Reflective Essays

Presenting a particular occasion

• Present your experience in order to explore possible meanings.

• Use the people and places you have observed as springboards for thinking about society – about how people live and what they believe.

Some Ideas for Reflective Essays

Social change Changes in the family In ways of perceiving the body In the ways people’s lives have been changed by computers

Cultural customs Eating Dating Child rearing

Traditional virtues and vices Pride Jealousy compassion

Common hopes and fears Desire and/or fear of intimacy Fear of failure Unrealistic career goals (pro football player, actor, president)

“To Try Out”

Reflective essays are really what the essay is all about – one early meaning of the word was “to try out.” Reflective essays are experiments, exercises, opportunities to explore ideas tentatively and informally.Reflective essays often come to surprising conclusions or make unlikely connections, encourage us to look at familiar things from a new point of view.

Your Assignment

P. 132 of your text

Write a reflective essay based on something you experienced or observed. Describe the occasion vividly, then reflect on its meaning or cultural significance.

Think of reflective writing as a stimulating conversation in which you seek to expose – and perhaps question – your readers’ attitudes and beliefs as well as your own.

Present the Occasion

Present the occasion in a vivid and suggestive way that encourages readers to want to know more about your thoughts.

Use an introductory hook, to catch the reader’s eye. This can be a pile of facts, a dialogue, a striking or provoking example, a challenge, a scene.

Develop the reflections

What does the event you present make you think about? How does it get you thinking about cultural, social, personal mores, habits, stereotypes?

Move from the event to a general subject – from the scene where you follow a woman on the street to the idea of the fear that results from racial stereotyping.

Maintain topical coherence

In a reflective essay, you’re turning an idea or a subject about, looking at it from one perspective and then another. Sometimes you pile up examples to make your point. One way to keep the essay tight, to keep your reader focused, is to repeat key words or phrases frequently. Use synonyms, force the reader to focus on your theme or idea. Staples, for example, uses the word fear often and in many forms.Pay attention to transitions. Use time and place markers to keep your reader with you.

Engage your reader

Project an image of yourself that your readers will find attractive.

Pay attention to your voice, your persona.

Make yourself sympathetic to your readers so that they will listen to what you say. 

Observe the methods the writers use in the essays you’ve read

DescriptionHumorMultiple examples, extended examples,

brief examplesRepetition, or emphasis on key wordComparison/contrast examples