Sharing your experience . . .

From Reading to Writing Frank McCourt

was sick in a hospital bed when his father

kissed him for the first time. In Angela’s Ashes,

Frank says this gesture from his father made

him so happy he felt like “floating out of his

bed.”

Reflective Essay

Sharing your experience . . .

Writing about a strong memory can help you

better understand it. A reflective essay

narrates a personal experience and reveals its

significance. Autobiographies, letters, and

memoirs often use reflective writing to share

important experiences from a writer’s life.

Reflective Essay

B a s i c s i n a B o x

Reflective Essay at a Glance

RUBRIC Standards for Writing

A successful reflective essay should

• be written in the first person

• describe an important experience in your life or in the life of someone you admire

• use figurative language, dialogue, sensory details, or other techniques to recreate the experience for the reader

• explain the significance of the event

• make an observation about life based on the experience

• encourage readers to think about the significance of your experience in light of their own lives

Writing Your Reflective Essay1 Prewriting

I write to find out what I’m thinking about.

Edward Albee, dramatist

I write to find out what I’m thinking about.

Edward Albee, dramatist

Begin by identifying an experience that you

want to write about. Try recalling past events

by looking through a photo album, or listing

frightening or funny memories.

Planning Your Reflective Essay

1.Replay the experience in your mind. What

happened to you? In what order did the

events occur? What will other people find

interesting about it?

2.Picture the specific details. Where did the

experience take place? What did people say?

What were they feeling? What did things look,

smell, and sound like? What details stand out

in your memory?

Planning Your Reflective Essay

3.Reflect on what the experience means to you. Why did things develop as they did? What is the most obvious meaning you took away from this experience?

4.Decide what you want others to think about. Which of your reflections do you feel are most important to share with readers? How will you help readers understand the significance of these reflections?

Writing Your Reflective Essay2 Drafting

A reflective essay may combine both

“telling” and “showing” to recreate the

experience and make clear its deeper

meanings for the reader. You may begin

writing your essay by describing the events

in chronological order, starting with the

first moment you recall from your

experience.

Writing Your Reflective Essay2 Drafting

Or, begin the essay with an intriguing

moment that occurred during the middle or

end of the experience. Make sure,

however, that you fill in the missing pieces

and that the order of events is clear.

Writing Your Reflective Essay2 Drafting

As you draft, act as an eyewitness,

writing down everything you remember.

Include sensory details, such as sights

and sounds, and any conversations you

recall.

Writing Your Reflective Essay2 Drafting

While you’re writing, additional levels of

significance may become clear to you.

Continue to reflect on your experience

after you draft, as well. Later, you may

revise your draft to emphasize the most

important meanings of your experience.

Writing Your Reflective Essay3 Revising

Target Skill ADDING DETAILS

Remember that concrete details help

readers picture your experience. When

adding details, use strong, sensory words

that show people and events, rather than

just telling about them.

Writing Your Reflective Essay4 Editing and Proofreading

Target Skill STRONG VERBS, VERB TENSES

Carefully select your action words, or

verbs, to make your writing stronger and

more lively. Also note the sequence of verb

tenses. Jumping from past to future to

present tense can confuse readers.