Where might you use reflective writing?
You can use reflective writing in many aspects of your work, study and even everyday life. The activities below all contain some aspect of reflective writing and are common to many people:
1. Job applications
Both preparing for and writing job applications contain elements of reflective writing. You need to think about the experiencethat makes you suitable for a role and this means reflection on the skills you have developed and how they might relate to the specification. When writing your application you need to expand on what you have done and explain what you have learnt and why this matters - key elements of reflective writing.
2. Appraisals
In a similar way, undertaking an appraisal is a good time to reflect back on a certain period of time in post. You might be asked to record what went well and why as well as identifying areas for improvement.
3. Written feedback
If you have made a purchase recently you are likely to have received a request for feedback. When you leave a review of a product or service online then you need to think about the pros and cons. You may also have gone into detail about why the product was so good or the service was so bad so other people know how to judge it in the future.
4. Blogging
Blogs are a place to offer your own opinion and can be a really good place to do some reflective writing. Blogger often take a view on something and use their site as a way to share it with the world. They will often talk about the reasonswhy they like/dislike something - classic reflective writing.
5. During the research process
When researchers are working on a project they will often think about they way they are working and how it could be improved as well as considering different approaches to achieve their research goal. They will often record this in some way such as in a lab book and this questioning approach is a form of reflective writing.
6. In academic writing
Many students will be asked to include some form of reflection in an academic assignment, for example when relating a topic to their real life circ*mstances. They are also often asked to think about their opinion on or reactions to texts and other research and write about this in their own work.
Think about ...When you reflect
Think about all of the activities you do on a daily basis. Do any of these contain elements of reflective writing? Make a list of all the times you have written something reflective over the last month - it will be longer than you think!
