Graduate Course Reflection Paper Sample & Guide

Writing a graduate course reflection paper provides students with the opportunity to consider how their personal experiences and observations shape their thinking and acceptance of new ideas. Instructors and professors often ask their students to write graduate course reflection papers to encourage them to explore their ideas about their respective courses. This form of writing allows students to express their own opinions rather than summarizing other people’s opinions.

As a student, reflective writing can enhance your analytical skills since you will have to express what you think, and more importantly, how and why you think a certain way. Additionally, writing a graduate course reflection paper requires you to acknowledge that your preconceived ideas and assumptions shape your thinking. By doing this, you can appreciate other people’s ideas more, notice how their preconceived ideas and assumptions shape their thinking, and perhaps understand how your ideas oppose or support what you read.

Most students wonder how their professors assess graduate course reflection papers. What do they look for? How can your ideas or experiences be right or wrong? Most instructors expect their students to critically engage with concepts from their respective courses. This requires making connections between experiences, opinions, and observations. Your professor will expect you to analyze and explain different concepts from your perspective while eliciting original ideas and demonstrating an active interest in the course’s material.

How Do I Start a Reflection Paper Course?

In a single paragraph, introduce your readers to the topic while integrating your key concepts into the opening narrative. Remember, this should be a short paragraph that informs your readers what you intend to discuss and should, therefore, set the stage for continuing to the subsequent sections of your graduate course reflection paper. Ideally, your introduction should be between 3 to 6 sentences long.

While it can be difficult to write a graduate course reflection paper, worry not because My Homework Writers is, therefore, your assistance. Myhomeworkwriters.com has, for many years now been the best online essay help service. At My Homework Writers, students can get assistance on their essays regardless of their course, at pocket-friendly prices. Regarding writing graduate course reflection papers, some services students can access include:

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• Modern course reflection templates
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How Do You Write a Reflection Paper?

Understand The Various Kinds of Reflection Papers

The type of Reflection Paper you have to write about to a great extent dictates your entire writing process. The main kinds of reflection papers are professional reflection papers and educational reflection papers. Some examples of educational reflection papers include “a reflection of what I learned in class” and “an essay about English class experience.” To learn more about these topics, head over to Myhomeworkwriters.com to access their exclusive “what I learned in English class” essay examples.

Pick an Awesome Topic

Find a source of inspiration. Rather than generating topic ideas off the head, look outward for some writing inspiration. For instance, in this case, your inspiration should be your graduate course. Before settling on a topic, choose a theme, and ensure you understand what you want your angle to be. Think of any personal experiences you wish to share and the unique insights you have. Also, think about the main argument or message to use for your essay.

Brainstorm and Outline

Notetaking is an essential part of writing a graduate course reflection paper. It helps organize your ideas so you can write a final draft as fast and as easily as possible. Try listing as many ideas as possible, then selecting the best ones. When you clear this step, you should have a basic outline to guide your writing process.

Organize Your Ideas

You should have a simple bullet list of ideas you want to include in your reflection essay by now. Organize these ideas to create a flow. Below is a basic outline of how you can organize your ideas:

• Ask a Reflective Question
• Develop a Strong Introduction
• Create a Thesis Statement
• Explain your ideas in the body paragraphs
• Wrap up Your Essay with a Conclusion

Write Your Graduate Course Reflection Paper

Take your time and fill out each section with meaningful writing. At this point, it should not matter much whether your writing sounds good or not.

Edit out Any Junk

How Do You Write a Reflective Learning Essay?

Writing reflective essays, also known as reflection papers or reflective papers, is as easy as the steps below.

Choose a Great Topic Idea

The first step of writing in the essay is selecting a suitable topic. Therefore, take your time and choose a topic wisely.

Study Your Topic

Depending on what your subject is, you may have to reflect, watch, imagine, listen, or read. Take a few minutes to vividly think or re-experience your topic.

Brainstorm

Write down or type all the ideas you can think about your topic. You should aim to describe your subject as vividly as possible. Think about some sensory details, e.g., tastes, smells, noises, and visuals.

Pick Reflection Questions

Answer Your Reflection Questions

Read your questions, understand them, then embark on answering them. This does not necessarily have to be in perfect sentence or formal essay form. Your aim should be to gather as many ideas as possible.

Identify What Your Experiences Mean

What Is an Example of Reflection?

Some examples of reflection include:

• Analyzing and critiquing works of art like articles, books, and movies
• Critiquing your personal experiences
• Peer review activities like critiquing teaching or learning methods
• Describing some critical experiences that inspired your perception of the world

The language and style you adopt in reflective writing largely depends on your assignment instructions and discipline. Regardless of this, readers of reflection papers often expect to learn about the writer’s opinions, ideas, experiences, and personal feelings about the subject.

How Long Should a Reflection Paper Be?

Ideally, reflection papers should have a minimum of 300 words and a maximum of 500 words. Sometimes reflection papers exceed the 500-word maximum limit depending on the content of the writer.

What Are the Parts of a Reflection Paper?

Most reflection papers, including graduate course reflection papers, follow a basic structure that includes the parts below:

Introduction

This section mainly dwells on the topic of the essay and what the paper will mainly focus on. You can also mention the significance of the subject, and how to develop it.

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs form the bulk of a reflection paper. They contain detailed descriptions of the topic, a deep analysis of the chosen theme, and a general assessment of the subject.

Conclusion

This section is concise and focuses on wrapping up the essay in a few words.

How Do You End a Reflection Paper?

A conclusion paragraph usually ends reflection paper. The conclusion of a reflective essay should focus on bringing the essay together by summarizing the points made throughout the essay, and what the writer learned as a result. When writing this paragraph, try including some points on the change in your behaviors, and attitudes. Also, explain how and why the change occurred.

How Do You Write a Reflection in English?

According to reflective essay English 101, this is how to write a Reflection in English:

1. Read and understand what the reflection statement requires you to do
2. Plan your reflection statement
3. Write your introductory statement
4. Write the body paragraphs
5. Write your concluding statement
6. Proof and edit your work

How to Write a Graduate Course Reflection Paper

Synonymous with professional programs such as nursing, education, forensics, and business, reflection is an essential component of linking theory and practice. When students write graduate course reflection papers, they have to reflect on their experiences throughout the course. The basis of this should be an evaluation of the ideas gathered from class. Depending on your practice and observations, you can assess various approaches and theories, while evaluating your skills and knowledge within the professional field.

Essential Tips for Writing a Graduate Course Reflection Paper

Definition of a Graduate Course Reflection Paper

Graduate course reflection papers or experiential essays are very different from other kinds of essays like argumentative or descriptive essays. This type of essay infers directly on the experience of the writer, without using academic citations or other kinds of references. What is more, the writer has to reflect or read a lot on their specific subjects before they begin the writing process.

All a writer has to do is formulate an interesting topic, recall specific experiences, and attempt to reflect on it. In a way, it is beneficial that this type of writing does not require building any theoretical frameworks for the essay.

On the other hand, while most writers are in the dark when it comes to these types of essays, they have to be creative, employ their imagination, and simultaneously describe and reflect on their experiences. All of this should happen in a precise and logical manner. Therefore, when it comes to writing these kinds of essays, logic and imagination always go hand in hand.

Learning

Essentially, all pieces of text someone writes are a kind of learning. During the writing process, writers learn about themselves, their values, attitudes, and feelings towards specific topics. Graduate course reflection papers are more special because they focus entirely on a writer’s experiences.

Through writing, people learn more about themselves and reflect more on the specific experiences they wish to describe. In this regard, your ultimate goal is not to prove your writing skills. Rather, it is a way of learning which puts you in a position of awareness about your habits, weaknesses, and strengths.

The Model of David Kolb

David Kolb elaborates on a model of experiential learning, which consists of four major parts that you should include in your essay, i.e., concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. To make your essay more coherent and organized, we recommend employing this model.

Concrete Experience

The first stage of this model begins with the writer’s concrete experience. This refers to events that trigger a learning cycle. While these are often specific experiences, they can also include reading, personal research, or even consulting other people.

When focusing on concrete experiences that sparked your learning, ask yourself questions such as:

• What course did you do, in which institution, where, and why?
• Which methods, techniques, and procedures did you employ? Why did you choose these specific ones?
• What were your goals and objectives? How did your goals and objectives influence your choices?
• How deeply were you involved?
• What resources did you use?
• Can you verify your experience with proper documentation?
• Summarize your experience instead of giving a narrative account

Reflective Observation

In the second phase, take a step back from your experiences and instead observe and reflect upon them. This could involve identifying similarities, differences, patterns, and results of specific actions. Ask yourself questions such as:

• What was the reasoning behind your behavior? Can you recall what you were thinking at the time?
• Do you notice any trends and patterns?
• What components of your experience are significant and unique?

Abstract Conceptualization

From your observations and reflections regarding your experience, start to generalize and develop abstract concepts. Seek to identify things like:

• The underlying principles of your experience
• Existing concepts and theories from other sources that support your understanding
• Whether you can articulate how deep and broad your understanding of these concepts and theories is
• Examples from your concrete experience that demonstrate your understanding

Active Experimentation

In the final stage of the model, apply any newly discovered principles, and test the implications of these concepts in new situations. Ask yourself questions such as:

• How does your knowledge apply to different situations?
• Can you implement, or have you already implemented your new knowledge?
• Have you tested your ideas or those of others? If you have not, what do you predict will happen, and why?
• Do you have specific examples of how you are using or would use what you have learned in a new setting?

The experimentation or testing during the fourth stage could lead to other concrete experiences. Based on these new experiences, you can make additional observations and reflections, formulate or refine principles, and apply them to see if they are true. Therefore, this model is essentially a spiral, i.e., a cycle that repeats itself, getting more sophisticated and refined with each cycle.

Topic Formulation

Depending on your course and experiences, you can have numerous topics to choose from. However, you must draw inspiration from experiences that have had a tremendous influence on your life, e.g., situations that brought important changes in your life, pleasant or painful situations. For instance, you can formulate a short topic such as “my experience in English class.”

Language and Style

It goes without saying that at such a high level as this, you should use standard English. This implies that you should employ the correct terminology relative to the field you will be covering your experience in. It is also vital long, complex sentences, to prove your mastery of the English language and your writing skills.

Another point worth mentioning is the use of the “I” person. This implies that you should only speak from your point of view, and not anyone else’s. In this form of writing, what other people have to say about your experiences does not matter—only your experiences and reflections regarding the subject matter.

What to Avoid When Writing Your Essay

1. Avoid writing in an overly emotional manner. Remember, this is not a diary, and sentences such as “I was feeling very low and desperate” do not present your experiences to the readers in a positive light.
2. You are not writing a research paper. Hence, avoid referring to academic theories and conceptions.
3. Focus on a single experience and only write about it. Never add new ideas or experiences later during your essay.
4. Avoid shallow, vague descriptions of your experiences.
5. Lastly, never write about other people’s experiences. Remember, only your experiences matter here.

Revise Your Paper Carefully

After writing your essay, proofread it and check for things such as style, grammar and spelling, internal logic, and coherence. You should only develop one idea throughout your essay. If you are not very confident in your proofreading abilities, ask someone more competent to handle it for you.

Sample Essay

I have been a student at [institution] for six semesters, and during the course of my stay, I have learned and grown more than I thought was possible. Before joining the school, I knew I wanted to become an English teacher. I had completed several English courses, and although I was aware of what I was getting myself into, I was partly wrong.

Going through this English program has taught me a lot about language and literature. It has shown me how to be myself. Here, I have learned how to write articulately and express myself, how to think independently, and how to discover answers for things I do not know. Most importantly, however, is that I have learned the importance of language and literature.

When I began my journey at [institution], I envisioned spending the next couple of years reading classics, discussing them with classmates, then writing about the classics I had read. Perhaps the reason I thought this way is because this is what we did during community college English courses. However, I quickly discovered that there was more than meets the eye with this course.

The English courses and my stay here have taught me how powerful the written language and word can be. Words convey much more than stories. From my classes, I have learned a lot about the world, its history, and its amazing people. Through literature, I have learned our relation as humans. By expressing what we learn and believe through writing, we learn how to express ourselves.

I am confident that my ability to express my thoughts, knowledge, and ideas through writing has gotten better each semester. Not so long ago, I would always struggle to put my thoughts on paper correctly and coherently according to my assignments. I can recall the countless times I was told to organize my thoughts or provide examples and support during community college. These are the things I have strived to improve in the past couple of years. I can confidently say that I feel my work now reflects this.

I am now capable of writing various styles of papers in different fields and forms. At the moment, I can write papers about almost anything, with proper examples, citations, and formatting.