masters level reflective essay example

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Reflective essays

Reflective essays are academic essays; what makes an essay "good" will work for a reflective essay. What is different about a reflective essay is that the essay is about you and your thinking. However, you will need evidence from your course to back up your reflections.

You should structure a reflective essay as an essay, that is write to persuade your reader of your key reflections (or argument). The diagram above, details how to stucture your reflections through the essay. To find out more see the section on essay writing .

Business example

The following example comes from business. Thanks to Dr Colleen Hayes for the three samples.

Students were asked to write a reflective essay on their learning in the course by responding to the following question:

What key thing have you learned about corporate social responsibility in the course?

Example 1: Retelling

This writing is (1) descriptive/listing of content, not reflective and (2) not properly referenced (the definition of stakeholders is directly copied from Freeman in the lecture slides.

Example 2: Relating

This writing involves relating to personal experience and has some integration of course concepts (stakeholders).

Example 3: Reflecting

More reflective (forward-looking), better citation and integration of multiple course concepts, and reflection that links with personal experience.

An anthropology marking rubric

For this assessment, students were required to write a 1500-1800 word essay building on the themes of the course to address the question "We are all pirates". Attached under reference documents is the rubric used to mark the essay (thanks to Dr Caroline Schuster). Notice that it requires both the reflection (reflect, relate and retell) as well as the poor traditional requirements of an essay (Writing and organisation, Supporting claims with scholarly sources).

Reflective writing

Learning journals

Reference Documents

• Sample rubric from Anthropology (PDF, 243.24 KB)

Use contact details to request an alternative file format.

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Reflective Essay Guidelines

This essay, which is evaluated as part of the generic skills module, gives you an opportunity to reflect on your experience of the MRes year. Bear in mind that the aim of the MRes year is to expose you to, and give you some experience of being actively engaged in, a wide range of potential research areas so that you will be well-equipped to make your choice of PhD topic. 

What were the strengths and what were the weaknesses of the year from your point of view?  For example, were there aspects of the course that were under- or over-represented? Do you feel that the year has succeeded in its aim - are you confident that you are in a position to make an informed choice of PhD topic? We are not interested in hearing that all aspects of the course other than those which relate specifically on your choice of PhD topic were a waste of time from your point of view! That is not the spirit of the MRes that we aim to foster, and we will have failed if you leave the year with that attitude.   By all means be critical if you wish, but be constructive.  We take constructive suggestions seriously, and will act on them to improve the student experience if we can.   The essay should be between one and two sides of A4, so keep your comments focused. 

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Examples of Reflective Writing

Types of reflective writing assignments.

A journal  requires you to write weekly entries throughout a semester. May require you to base your reflection on course content.

A learning diary is similar to a journal, but may require group participation. The diary then becomes a place for you to communicate in writing with other group members.

A logbook is often used in disciplines based on experimental work, such as science. You note down or 'log' what you have done. A log gives you an accurate record of a process and helps you reflect on past actions and make better decisions for future actions.

A reflective note is often used in law. A reflective note encourages you to think about your personal reaction to a legal issue raised in a course.

An essay diary  can take the form of an annotated bibliography (where you examine sources of evidence you might include in your essay) and a critique (where you reflect on your own writing and research processes).

a peer review  usually involves students showing their work to their peers for feedback.

A self-assessment task  requires you to comment on your own work.

Some examples of reflective writing

Social science fieldwork report (methods section), engineering design report, learning journal (weekly reflection).

Brookfield, S 1987, Developing critical thinkers: challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting , Open University Press, Milton Keynes.

Mezirow, J 1990, Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: a guide to transformative and emancipatory learning , Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Schön, DA 1987, Educating the reflective practitioner , Jossey-Bass. San Francisco.

We thank the students who permitted us to feature examples of their writing.

Prepared by Academic Skills, UNSW. This guide may be distributed or adapted for educational purposes. Full and proper acknowledgement is required. 

Essay and assignment writing guide

• Essay writing basics
• Essay and assignment planning
• Answering assignment questions
• Editing checklist
• Writing a critical review
• Annotated bibliography
• How do I write reflectively?
• Examples of reflective writing
• ^ More support

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As my journey begins: A reflection on my experience as an MSc Psychological Studies student

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by Anupriya Vyas

After working in the creative industry for almost 14 years, my passion and enthusiasm to study Psychology grew rapidly after my brother was diagnosed with acute depression and schizophrenia. My quest to learn as much as possible about these conditions to help my brother led to my deep commitment to pursue a career in clinical psychology. My first step was to develop my psychological knowledge and obtain GBC membership for further clinical training through a conversion course in Psychology as a steppingstone towards a clinical psychology doctorate.

I was lucky to get a place in the BPS accredited MSc Psychological Studies at the University of Aberdeen which provides an exciting and vibrating research led learning environment in psychology. This course covered the topics and issues at the very core of psychology like Psychological Assessment, Biology Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Social Psychology which I found very fascinating and engaging. Each module presented the opportunity to investigate the topic in a great depth through a variety of projects and discussions. Despite my initial worry about the statistical aspects of the degree, to my surprise, I really enjoyed the Research Methods module and discovered my love for statistics and getting to analyse lots of data using a system called SPSS which is used by professional academics for research. This module provides an opportunity to carry out some research and analyse the data, and then write up your own report. The thesis module in the last semester was an encouraging opportunity to take ownership of my own research with just the right amount of support and direction. The assessments were varied (essays, exams and research projects) and were  relevant to the employability skills associated with psychological research and practice.

Although the course was challenging, I enjoyed all aspects of the course and develop a deeper understanding of psychological theory. All this would not have been possible without the excellent quality of teaching by the lecturers and overall support by the course team. I specifically found the tutorial sessions with my personal tutor especially useful as it provided ample opportunities to get one-to-one guidance and feedback which really helped me to develop my critical and creative thinking.

Honestly, studying MSc Psychological Studies at the University of Aberdeen has been an intellectually stimulating experience because I did not expect to learn as much as I have done in the last 12 months and to develop as quickly over as short period. I feel much more confident in my direction in the psychology field and well equipped with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to enter into a new career. I could have not predicted the opportunities available to me with the experience and knowledge I have gained through this course. So as I begin my journey to achieve my dreams all I can say is thank you “The University of Aberdeen”.

Anupriya Vyas was an MSc Psychological Studies student during the 2019/20 academic year

It is a challenging to change the course of study in a nlentitely new field after study and work in a different disciplines. It is a sheer will & determination that led you to get distinction in MSc Phycology.

Simply Amazing .. sheer determination and will to complete studies with accolades. That too with family duties of mum and wifey.. so proud of you

Well done! Would be great to chat with you. I am also at the point of a career change due to the need to support mental health challenges in my country and it would be interesting to know how you are chattering the next steps to to gain more knowledge post achieving the MSC.

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5 Reflective learning – reflection as a strategic study technique

Like many other aspects of study, reflective learning is highly individual. Rather than thinking of reflection as yet another task to be added to your ‘to do’ list or squeezed into a busy study schedule, view it as something to practice at any stage. The emphasis is on being a reflective learner rather than doing reflective learning. Get used to reflecting on your experiences as part of your everyday learning. In this way, each experience – whether positive or negative – will contribute to your development and personal growth. You can record your reflections in a learning journal or in another format (such as audio recordings). It is therefore worth noting the following:

• see reflection as complementary to your study
• use it to clarify your thoughts and focus on your personal and professional development
• record your thoughts on any difficulties or challenges you are facing
• think about strategies that might help you deal with difficult tasks or assignments
• use it to help you think about how topics relate to your own experience.

Developing a habit of reflective learning will help you to:

• evaluate your own progress
• monitor and manage your own performance
• self-motivate
• keep focus on your learning goals
• think differently about how you can achieve your goals by evaluating your study techniques, learning strategies and whether these best fit your current needs, identifying your skills development needs or gaps in knowledge
• think about and overcome what may be blocking your learning by using a different approach, or setting more pragmatic (realistic/achievable) goals
• support and enrich your professional practice ensuring that you are better placed to respond to and manage new, unexpected and complex situations – a key requirement at Master’s level.

Remember that applying reflective learning effectively does take time. Don’t expect everything to immediately fall into place, particularly if you have been away from formal education and have not engaged with continued professional development for some time. It takes commitment and discipline to set aside time for reflection, and there are challenges, including distractions (more compelling activities), feelings (uncomfortable or unexpected emotional responses to conclusions reached about own role, assumptions and beliefs, for example), and the nature of the process itself (you may be well-acquainted with one aspect of reflective learning, such as responding to and acting on feedback received from tutors or your peers, but the ability to balance a critique of experience with academic and professional requirements might not be familiar to you). Reflective thinking however, cannot be taught – it needs to be practiced. Reflective learning forms part of your personal and professional development. Personal Development Planning (PDP) is increasingly viewed as a requirement at postgraduate level, and you should check your intended course or qualification for any specific guidance on PDP.