Reflective writing allows you to explore your own life experiences, knowledge, thoughts, feelings, values and assumptions through an informal writing process.
In relation to your learning as a student at Curtin, your reflective writing exercises and assignments will enable you to explore how you are experiencing and responding to your life as both a Curtin student and as an individual outside of University. Reflective writing prompts you to ask questions and explore topics deeply, therefore building upon your critical thinking skills.
Good reflective writing is not about pure description or listing information. Good reflective writing presents the full story: it captures the essential aspects of a particular event or topic through the five W questions: who, what, where, when and why, countered by how.
Real reflective practice invites you to examine your feelings towards your learning as it happens. It requires confidence and honesty in sharing your experiences and expectations. It means acknowledging your successes as well as your failures, and identifying what you might do differently in future.
Reflective writing is one of the rare forms of academic writing that allows you to write in first person — it is all about YOU and YOUR experiences. It is considered a more informal style of academic writing, but may still require formal language and references to relevant texts.
The structure of your reflective assignment may be in the form of an essay, or more of a journal style. As with any assignment, you should make sure your reflective writing flows logically, and explores each point in full before moving onto the next one. Your tutor will outline the type of assignment they want you to write, or may allow you to decide for yourself what format you would like to use. Check your marking rubric if you’re unsure.
Description: What happened?
Feelings and thoughts: What were you thinking and feeling before, during and after the event?
Evaluation: What was good and bad about the experience?
Analysis: What explanations might there be for the situation? Why did it happen the way it happened?
Conclusion: What have you learnt?
Action Plan: In a similar situation in the future, what would you do?
What?
So what?
What now?
Listed below are topics or scenarios you may be required to reflect upon throughout your studies.