The Two Key Principles to Writing a Reflection

Writing a reflection is one of the essential components within Module C, The Craft Of Writing, and we will break down for you two simple steps to acing that section of your exam.

The two simple steps to acing your reflection are:

Step 1: Know the Structure

Step 2: Know your Prescribed Texts

1. Know the Structure

We often don’t think about the structure of a reflection but in reality, there is a very simple scaffold you can follow in order to check all the boxes for an amazing reflection.

Think of it like an essay!

By now we are all used to essays and know the sandwich structure – reflections are the same. You want to start with:

Introduction:

Tell the marker how your piece of writing answers the stimulus AND tell them what specific text type you are writing. Is it a narrative, discursive or persuasive? Be explicit in stating your text-type so the marker knows what to expect.

Body Paragraphs:

Here you want to be able to show off your writing and knowledge about English techniques. You need to be able to pick out specific quotes from YOUR OWN writing and analyse it as you would for a text you have studied. This will show your professionalism AND remind the marker that you have been deliberate in your writing by including a wide range of techniques.

Conclusion:

This will just sum up all of your writing and once again remind the marker that what you’ve written is effective and relevant to the stimulus. Just like an essay, you don’t want to introduce new points or give evidence and quotes.

2. Know your Prescribed Texts

Now, your prescribed texts aren’t just there to cause an inconvenience or annoy you (as much as you may so) – they’re actually there to act as a guide and help you compose your writing. This is why when you are writing you need to be able to refer back to them and understand how they have influenced your writing.

This is particularly important when you’re writing the “body paragraphs” of your reflection. Not only should you analyse the technique within that particular quote from your writing, you should also be able to say how this is influenced by the prescribed texts.

By referring to the texts you have studied you are using stylistic techniques. For example, your text might use large amounts of dialogue or personal anecdotes and your writing mirrors these techniques which, whilst they are still language techniques, they reflect the style of writing the composer works with.

That shows not only are you creatively able to come up with an original piece of writing, you have learnt from sample texts and take aspects of the author’s style of writing into account.

That’s it!

These are the two things YOU NEED to keep in mind when writing a reflection for your Mod C creative task! Remember, just knowing these two key steps are a step in the right direction but what more is practice and applying this knowledge to your writing.