How To Write a First Class Reflective Essay in 5 Simple Steps

Summary

In this video, the speaker discusses how to write a strong reflective essay using the 5R framework, which includes reporting, responding, relating, reasoning, and reconstructing. They break down each step, emphasizing critical thinking, engagement with personal experiences, and how to incorporate relevant literature. The video is geared toward students, especially those in fields like nursing and media, and highlights common mistakes, such as failing to include academic references or future action plans. The speaker offers practical advice for enhancing the depth of reflective writing while stressing its academic rigor.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video focuses on writing a reflective essay, with the speaker providing tips on how to do this effectively.
• 📦 The speaker has recently moved, which explains the change in background and potential echo in the video.
• ✍️ Reflective essays involve critically analyzing a past event to extract learning points and plan future actions.
• 🔑 The 5R Framework for reflection is introduced as a useful structure for writing reflective essays.
• 📚 The 5R Framework includes Reporting, Responding, Relating, Reasoning, and Reconstructing.
• 📖 Reporting involves setting the scene by describing the event and context without giving personal interpretations.
• 🤔 Responding requires reflecting on personal thoughts and feelings about the event, using phrases like 'I thought' or 'I felt'.
• 🔗 Relating the experience to prior knowledge or relevant literature is crucial to link it with theoretical understanding.
• 💡 Reasoning is key to higher marks, involving deeper critical thinking and using literature to explain the event's outcome.
• 🎯 Reconstructing involves creating an action plan for future situations based on what was learned from the reflection.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is how to write a reflective essay using the 5R framework for reflection.

What is a reflective essay?

A reflective essay is a type of essay where the writer critically analyzes a past experience or event, reflecting on it to draw conclusions, improve, and learn from it.

What does the 5R framework stand for?

The 5R framework stands for Reporting, Responding, Relating, Reasoning, and Reconstructing.

Why is the 5R framework helpful for writing a reflective essay?

The 5R framework is helpful because it guides writers through each step of reflection, helping them critically engage with their experience, connect it to relevant literature, and plan for future improvements.

What should be included in the 'Reporting' section of the essay?

In the 'Reporting' section, the writer should provide context about the experience or event, explaining what happened, where it took place, who was involved, and their role in the situation.

How should feelings be incorporated into the reflective essay?

Feelings should be incorporated in the 'Responding' section, where the writer reflects on how they felt during the event and shares their thoughts and emotions.

What is the purpose of the 'Relating' section?

The 'Relating' section allows the writer to connect their experience to previous knowledge, skills, or literature, showing how the current event relates to past experiences or academic studies.

How can a writer strengthen the 'Reasoning' section of their reflective essay?

The 'Reasoning' section can be strengthened by using theoretical frameworks and literature to explain why events occurred as they did and to explore different perspectives on the situation.

What is expected in the 'Reconstructing' section of the reflective essay?

In the 'Reconstructing' section, the writer should outline how they will use the lessons learned from the reflection to improve their future actions, creating an action plan for similar situations.

What common mistakes do people make when writing reflective essays?

Common mistakes include focusing too much on describing the event without critically analyzing it, not incorporating enough literature, and failing to provide a concrete plan for future actions.

Outlines

00:00

🏡 Moving to a New Space and Introducing Reflective Essay Writing

The speaker begins by addressing the new background in the video due to moving, apologizing for potential echoes as the space is still being decorated. They introduce the topic of writing a reflective essay, which is essential for critically analyzing past events or experiences to draw learning points. They plan to explain a framework, the '5R framework for reflection,' useful for writing strong reflective essays. This framework, developed by a researcher named Bane and his team, will guide the structure of a reflective essay.

05:02

🖋️ Introduction to Reflective Essay Models

The speaker emphasizes that while several models exist for writing reflective essays, the 5R framework stands out for encouraging deep engagement with experiences and critical thinking. Reflective essays not only describe situations but also connect them to literature, experiences, and emotions. The speaker highlights the importance of using such a framework to improve future experiences by reflecting on past ones. They also mention the inclusion of alternative models and resources for further reading.

10:02

📚 Breaking Down the 5R Framework for Reflection

The 5R framework consists of five key steps: Reporting, Responding, Relating, Reasoning, and Reconstructing. The speaker briefly explains each step, starting with 'Reporting,' which involves setting the context of the experience. 'Responding' involves discussing personal feelings and thoughts about the event. 'Relating' is where the experience is compared to current literature or knowledge. 'Reasoning' involves using theoretical aspects to interpret the situation, and finally, 'Reconstructing' focuses on planning future actions based on lessons learned.

📝 Step 1: Reporting - Setting the Scene

The first step in the 5R framework is 'Reporting,' which involves setting the scene for the event you're reflecting on. The speaker emphasizes the importance of providing context without interpretation. This section includes describing the situation, your role, and other key details without diving into emotions or analysis. Past tense should be used since you’re reflecting on a past event. The speaker highlights examples from nursing students who report their experiences during placements, noting that detailed context helps the reader understand the event.

💭 Step 2: Responding - Adding Thoughts and Emotions

'Responding' is the second step, where personal thoughts, feelings, and emotions are introduced. The speaker suggests using language that reflects your personal reaction to the event, such as 'I felt,' 'I thought,' or 'I believe.' They recommend connecting thoughts and feelings with sequential language (e.g., 'subsequently,' 'firstly') to guide the reader through the event. This part is about exploring the emotional and intellectual response to the situation without yet analyzing or interpreting its meaning.

🔗 Step 3: Relating - Connecting to Past Knowledge and Experience

'Relating' focuses on connecting the current experience to past knowledge, skills, or literature. The speaker advises reflecting on previous similar experiences and drawing comparisons or contrasts. This part uses comparative language like 'similarly' or 'differently' to explore how the current event aligns with or deviates from past experiences. The tense shifts to the present since you are reflecting now, even though the event is in the past. Critical thinking plays a key role in this step.

📖 Step 4: Reasoning - Analyzing Through Theory and Literature

In 'Reasoning,' the speaker explains the importance of using literature and theory to analyze and make sense of the event. This is a critical step that allows deeper academic reflection by applying subject-specific frameworks. The speaker gives an example from the nursing field, where literature might be used to explain proper procedures or behavior during a medical situation. Reflecting on multiple perspectives, such as how a qualified nurse would react differently from a student, also strengthens this section.

🔄 Step 5: Reconstructing - Planning for Future Improvement

The final step, 'Reconstructing,' is about developing future plans based on lessons learned from the reflection. The speaker stresses the importance of being honest and creating an action plan for how to approach similar experiences differently next time. They also encourage using literature to support the recommendations for future practice. The aim is to show clear learning and application, ensuring the reflection leads to real improvement and growth.

📚 Common Mistakes and Final Advice for Reflective Essays

The speaker wraps up by addressing common mistakes in reflective essays. These often include a lack of engagement with literature or an insufficient focus on planning for future improvements. While many are adept at describing situations and emotions, fewer effectively discuss what they’ve learned and how they’ll apply it in the future. The speaker hopes the 5R framework will help viewers write stronger reflective essays. They encourage viewers to like the video, subscribe, and stay tuned for more content.

Keywords

💡Reflective Essay

A reflective essay is a type of writing that involves critically analyzing a past experience or event to learn from it and improve future actions. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of reflection in academic fields like nursing and media communications, where students often need to write such essays to demonstrate personal growth and critical thinking.

💡5R Framework

The 5R Framework is a model for writing reflective essays that consists of five stages: Reporting, Responding, Relating, Reasoning, and Reconstructing. This model helps writers structure their reflection by analyzing their experiences from multiple angles. The speaker explains each of the five steps in detail, showing how this framework ensures a comprehensive reflection.

💡Reporting

Reporting is the first step in the 5R Framework, where the writer sets the context by describing the event or experience. In this stage, the focus is on 'what happened' without any analysis or interpretation. The speaker mentions this step as crucial for grounding the reflection before diving into personal feelings or deeper analysis.

💡Responding

Responding is the second step in the 5R Framework, where the writer shares their emotional and personal reaction to the event. This involves using phrases like 'I felt' or 'I thought' to express thoughts and emotions. The speaker stresses the importance of personalizing the reflection at this stage by showing how the experience impacted the individual.

💡Relating

Relating is the third stage, where the writer connects their experience to previous knowledge, skills, or academic literature. This step encourages the writer to think critically about how the event ties into broader theories or concepts. The speaker points out that this step is essential for demonstrating how prior experiences or studies influence understanding of the current situation.

💡Reasoning

Reasoning is the fourth step in the 5R Framework, where the writer analyzes the event using theoretical literature or research to make sense of the situation. This step involves using academic language and literature to critically evaluate the event. The speaker highlights that this is where high marks are often earned in reflective essays, as it shows the ability to think deeply and academically about an experience.

💡Reconstructing

Reconstructing is the final step in the 5R Framework, where the writer plans future actions based on what they have learned. This step involves creating an action plan for how to improve in similar situations moving forward. The speaker emphasizes that this step is crucial for showing how reflection leads to personal and professional development.

💡Critical Analysis

Critical analysis in a reflective essay involves not only describing what happened but also evaluating why it happened and how it can be improved in the future. The speaker stresses that strong reflective essays require deep thinking and engagement with the experience, including how it relates to existing literature or theories.

💡Academic Reflection

Academic reflection is the process of reflecting on experiences within an academic or professional context, often linking personal experiences to literature or theories. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of using academic frameworks and literature to support reflections, particularly in fields like nursing or media, where the essay is both personal and scholarly.

💡Action Plan

An action plan is a key component of the 'Reconstructing' step, where the writer outlines how they will apply the lessons learned from the reflection to future experiences. The speaker explains that an action plan shows the reader that the writer has truly reflected on their experience and is ready to implement changes to improve in the future.

Highlights

Introduction to writing reflective essays, explaining its importance in critically analyzing past events and experiences to deduce learning points.

The 5R framework for reflection is introduced, which is used to plan and write reflective essays effectively.

Explanation of the five key steps in the 5R framework: Reporting, Responding, Relating, Reasoning, and Reconstructing.

The 'Reporting' step focuses on setting the context of the experience, using past tense to describe what happened without interpretation or emotion.

In 'Responding,' the writer starts to bring in personal thoughts, feelings, and observations about the event, using personal language such as 'I thought' and 'I felt.'

The 'Relating' step requires the writer to connect the experience to prior knowledge, skills, or relevant literature, using comparative language like 'this reminds me of.'

'Reasoning' is emphasized as one of the most critical parts of the reflection, where the writer draws on theoretical literature to explain why events occurred as they did.

Critical thinking is key in the 'Reasoning' step, where students are expected to analyze situations through different perspectives, supported by relevant theory or literature.

The final step, 'Reconstructing,' focuses on developing an action plan for future experiences based on what was learned from the reflection.

Reflective essays should not only describe events but critically engage with what was learned and how it can be applied to future situations.

The 5R framework helps students move beyond basic event description to more meaningful, academic reflection using literature and critical analysis.

Common weaknesses in reflective essays include lack of connection to literature or theory and failure to propose actionable steps for future improvement.

Writers are encouraged to use academic language in their reflections, even though it seems personal, as essays are still evaluated based on academic standards.

Including theoretical support in the 'Reasoning' and 'Reconstructing' steps ensures a well-rounded, academically solid reflective essay.

The video wraps up by encouraging viewers to apply the 5R framework to improve their reflective writing and learn from their experiences.

Transcripts

hello hello and welcome back to my

channel

in today's video i'm in a slightly

different background as you can see

i have moved all we have here is the

same sofa as i had before

so from now on if you hear a bit of an

echo then i apologize there's not much

going on right now but slowly slowly

i'll be decorating

and making this place be more of a home

but today we're going to be talking

about writing a reflective

essay now this came into mind because i

received quite a few reflective essay

documents at the page doctor

particularly from students from like a

nursing background or a media

communications background and i found

that i was saying the same thing for

feedback now a reflective essay is

important because it means that you are

critically analyzing

a past event or past experience in order

to reflect upon it and

improve or deduce a learning point now

unlike other type of essays flexible

essay is quite unique in that you do

need to

understand how to write reflectively to

be able to actually write it because it

does form the core element of

a reflective essay and so today i'm

going to be talking about a principle

and a model that you can use to write

reflectively

and to write a strong reflective essay

and this framework is called the 5r

framework for reflection

it's actually a model that was deduced

and published in a few papers from a

researcher called bane and his team

i'll leave a few links for it down below

if you want to read it in a bit more

detail i'm going to be going through the

five different steps for how to reflect

and how to

plan a reflective essay and then how to

write it and how to write it effectively

enough that it is a strong reflective

essay so keep on watching if you want to

see this and

don't forget to subscribe to my channel

to see more from me i post every

wednesday and sunday and mostly that

watch me are not subscribed to my

channel so what are you waiting for i'll

give you a second go for it press

subscribe button so you can see more

from me and keep on watching to find out

how to write a reflective essay

now there are a couple of different

models that you can use to write a

reflective essay and there isn't really

a

fixed model that you should use however

i found that this one i'm going to be

talking about today helps you really

engage with your experience helps you

engage with the reflection

and helps you think a lot more

critically some of the top marks that

come from reflective essays are to do

with not just writing about the

particular situation itself but more

about how you built from that so how

are you engaging with the literature

that's appropriate to your experience

how are you engaging with your actual

experience and your feelings

and also how are you using that to be

able to improve next time and what have

you learned from that process and so

this model really forced you to think

about all of those different

aspects there are other models as well

and i'll leave links for them down below

in case you are interested in using a

slightly different method but this one

is the most wholesome and covers

everything that you really should be

writing about

in a reflective essay now the five

different points of this framework are

the following

reporting responding relating

reasoning and reconstructing now if i

just read off what each of these are

from the actual paper itself

it is reporting is supporting the

context of the experience

responding is you're responding to the

experience so you're kind of saying how

you felt about it at the time

then you're relating the experience to

current literature that could be

knowledge that you have skills that you

have but also other papers and other

sort of studies that are related to your

particular

situation and then reasoning so thinking

more about theoretical aspects of your

experience

this is where you're going into more

subject-specific language and then

lastly it is reconstructing your

practice by planning future actions for

a similar experience so this is where

you are

giving yourself recommendations for how

you do things better and you're

explaining what you've taken away from

this experience because the whole point

of reflecting is being able to reflect

and say right this happened this didn't

go that well or it did go well and this

is what i want to implement in the

future

to have a better experience so for the

first one reporting now reporting is

just setting the scene when you're

writing an effective essay before you

can just go into it and say

i didn't like this and i didn't like

this you first need to give context to

what the situation was

so what happened how did things happen

what was the situation

what was your place and what was your

kind of role in this particular context

you want to

briefly not in too much depth you don't

have to go into all the depth of the

situation but you want to briefly

reflect

on kind of describe what exactly

happened you're just reporting the

detail

in this section you're not giving any

interpretation you're not discussing

you're not really saying much of your

feelings either

it's purely just reporting this happened

that happened i was here

i was there it was literally just a

report of the situation and the event

and for this you want to use past tense

because it is an event that happened in

the past so you would say

i did this or i was involved in and also

who else was involved was it you was

there someone that you were shadowing

i've read

quite a few from like nursing students

and pas as well who have written sort of

reflections of midwifery too who've

written reflections on their experience

during their placements

and for the start you just want to set

the scene who were you with

where were you what was your like what

was the department just set the scene so

the reader's able to i guess be placed

in your particular event

before they then read on to find out

what exactly happened and then we're

moving on to the responding section

now here is where you're starting to

bring a bit more thoughts and feelings

into

the particular reflection so here is

where you're giving your standpoint

about what happened

and so you can use words such as i

thought i felt

like i believe words that kind of show

what your emotions were at the time

and this should encompass sort of your

thoughts your feelings any observations

that you might have had during that time

so you've set the context you said we

know what the situation is

then you put yourself in that place and

you're personalizing the experience now

and you're saying

what your thoughts were what your

feelings were and how it made you feel

and even just raising some potential

questions that you might want the reader

to think about

pertaining to how you were feeling at

the time and not necessarily kind of

interpreting it as of yet

and you also want to use some language

that connects feelings and

thoughts so for example subsequently

this happened then this happened

firstly this happened so you're joining

right this thing happened

and then this happened so you're kind of

making it into a nice little story where

you're putting yourself in the place as

the person that it's happening to

and then the third part is responding

now here you are responding to the

situation and trying to relate it to

any skills or experience that you might

have so some questions that you might

want to ask yourself is for example

where have i seen this before what can i

relate this to

what knowledge do i have in this

particular situation

and also what was similar or different

to what happened in this event

to what may have happened to you before

now for this some language that you can

use

is for example this reminds me of when

and the reason why you're using present

tense is because you're basing it off of

a past

event but you're reflecting right now so

you're basing it in the kind of current

tense so that should be present and also

you want to use

terms that are comparative as well so

things like similarly

this was similar to terms that showed

that there is similarity or differences

to events that may have happened to in

the past so this is all up to do with

being as critical as possible and

reflecting as much as possible on the

particular event that you are reflecting

upon

then fourthly and this is actually the

most i'm not saying the most important

but kind of the highly rated and where

the higher marks come from

is the reasoning part of reflection and

here you are

trying to make sense of what's happened

so usually you might want to use some

literature

do look at what your requirements ask

you about but for the most part

sometimes you look at literature or

theory

to make sense of the event and why

things panned out the way they did so

you want to think about any theoretical

literature that might help you

understand the situation a bit better

let's say you weren't a nurse

and you saw someone dispensing

or prescribing medicine in a certain way

and you were unsure but you asked and

you're pushed aside or something

you can use your framework because you

have that nursing framework that i read

about you could use that as literature

and saying

actually i should have been taught about

this or i should have been explained

step by step or what i'm just giving an

example if i said i'm not a nurse

but you can use literature and actual

skills and theory

to explain situations explain why things

should or shouldn't have happened the

way they did

also to be critical you want to think a

bit more about different perspectives so

how would

let's say you're a student how would a

qualified doctor or nurse or

pa or someone how would they react to

this is the way that you reacted

appropriate or could things have been

done differently and again try to use

literature to support your what you're

saying because it really shows that

you're not just reflecting on a personal

level but you're reflecting on an

academic level as well which is really

important especially for an academic

piece of writing i mean even though it's

reflective and it seems quite sort of

personal and a bit like a diary

it's still going to be marked

academically and using a structure so it

is important that you include

some literature here that can support

what you're stating and the last section

is reconstructing and this is a bit of i

guess future plans what i mentioned

earlier about how you want to build upon

your experience and figure out how you

would do things better here's where you

have to be really i guess honest with

yourself

and this is where the real reflection

like the real usefulness of the

reflection comes out of it there's no

point of reflecting without taking

away something from that experience so

what you want to do here is think about

how you can do things differently next

time and essentially you're developing

an action plan

for future instances such as this and

again you can use literature here so you

can either say

based on literature that you mentioned

in the previous sections

in the reasoning sections or you can

mention new literature so you can say

look according to this particular theory

or this particular piece of evidence

this is how i should

have responded or this is how things

should have panned out or how i should

have learned or whatever and

because it didn't i do want to implement

this in the future and

this is how i'm going to do it so you

can still use literature in this section

as well to support

your future plan and you want to think

about what the different options are so

you can say things like

i will or i might or i can words that

show that you are going to implement a

certain

action so try think about how you're

going to show that you have learned

something so you can even just use the

terms

i have learned that or it is significant

that or i

through this experience my big takeaway

has been

to show that you've reflected you've

understood how

things could have been done differently

and you're going to put together

this goal and this plan to do things

differently next time that is the key

takeaway point so it's really important

for you to consider

all five of these steps in order to

write a strong

reflection piece and one of what i

usually find missing is a bit about

literature so where you're including the

skills and wider sort of reasoning and

then i also find

missing future work your future plan a

lot of the time people are really good

at describing what happened that's

really easy they're really good at

describing

how they felt again that's quite simple

that's quite easy for us to do but it's

really hard for us to then take away

from that

something that we can implement into the

next instance so those are things i find

missing quite often

and hopefully this five-step framework

that i have disseminated to you

will help you writing a reflective essay

in the future if you did find this

useful then i would love it if you could

give me a thumbs up and don't forget to

subscribe to my channel if you want to

see more from me and i will see you guys

in the next one bye

you