Reflective Essay Introduction A Writer’s Checklist Choosing your subject Reflecting on your subject’s significance Recalling key anecdotes and details

Reflective Essay

Introduction

A Writer’s Checklist

Choosing your subject

Reflecting on your subject’s significance

Recalling key anecdotes and details

Shaping your reflective essay

A Writer’s Model

Your Turn: Write a reflective essay

The older we become, the more people we get to know. Some of these people enrich our lives. At times, we reflect on their significance to us.

Introduction

You can reflect on the significance of a person who has touched your life by writing a reflective essay. Such an essay will give readers a clear picture of your subject and will help you explore why the person is special to you.

Introduction


When you write a reflective essay about another person you should:

Choose a subject, a person who is important and meaningful to you in some way.

Reflect on the significance of the person you have chosen.

Recall key anecdotes and details about your subject.

Shape the essay into a readable, enlightening, and emotionally involving piece of work.


Begin by choosing a subject for your reflective essay. The subject should be a person who has made a significant impact on your life.

Who in your life has:

affected you emotionally or helped shape who you are?

taught you something about yourself and others?

influenced you and your view of life or human relationships?


Use these strategies to help identify people who might be suitable subjects for your essay:

Think about important experiences in your life. Who comes to mind when you remember them?

Talk to members of your family about experiences you have in common. Do any of them spark memories of someone significant?

Create a list of some of the teachers or coaches you have had since you began school. Which of them do you remember most vividly? Why?


Evaluate each possible subject by answering the following questions:

Is this person someone I feel comfortable writing about?

Do I have first-hand knowledge of the person?

Do I have enough details about this person to create an accurate, effective description?


As Marc considered possible subjects for his essay, one person in particular seemed especially significant. He examined his impressions of her:

Do I have first-hand knowledge of her?

Yes. I visited her often and considered her a friend.

Do I have sufficient details about her?

Yes. I have many vivid memories of our friendship.

Do I feel comfortable writing about her?

Yes. I think our friendship could be instructive and enlightening to others.

Possible subject: Connie Fulmer, a retired professor who was my neighbor when I was young


A reflective essay isn’t just an inventory of recollections. You need to reflect on the significance that your subject holds for you.


The more Marc reflected on his subject, the more memories and insights came to mind. He noted them for possible inclusion in his essay.

My feelings about Connie: fondness, appreciation, gratitude, a sense of being challenged and nurtured

How she changed me: She strengthened my love of reading and learning. She taught me that friendships can form in unlikely circumstances. She taught me that education can bring about wisdom.


Once you have your subject fully in mind, write a sentence to clearly state his or her significance. Marc distilled his thoughts and feelings about his subject into this sentence:

As he continued, Marc used this statement as a sort of thesis to help shape his essay.

Connie had a talent for awakening the love of learning in others.


Most likely, your subject’s effect on your life is a result of things he or she has said and done.

Think about key anecdotes and details that will convey to your reader why the subject of your essay is so meaningful to you.


An anecdote is a short, illustrative story. Anecdotes can be everyday happenings or dramatic events. Recall anecdotes by delving into memories of your subject. Take note of those that illustrate his or her significance in your life.

I remember sitting with her one afternoon, talking about history. I made the comment that everything that happened would be history, even us sitting there. She smiled and replied, “Unrecorded history, I’m afraid.” At the age of twelve, that struck me as deeply profound. Today, I still see it as typical of her willingness to share her insights.


Evaluate each of your anecdotes and select the ones you will use in your essay.

Anecdote Point of Story Should I Use It?

The time she made a comment about history

She shared her insights with me.

Yes

She liked cats. ? Not an anecdote

The times she gave me classic books

She prized and shared knowledge.

Yes

The time I applied for a college scholarship

? Doesn’t show her significance to me

The time she pointed out a “yabbut” (yeah, but) in my book report

She was impatient with excuses.

Yes


Remember to enliven your writing with details.

Narrative details describe actions and events.

Descriptive details describe people, places, and objects.

Sensory details appeal to the senses.

Later that day, she gave me a book on the subject of my report.

Her coffee cups, both clean and used, were arranged single-file on her kitchen counter.

On still afternoons, you could hear bees buzzing.


Consider these strategies for gathering details:

Remember that not all of your details may be necessary to include in your essay. Examine them for relevance.

Freewrite things you associate with your subject. What aspects of appearance, mannerism, and character come to mind?

List places you associate with your subject. Jot down descriptive or sensory details of these places.


Here are some of the details Marc associated with his subject.

Things I associate with Connie: her insistence on being addressed by her first name, her pride in her backyard flower garden, her love of learning and teaching, and the way she kept her surroundings in order

Places I associate with her: her backyard, her downstairs library, and her two-story brick house


Before you begin writing, decide how you will shape the essay to make it readable, enlightening, and emotionally involving for your audience.

Many reflective essays present their content in chronological order. This means that the events being written about are presented in the order in which they happened.

Event One

Event Two


Writers sometimes insert flashbacks and flash-forwards into a chronological sequence. For example, an essay may begin in the present, flashback to a past memory, then flash-forward to some projected future event.

Event one (present)

Event two (past)

Event three (future)


Another commonly used organizational pattern is to put the essay’s content in order of importance, relating events, anecdotes, and details in order of least to most important or vice versa.

Introduction

Conclusion

Least

Most

to

Least

Most

to


Writers often combine organizational patterns in various ways. For instance, you might use a flash-forward in your introduction, arrange anecdotes in the essay’s body in order of importance, and conclude with a flashback.

INTRODUCTION (future)

CONCLUSION (past)

BODY(order of

importance)


To plan the order of your own essay:

Begin by arranging your anecdotes, events, and details in chronological order.

Ask yourself: Which order best conveys my subject’s significance and ensures a coherent narrative?

Experiment by rearranging them in order of importance, from least to most and then vice versa.

Once you have answered that question, you are ready to write your reflective essay.


Use the checklist as you look at the following Writer’s Model and as you evaluate and revise your own reflective essay.

Choose a subject, a person who is important and meaningful to you in some way.

Reflect on the significance of the person you have chosen.

Recall key anecdotes and details about your subject.

Shape the essay into a readable, enlightening, and emotionally involving piece of work.

engaging opening

A Special Friend

When I was twelve years old or so, most of my social circle consisted of friends who were around my own age. I had one special older friend, though, whom I doubt I’ll ever forget.

She was a retired English professor named Connie Fulmer who lived on the corner of my block. When we met, I had no idea how important to me she would become. I tried calling her “Professor Fulmer” once or twice, but she insisted on “Connie.” I liked that; it made me feel grown-up.

hint at subject’s significance

descriptive details

Connie lived in a two-story brick house. Over time, she’d structured her life so that she seldom went upstairs. Things she used often were kept within easy reach. Her clean clothes were folded and stacked neatly by her washer and dryer. Her coffee cups, both clean and used, were arranged single-file on her kitchen counter.

She had a spare downstairs bedroom that she used as a library, but she really didn’t need one. She, herself, was a library of life.

buildup to first anecdote

first anecdote (flashback)

I remember once sitting with her in that downstairs room, talking about history. I made the comment that everything that happened would be history, even us sitting there. She smiled and replied, “Unrecorded history, I’m afraid.” At the age of twelve, that struck me as deeply profound. Today, I still see it as typical of her willingness to share her insights. Connie had a love of learning and a talent for awakening that love in others. She was born to teach, and she relished every chance to do so.

narrative details

writer’s thoughts and observations

buildup to second anecdote

She had little tolerance for excuses, though. One afternoon, in her backyard, I showed her a book report I’d written. She perused it thoroughly, pencil in hand, seated at her picnic table.

“This word should go here,” she critiqued, marking up the paper I’d planned to turn in.

“Yeah, but –” I protested.

“Goodness! Where?” She stood and inspected the area around our feet. “I don’t see it.”

flashback (second anecdote)

dialogue

narrative details

dialogue (continued)

“Don’t see what, Connie?” I looked around, too, not knowing why.

“The yabbut that’s after your book report,” she explained. “Oh, there it is. Get lost, you.” She pretended to shoo something off, then returned her attention to me. “Yabbuts like it when you’re lazy.”

“Yeah, but –” I said again. She frowned at the ground, fearing the beast’s return. She could beat a point to death sometimes, but I got the gist of that one pretty quickly.

second anecdote (continued)

narrative details

sensory details

We spent many hours in that backyard. Connie was proud of it and justifiably so. Its fragrance greeted visitors throughout the summer. On still afternoons, you could hear the buzzing of the bees.

Later that day, Connie gave me a book on the subject of my report. I still have that book, along with others she gave me. Some of them were well above the level of a twelve year old, but in the passing years, I’ve read them all. She knew I would, I think.

flashback (third anecdote)

anecdote’s significance

writer’s thoughts and feelings

Sadly, I don’t know what became of her. As time passed, the distractions of growing up took over, and at some point, she moved away. We did write a couple of times, but the letters from her are long-since lost. I’d bet she still has mine, though.

I remember Connie fondly, and I always will. She taught me a lot about books, but also a lot about life. I learned from her that friendships might form at any time, if we just remain open to possibilities.

flashback

subject’s significance

Your Turn: Write a reflective essay

Write a reflective essay in response to one of the prompts below. Then use the Writer’s Checklist as a guide to writing, evaluating, and revising your work.

Think of a teacher or coach who has made a significant impact on your life. Using the steps and guidelines you have learned, write a reflective essay about that person.

Who comes to mind when you think about learning life’s lessons? Jot down three names, examine each, then choose one. Write a reflective essay illustrating how this person has influenced you.

The End

Documents

Reflective Essay Introduction A Writer’s Checklist Choosing your subject Reflecting on your subject’s significance Recalling key anecdotes and details