – What happened?


• Analysis – Why did it happen? What were you feeling?
• Outcomes or Action – What did you learn? What would you do differently next time?

A. Introduction
The introduction to your reflective essay should inform the reader about the context of the
assignment. It should begin with a “hook” that catches the reader’s attention and gets them
interested in your essay. Then, you need to come up with one significant realization about
yourself, your understanding of the topic or how this project might affect your future career
(based on a critical analysis of your experience). You can think of this as the thesis statement
of your essay. Depending on how you decide to organize your body paragraphs, you can
decide to share the outcome of the experience in the introduction, or you can develop it
throughout your reflection and reveal it in the conclusion.

B. Body
You should explore one theme/lesson learned per paragraph. In the 3-4 body paragraphs,
you should:
• start with a clear topic sentence
• critically analyse each experience
• provide examples to support analysis
• demonstrate your process of reflection and suggest solutions if appropriate

C. Conclusion
In the conclusion you should summarize the main things you learned and discuss how your
new-found insight will influence your future behaviour or career choices.

How to Use Citations


Using outside sources is optional. Should you choose to incorporate quotes into your
reflective essay, only ONE citation style will be accepted: (author’s last name, date of
publication) e.g. (Musk, 2021). *
* IT ALWAYS COMES AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE BEFORE THE PERIOD.

When?

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Your reflective journal assignments are due as homework each week. On the last day of this
course, you will participate in the in-class final reflective essay assignment.

Key Take-Aways
• The unauthorized use of generative AI to write your essay or journals will result in a
0/20 and a conseil de discipline.
• Reflection writing:
• analyzes, explores, and explains what happened and why
• considers strengths, weaknesses, anxieties, and errors — you can use personal
language such as 'I' and 'we' to talk about observations, emotions and feelings
• is constructively criticizing yourself, experiences, and outcomes
• requires evidence to support what you are saying such as things that have been
said or done, their causes and their effects — so you need clear records of the
events and your thoughts (weekly journal entries)
• looks back at past experience to perform better in the future

Good luck!

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Grading
Your instructor will grade your reflective essay according to the grid below. Please note, half
and quarter points can be awarded.

Structure (4 points) Content (10 points) Language (6 points)


• Introduces the theme of the • Includes clear thesis • Grammar 2 pts.
reflective essay (hook) 1 pt. statement (prepares reader to • Syntax 1 pts.
• Uses correct overall be guided through the essay) • Vocabulary 2 pts.
structure (Introduction, 1 pt. • Punctuation 1 pt.
body (3-4 paragraphs), • Provides evidence with
conclusion) 1 pt. specific and convincing
• Begins each paragraph examples 3 pts.
with clear and precise topic • Presents reactions to what
sentences 1 pt. was observed and/or learned
• Provides clear and and the impact the
cohesive paragraphs 1 pt. experience has had on
student’s future (career,
behavior, choices, etc.) 4 pts.
• Considers alternative
steps/choices that could have
yielded better/other results
2 pts.

____/4 ____/10 ____/6


Corrector’s Comments: Corrector’s Comments: Corrector’s Comments:

Total: _______/20

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