An advice to students on what constitutes good reflective writing is the following:
- There should be enough rules in reflective writing that should not stress the learner (the person who actually writes the reflection). As suggested from Steven McGowan on 30th of September 2009, it's important to reflect so let's not create too many rules.
- Simple language and coherence should be maintained in order for both the one who writes the reflection and the audience to be able to understand and maybe assess or comment on it.
- One equally important factor is to have the right tool in order to reflect that will describe best the learners' needs.
- Some kind of standards of presentation and coherence in the reflection should be maintained if it is going to be assessed.
- There should be some kind of tutor or advisor in this kind of reflective writing since it helps the learner to understand better the meaning of reflection writing.
- Jotting down ideas, thoughts and theories (sometimes) helps you to recall them whenever you want them and it's obviously easier for you to go back and refer to them so you are not confused.
- The very first reflection will not be the proper one, but looking back to it and have a re-thought about what you have included or not will make you need to develop it and restructure it, or even re-write some points you think are not so well explained or imposed. So take your time to re-think and correct if it is necessary anything that you feel is not right for you and only you.
- Whether you want to critique others ideas, share your thoughts and beliefs, your inner feelings and in one word your reflection is up to you (if it is not compulsory to do so) but for sure it will be a great help and a great feeling to be able to share all these with peers, tutors, even friends, as communication, feedback and conclusion you conclude and get are important for you and your reflection writing and you should treasure them and evaluate them accordingly.
In my opinion, reflection is a deep thinking procedure that enables us to look inside of us and develop ourselves to reach to its optimum. It is very important to realise how this reflection endeavours our thinking. It's like a challenge for all of us. Since it is not all of us who are able to reflect on our thoughts and be able to demonstrate the necessary changes in order to improve it and make it clearer both for us and for our assessors (if they exist).
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