What is a reflective essay? This question might come to an essay writer’s or researcher’s mind because the reflective essay is different from the analytical one. There could be similarities but in a reflective essay, the writer is more personal with whatever he/she writes. It is solely his/her write-up and he does not consider proofs from other literary records.

One could have experienced different events, phenomena, accomplishments or downfall in life. When he/she tries to give it a shape on paper, then it is majorly a reflection of his/her own ideas, experiences, thoughts and perceptions. And, therefore it can be well considered as a reflective essay.

In a Reflective Essay, the Singular First Person Narrates Everything

In such an essay, the introduction is in the first singular person ‘I’ (preferably) because it is the first person who is explaining everything. So, it constitutes a concept of narration by the first person. It is about his/her ideas, experiences, readings, proofs and much more and therefore he/she is the best one to narrate the essay. In a reflective essay, the writer can also draw comparisons between what he/she has read and whatever he/she has experienced in real life.

Suppose, he/she has been reading about something and presuming to know about it from the texts and other content. But when he/she tries to examine the same on the real ground. Then the reality could be either the same or deviated or entirely different. This is about identifying the real experiences with the recorded ones. So, in this case, one might choose to write a reflective essay based on experiences.

The format of Writing Could Be Generic or As Suggested by the Guide

The format of the essay could be generic like the introduction in the first part, then explaining the readings and then identification of the reading with real experiences, then the expression of thoughts and practices affected and lastly the conclusion. However, if the essay is being written for some thesis then following the guide’s format is preferred.

A Reflective Essay Could be Both Positive or Negative

A reflective essay can include both positive, negative or neutral experiences. One can tell about anything and everything related to the topic because it is more perceptive in nature. You can use restorative questions for analyzing your experiences and sharing those in the essay. Doing this helps to generate more thoughts for the essay.

Share Your Experiences in Essay in an Organized Way

The essay should be an organized one and, in the introduction, you should clearly state about the topic, its relevance, the source of your inspiration, etc. In the later portion, you can tell about whatever your classroom or book readings were on the topic and what prejudices you held about the same.

The source of your prejudices were those readings but when you went on to experience about it, then some or many changes were found. And, then your thought process and practices changed.

The conclusion of the essay should be crisp, and it should sum up everything you had mentioned in the essay earlier. However, a lengthy conclusion is not welcomed because it can irritate the reader. It becomes necessary to understand ‘what is a reflective essay’ before undertaking it for writing.