Reflective writing requires you to explore your thoughts, ideas, and perspectives, consider how you think and engage with a subject, and analyze these thoughts. By exploring your understanding of yourself and your thinking processes, you are asked to make connections and communicate your learning and experiences. Below are terms to prompt you and help you communicate as you reflect.
Reflective Writing Terminology
| Implication and Application | Examples: |
|---|---|
| Interpreting importance (While I learned much from…, the most meaningful insight I gained was…) | applicable, beneficial, challenging, helpful, important, informative, insightful, meaningful, pertinent, relevant, significant, useful |
| Specifying components (The aspect of my placement that was most relevant to… was…) | aspect, component, element, experience, idea, issue, module, part, portion, stage |
| Showing a progression of ideas or events over time (Prior to …, I had understood that… I have since learned that…) | after, afterward, again, also, and then, as long as, at first, at last, at that time, before, besides, earlier, eventually, finally, formerly, in the first place, in the past, initially, last, lately, later, meanwhile, next, now, presently, previously, prior to, second, shortly, simultaneously, since, so far, soon, still, subsequently, then, thereafter, too, until, until now, when |
| Expressing personal experiences and opinions (… provided a perspective that I had not considered before. I previously felt that… but now realise that…) | (did not) believe, consider, develop, expect, feel, gain, improve, know, learn, notice, question, realise, think, understand, wonder |
| Providing evidence or reasoning (My previous understanding of… was limited due to my…) | as a result of, because, causes, consequently, due to, ensures, explains, is proportional to, is related to, results in |
| Providing context for your reflection (Having immersed myself in… I consequently see that… I felt most engaged in…) | having analysed, applied, discussed, engaged, evaluated, experienced, immersed, learned, participated in, read |
| Expressing uncertainty (Although I cannot be certain that… it is likely that…) | am not yet certain about, am not yet confident about, could be, do not yet know, do not yet understand, indicates, is perhaps, is probably, is likely, may be seen as, might be, suggests |
