Modified from original guide available at Cambridge University Libraries.
Unless otherwise stated, this work is licenced under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
At this stage you should understand what reflective practice is, how it can help you to learn from your experiences and had a chance to practice some reflective writing. What you do with what you have learnt it up to you, but if you found it helpful think about how you might integrate it into your routine. If it wasn't useful for you think about why this and if there is anything you could do to change this in the future.
The following top tips will help you to get started on your reflective journey:
1. Invest the timeThink about reflection as a time investment rather than a time drain. Building regular time to reflect into your schedule will help you to plan your time effectively. |
2. Reflect big and smallRemember that you don't have to reflect only on the big things. We all have hundreds of experiences a day and each of them is worthy of reflection. |
3. Choose your own pathThere is no one right method of reflection. Choose the method(s) that work for you and adapt them to suit your own circumstances. If a particular method is not working then don't be afraid to try a new one. |
4. It's all about balanceBalance reflecting on both positive and negative experiences in order to get a complete picture. |
Hopefully this guide has given you some ideas for integrating reflective practice into your everyday life and your academic work. It may seem difficult when you are starting out but once you have the right tools it is surprisingly easy to reflect on your experiences and put these into writing if you need to.
The most important message about reflection is one which has run throughout this resource - there is no ONE correct way to reflect. It can be a very personal experience and it everyone approaches it in different ways. It may take some time and some experimentation until you find the formula which works for you but the benefits of being reflective almost always outweigh the time taken.
Good luck!
Photo by Pepe Reyes on Unsplash
The Library, Technological University of the Shannon: Midwest