reflection essay about environment

Environmental Issues Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on environmental issues.

The environment plays a significant role to support life on earth. But there are some issues that are causing damages to life and the ecosystem of the earth. It is related to the not only environment but with everyone that lives on the planet. Besides, its main source is pollution , global warming, greenhouse gas , and many others. The everyday activities of human are constantly degrading the quality of the environment which ultimately results in the loss of survival condition from the earth.

Source of Environment Issue

There are hundreds of issue that causing damage to the environment. But in this, we are going to discuss the main causes of environmental issues because they are very dangerous to life and the ecosystem.

Pollution – It is one of the main causes of an environmental issue because it poisons the air , water , soil , and noise. As we know that in the past few decades the numbers of industries have rapidly increased. Moreover, these industries discharge their untreated waste into the water bodies, on soil, and in air. Most of these wastes contain harmful and poisonous materials that spread very easily because of the movement of water bodies and wind.

Greenhouse Gases – These are the gases which are responsible for the increase in the temperature of the earth surface. This gases directly relates to air pollution because of the pollution produced by the vehicle and factories which contains a toxic chemical that harms the life and environment of earth.

Climate Changes – Due to environmental issue the climate is changing rapidly and things like smog, acid rains are getting common. Also, the number of natural calamities is also increasing and almost every year there is flood, famine, drought , landslides, earthquakes, and many more calamities are increasing.

Above all, human being and their greed for more is the ultimate cause of all the environmental issue.

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How to Minimize Environment Issue?

Now we know the major issues which are causing damage to the environment. So, now we can discuss the ways by which we can save our environment. For doing so we have to take some measures that will help us in fighting environmental issues .

Moreover, these issues will not only save the environment but also save the life and ecosystem of the planet. Some of the ways of minimizing environmental threat are discussed below:

Reforestation – It will not only help in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem but also help in restoring the natural cycles that work with it. Also, it will help in recharge of groundwater, maintaining the monsoon cycle , decreasing the number of carbons from the air, and many more.

The 3 R’s principle – For contributing to the environment one should have to use the 3 R’s principle that is Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Moreover, it helps the environment in a lot of ways.

To conclude, we can say that humans are a major source of environmental issues. Likewise, our activities are the major reason that the level of harmful gases and pollutants have increased in the environment. But now the humans have taken this problem seriously and now working to eradicate it. Above all, if all humans contribute equally to the environment then this issue can be fight backed. The natural balance can once again be restored.

FAQs about Environmental Issue

Q.1 Name the major environmental issues. A.1 The major environmental issues are pollution, environmental degradation, resource depletion, and climate change. Besides, there are several other environmental issues that also need attention.

Q.2 What is the cause of environmental change? A.2 Human activities are the main cause of environmental change. Moreover, due to our activities, the amount of greenhouse gases has rapidly increased over the past few decades.

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Reflections on the human/environment relationship.

The Spring U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water Exchange scholars took to the desert in May—exploring Moab, hiking in Arches National Park and camping at Bonderman Field Station at Rio Mesa. The students met with local experts to better understand water issues in the Colorado River Basin. They were also introduced to the writing of local authors, including Edward Abbey whose thoughts on water served as a focal point for their written reflections on the trip. Writing instruction is an important aspect of the Exchange experience and the field assignment evolved into a contest and an opportunity for friendly competition; a selected essay is published below along with photos from the trip.

"Who am I?  Wow I am a man  I am a small being within the planet Earth. Planet governed by man.  small but a great destroyer."

These are words of the Heriberto Gonzalez, an activist of the “Justice for Farmworkers" campaign. When I apply these words to find out the relationship of the human being with nature, this poem explains well what human being is doing with natural resources and environment. Man's ambitious and “intelligent” interference with resource ruins natural resources day-by-day. I am trying to alter nature for my own ease rather than to adapt it. I am planning big and populated cities where no city should be.

The same is happening with the U.S. West generally, and Moab especially. Nowadays Moab is facing the same dichotomy between water scarcity and greed of more growth. The unplanned urban growth, altering the desert hydrology. Unfortunately, the local authority is still overlooking the fact that our water is finite. Water Management, Inc. estimates that a mid-market hotel uses an average of 100 gallons per day per room. Moab is struggling to become a viable town for locals as well as a future tourists.

Essay on Environment Reflection

Students are often asked to write an essay on Environment Reflection in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Environment Reflection

Understanding our environment.

Our environment is everything around us. It includes the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land we live on. It’s important because it gives us the things we need to stay alive, like food and water.

Humans and Nature

People and nature are connected. When we keep our environment clean, we help plants, animals, and ourselves. But if we make it dirty, it can make us sick and hurt the Earth.

Protecting Our Home

We can protect our environment by recycling, saving water, and planting trees. These actions keep our world healthy. When we take care of the Earth, it takes care of us too.

Reflection in Action

Thinking about the environment means looking at what we do every day. We can choose to walk instead of taking the car or turn off lights when we leave a room. Small steps can make a big difference.

Future Generations

We must think about kids in the future. A clean environment means they will have a better place to live. By doing our part now, we make sure the Earth stays beautiful for them.

250 Words Essay on Environment Reflection

Our environment is like a big house where we live. It has air, water, plants, and animals. Just like we keep our homes clean, we need to keep our environment clean too. When we look around, we can see the sky, the land, and everything that lives with us on Earth.

What We Do Affects Our World

Every day, we do things that change our environment. When we throw away trash on the ground, it can make the Earth dirty. If we use too much water or cut down many trees, it can hurt the animals and plants. It’s like if someone made a mess in your room and didn’t clean it up; you wouldn’t like that.

Listening to Nature

Nature talks to us in its way. When the weather changes, like when it gets very hot or when there are big storms, it’s like nature is telling us something is wrong. We should listen and try to understand what nature needs.

Small Actions, Big Changes

We can all help our environment. Turning off lights when we leave a room saves energy. If we recycle things like paper and plastic, there’s less trash. Planting trees gives us clean air. Even small things like these can make a big difference.

In the end, taking care of our environment means taking care of our home. If we all do our part, we can keep our world beautiful and safe for everyone, including the animals, plants, and us. Let’s promise to be good friends to our environment.

500 Words Essay on Environment Reflection

What is environment reflection.

When we talk about Environment Reflection, we mean thinking about how everything around us – the air, water, plants, and animals – works together. It is like looking in a mirror, but instead of seeing ourselves, we see the world we live in.

Our Role in the Environment

We all are part of the environment. Like bees that help flowers grow by moving pollen, we too have jobs in nature. We can plant trees, clean rivers, and recycle things we don’t need anymore. This helps to keep our environment healthy. If we throw trash everywhere or waste water, it’s like making our room messy and not cleaning it up. So, we should always remember to care for our world just like we care for our toys.

Nature’s Gifts to Us

The environment gives us many things. We get clean air from trees, food from plants, and water from rivers and lakes. These are gifts because we don’t have to pay for them, but they are very important for our life. We should be thankful and make sure we don’t waste these gifts.

Problems the Environment Faces

Sometimes, the environment gets sick. This can happen when too many cars make the air dirty, or factories put bad stuff in the water. When this happens, it’s harder for animals to live, and even for us to stay healthy. It’s like when someone is playing loud music, and you can’t study. We need to find ways to keep the noise down, which means we have to find ways to stop hurting our environment.

What Can We Do?

There are many things we can do to help. We can ride bikes instead of asking for a car ride. We can turn off lights when we leave a room. We can also use both sides of the paper to draw and write. These small things can make a big difference.

Learning from Others

We can learn a lot from people who take care of the environment. Some people plant lots of trees, some clean beaches, and others help hurt animals. They show us that if we work together, we can make the world a better place. We can join them or even start doing these things with our friends and family.

Our Future and the Environment

Thinking about the environment is not just for today; it’s about our future too. We want to have clean air and water when we grow up. We want to see animals running in the forest and fish swimming in the sea. To make sure this happens, we need to start taking care of our environment now.

In conclusion, Environment Reflection means looking at the world around us and seeing how we can make it better. It’s about caring for the gifts nature gives us and fixing the problems we create. By doing small things every day, we can help a lot. Remember, it’s our world, and we are in charge of keeping it beautiful and safe for everyone.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Bumper Production Boon Or Bane For Farmers
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• Essay on Environment Then And Now

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Reflection on Global Issues: Globalization of the Environment Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
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Leaders in the contemporary world face many challenges that affect the environment and society. The global conflicts, managing the post-pandemic world, and the need to navigate the social injustices to ensure equality for all are among the most pressing ones. The greatest challenge currently facing the world is global climate change. One cannot simply address climate change in a single nation, which is the problem with it. This paper will address the most significant challenges, mainly global climate change and social injustices.

Climate change was chosen as a global issue because the detrimental consequences of the carbon emissions from one country and those from another cannot be distinguished. Sea levels and temperatures increase on a worldwide scale. Due to this, the only way to address climate change is through the globalization of climate policy. The global community cannot ignore the inherent inequity of climate change when highlighting globalization. The need to cooperate is a significant challenge for global leaders.

Industrialized and developed countries need to understand that their consumption of the earth’s resources and the emissions from this usage has a negative impact on not only the populations of their own countries but also countries around the world. Moreover, 50% of the world’s population lives in poverty (Rissanen, 2020). For many people at a younger age, the global climate catastrophe is a source of frustration. According to scientists, if the global community continues on its current course, climate change will become an existential concern by the year 2050 (Rissanen, 2020).

Moreover, a lot of young climate activists express concern about being abandoned on a dying planet with no way to stop it. The leadership of the global community is not doing everything possible to ensure a livable environment for future generations. Solutions to the climate crisis are intertwined with policies governing energy use, food security, and many other issues. When considering climate solutions on a global scale, these are all issues that must be taken into consideration.

Apart from climate change, another pressing issue is the social injustice that people in the modern world continue to face. Leaders must be culturally competent if a diversity and inclusion plan is to be genuinely global. To do this, they must be familiar with the politics, economics, and legal systems of the locations in which their companies operate. More generally, they should focus less on exporting strategies that may be relevant or ineffectual in other regions and more on cultivating a global mindset and an international viewpoint. Diversity workers need to interact with people outside of their own country and comfort zone in order to build a global movement.

Taking diversity and inclusion global is not about the export of individual initiatives but about developing a movement and pouring energy into a worldwide corporate value system that holds diversity and inclusion as a fundamental component. The leadership must find a way how to maintain the distinctiveness of one’s national culture while addressing the common aim of integrating diversity and inclusion into daily operations is a crucial problem.

In summary, global climate change and diversity are the most significant issues affecting the global community. The issue with it is that one cannot just solve climate change in one country. The global climate calamity is a cause of frustration for many people who are younger. The global community’s leaders are not doing everything they can to guarantee a livable environment for future generations. With the diversity issue, there is a need to create a social movement that emphasizes respect for others.

Rissanen, S. (2020). A reflection on overcoming challenges in the globalization of the environment . Web.

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IvyPanda. (2023, December 2). Reflection on Global Issues: Globalization of the Environment. https://ivypanda.com/essays/reflection-on-global-issues-globalization-of-the-environment/

"Reflection on Global Issues: Globalization of the Environment." IvyPanda , 2 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/reflection-on-global-issues-globalization-of-the-environment/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Reflection on Global Issues: Globalization of the Environment'. 2 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Reflection on Global Issues: Globalization of the Environment." December 2, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/reflection-on-global-issues-globalization-of-the-environment/.

1. IvyPanda . "Reflection on Global Issues: Globalization of the Environment." December 2, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/reflection-on-global-issues-globalization-of-the-environment/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Reflection on Global Issues: Globalization of the Environment." December 2, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/reflection-on-global-issues-globalization-of-the-environment/.

Environmental Awareness Essay

Environmental awareness is discussed and studied by many. However, to make an impact, we must be aware of the problems and solutions. We will start with what we are doing wrong and move toward what needs to be done to improve our environment . Some ways to take care of our environment are to practise recycling, follow proper garbage disposal protocol, avoid using our cars too much and rely more on public transportation instead.

Every day we hear about how our planet is changing. The need for environmental protection arises from the changes in rising carbon dioxide levels, which causes drastic changes in our environment. The rising levels of carbon dioxide result in changes in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide traps heat, which leads to a rise in atmospheric temperature. When a plant dies, more carbon dioxide is released into the air. This can cause more temperature changes and less oxygen in the air. To help slow down this process, we have to take care of the environment before it is too late. Now, let us read BYJU’S essay on environmental awareness and understand the importance of protecting the environment.

Importance of Environmental Awareness

We wish to have a good life for our children. We can ensure our children and future generations enjoy the best quality of life by taking small steps every day towards protecting the planet. Let us read about environmental awareness by referring to BYJU’S environmental awareness essay .

One of the first steps to becoming more environmentally conscious or environmentally aware is by reducing our energy usage. This may also mean driving less polluting vehicles.

Environmental awareness is critical because it can help us to become aware of the impacts on the Earth created by human activities, leading to global warming. It can also help us to create a more sustainable world by promoting renewable resources, such as solar, wind and water .

Causes of Environmental Pollution

The environmental pollution that we face today is caused by many factors. A major cause of environmental pollution is mismanagement of oil production and transportation. Due to this, there are oil spills worldwide that destroy aquatic life. Another issue related to environmental pollution is global warming . The increase in greenhouse gases causes a rise in the planet’s atmospheric temperature. Hence, it is important to be environmentally aware and protect the environment. To understand more about this cause, read BYJU’S environmental problems essay.

To conclude, being environmentally aware is essential. We must ensure not to pollute our precious nature and exploit natural resources. For more kids learning activities, such as GK questions and stories , visit BYJU’S website.

Frequently Asked Questions on Environmental Awareness Essay

Why should we protect the environment.

Environmental protection is so vital that each person can make a difference. Whether it’s recycling, lowering your carbon footprint, or driving electric cars, there are many ways to reduce pollution. By reducing pollution and keeping the Earth healthy, we can continue to live on the planet for years to come.

What are the causes of environmental pollution?

The causes of environmental pollution are many, but the most common is improper disposal of waste and overconsumption. We must take care of our planet and use resources wisely not to leave future generations with a polluted Earth.

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Home — Essay Samples — Environment — Environmental Education — Beach Clean-Up Report: Environmental Responsibility Reflection

Beach Clean-up Report: Environmental Responsibility Reflection

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

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Reflective writing is a process of identifying, questioning, and critically evaluating course-based learning opportunities, integrated with your own observations, experiences, impressions, beliefs, assumptions, or biases, and which describes how this process stimulated new or creative understanding about the content of the course.

A reflective paper describes and explains in an introspective, first person narrative, your reactions and feelings about either a specific element of the class [e.g., a required reading; a film shown in class] or more generally how you experienced learning throughout the course. Reflective writing assignments can be in the form of a single paper, essays, portfolios, journals, diaries, or blogs. In some cases, your professor may include a reflective writing assignment as a way to obtain student feedback that helps improve the course, either in the moment or for when the class is taught again.

How to Write a Reflection Paper . Academic Skills, Trent University; Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; Tsingos-Lucas et al. "Using Reflective Writing as a Predictor of Academic Success in Different Assessment Formats." American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 81 (2017): Article 8.

Benefits of Reflective Writing Assignments

As the term implies, a reflective paper involves looking inward at oneself in contemplating and bringing meaning to the relationship between course content and the acquisition of new knowledge . Educational research [Bolton, 2010; Ryan, 2011; Tsingos-Lucas et al., 2017] demonstrates that assigning reflective writing tasks enhances learning because it challenges students to confront their own assumptions, biases, and belief systems around what is being taught in class and, in so doing, stimulate student’s decisions, actions, attitudes, and understanding about themselves as learners and in relation to having mastery over their learning. Reflection assignments are also an opportunity to write in a first person narrative about elements of the course, such as the required readings, separate from the exegetic and analytical prose of academic research papers.

Reflection writing often serves multiple purposes simultaneously. In no particular order, here are some of reasons why professors assign reflection papers:

• Enhances learning from previous knowledge and experience in order to improve future decision-making and reasoning in practice . Reflective writing in the applied social sciences enhances decision-making skills and academic performance in ways that can inform professional practice. The act of reflective writing creates self-awareness and understanding of others. This is particularly important in clinical and service-oriented professional settings.
• Allows students to make sense of classroom content and overall learning experiences in relation to oneself, others, and the conditions that shaped the content and classroom experiences . Reflective writing places you within the course content in ways that can deepen your understanding of the material. Because reflective thinking can help reveal hidden biases, it can help you critically interrogate moments when you do not like or agree with discussions, readings, or other aspects of the course.
• Increases awareness of one’s cognitive abilities and the evidence for these attributes . Reflective writing can break down personal doubts about yourself as a learner and highlight specific abilities that may have been hidden or suppressed due to prior assumptions about the strength of your academic abilities [e.g., reading comprehension; problem-solving skills]. Reflective writing, therefore, can have a positive affective [i.e., emotional] impact on your sense of self-worth.
• Applying theoretical knowledge and frameworks to real experiences . Reflective writing can help build a bridge of relevancy between theoretical knowledge and the real world. In so doing, this form of writing can lead to a better understanding of underlying theories and their analytical properties applied to professional practice.
• Reveals shortcomings that the reader will identify . Evidence suggests that reflective writing can uncover your own shortcomings as a learner, thereby, creating opportunities to anticipate the responses of your professor may have about the quality of your coursework. This can be particularly productive if the reflective paper is written before final submission of an assignment.
• Helps students identify their tacit [a.k.a., implicit] knowledge and possible gaps in that knowledge . Tacit knowledge refers to ways of knowing rooted in lived experience, insight, and intuition rather than formal, codified, categorical, or explicit knowledge. In so doing, reflective writing can stimulate students to question their beliefs about a research problem or an element of the course content beyond positivist modes of understanding and representation.
• Encourages students to actively monitor their learning processes over a period of time . On-going reflective writing in journals or blogs, for example, can help you maintain or adapt learning strategies in other contexts. The regular, purposeful act of reflection can facilitate continuous deep thinking about the course content as it evolves and changes throughout the term. This, in turn, can increase your overall confidence as a learner.
• Relates a student’s personal experience to a wider perspective . Reflection papers can help you see the big picture associated with the content of a course by forcing you to think about the connections between scholarly content and your lived experiences outside of school. It can provide a macro-level understanding of one’s own experiences in relation to the specifics of what is being taught.
• If reflective writing is shared, students can exchange stories about their learning experiences, thereby, creating an opportunity to reevaluate their original assumptions or perspectives . In most cases, reflective writing is only viewed by your professor in order to ensure candid feedback from students. However, occasionally, reflective writing is shared and openly discussed in class. During these discussions, new or different perspectives and alternative approaches to solving problems can be generated that would otherwise be hidden. Sharing student's reflections can also reveal collective patterns of thought and emotions about a particular element of the course.

Bolton, Gillie. Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development . London: Sage, 2010; Chang, Bo. "Reflection in Learning." Online Learning 23 (2019), 95-110; Cavilla, Derek. "The Effects of Student Reflection on Academic Performance and Motivation." Sage Open 7 (July-September 2017): 1–13; Culbert, Patrick. “Better Teaching? You Can Write On It “ Liberal Education (February 2022); McCabe, Gavin and Tobias Thejll-Madsen. The Reflection Toolkit . University of Edinburgh; The Purpose of Reflection . Introductory Composition at Purdue University; Practice-based and Reflective Learning . Study Advice Study Guides, University of Reading; Ryan, Mary. "Improving Reflective Writing in Higher Education: A Social Semiotic Perspective." Teaching in Higher Education 16 (2011): 99-111; Tsingos-Lucas et al. "Using Reflective Writing as a Predictor of Academic Success in Different Assessment Formats." American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 81 (2017): Article 8; What Benefits Might Reflective Writing Have for My Students? Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse; Rykkje, Linda. "The Tacit Care Knowledge in Reflective Writing: A Practical Wisdom." International Practice Development Journal 7 (September 2017): Article 5; Using Reflective Writing to Deepen Student Learning . Center for Writing, University of Minnesota.

How to Approach Writing a Reflection Paper

Thinking About Reflective Thinking

Educational theorists have developed numerous models of reflective thinking that your professor may use to frame a reflective writing assignment. These models can help you systematically interpret your learning experiences, thereby ensuring that you ask the right questions and have a clear understanding of what should be covered. A model can also represent the overall structure of a reflective paper. Each model establishes a different approach to reflection and will require you to think about your writing differently. If you are unclear how to fit your writing within a particular reflective model, seek clarification from your professor. There are generally two types of reflective writing assignments, each approached in slightly different ways.

1.  Reflective Thinking about Course Readings

This type of reflective writing focuses on thoughtfully thinking about the course readings that underpin how most students acquire new knowledge and understanding about the subject of a course. Reflecting on course readings is often assigned in freshmen-level, interdisciplinary courses where the required readings examine topics viewed from multiple perspectives and, as such, provide different ways of analyzing a topic, issue, event, or phenomenon. The purpose of reflective thinking about course readings in the social and behavioral sciences is to elicit your opinions, beliefs, and feelings about the research and its significance. This type of writing can provide an opportunity to break down key assumptions you may have and, in so doing, reveal potential biases in how you interpret the scholarship.

If you are assigned to reflect on course readings, consider the following methods of analysis as prompts that can help you get started :

• Examine carefully the main introductory elements of the reading, including the purpose of the study, the theoretical framework being used to test assumptions, and the research questions being addressed. Think about what ideas stood out to you. Why did they? Were these ideas new to you or familiar in some way based on your own lived experiences or prior knowledge?
• Develop your ideas around the readings by asking yourself, what do I know about this topic? Where does my existing knowledge about this topic come from? What are the observations or experiences in my life that influence my understanding of the topic? Do I agree or disagree with the main arguments, recommended course of actions, or conclusions made by the author(s)? Why do I feel this way and what is the basis of these feelings?
• Make connections between the text and your own beliefs, opinions, or feelings by considering questions like, how do the readings reinforce my existing ideas or assumptions? How the readings challenge these ideas or assumptions? How does this text help me to better understand this topic or research in ways that motivate me to learn more about this area of study?

2.  Reflective Thinking about Course Experiences

This type of reflective writing asks you to critically reflect on locating yourself at the conceptual intersection of theory and practice. The purpose of experiential reflection is to evaluate theories or disciplinary-based analytical models based on your introspective assessment of the relationship between hypothetical thinking and practical reality; it offers a way to consider how your own knowledge and skills fit within professional practice. This type of writing also provides an opportunity to evaluate your decisions and actions, as well as how you managed your subsequent successes and failures, within a specific theoretical framework. As a result, abstract concepts can crystallize and become more relevant to you when considered within your own experiences. This can help you formulate plans for self-improvement as you learn.

If you are assigned to reflect on your experiences, consider the following questions as prompts to help you get started :

• Contextualize your reflection in relation to the overarching purpose of the course by asking yourself, what did you hope to learn from this course? What were the learning objectives for the course and how did I fit within each of them? How did these goals relate to the main themes or concepts of the course?
• Analyze how you experienced the course by asking yourself, what did I learn from this experience? What did I learn about myself? About working in this area of research and study? About how the course relates to my place in society? What assumptions about the course were supported or refuted?
• Think introspectively about the ways you experienced learning during the course by asking yourself, did your learning experiences align with the goals or concepts of the course? Why or why do you not feel this way? What was successful and why do you believe this? What would you do differently and why is this important? How will you prepare for a future experience in this area of study?

NOTE: If you are assigned to write a journal or other type of on-going reflection exercise, a helpful approach is to reflect on your reflections by re-reading what you have already written. In other words, review your previous entries as a way to contextualize your feelings, opinions, or beliefs regarding your overall learning experiences. Over time, this can also help reveal hidden patterns or themes related to how you processed your learning experiences. Consider concluding your reflective journal with a summary of how you felt about your learning experiences at critical junctures throughout the course, then use these to write about how you grew as a student learner and how the act of reflecting helped you gain new understanding about the subject of the course and its content.

ANOTHER NOTE: Regardless of whether you write a reflection paper or a journal, do not focus your writing on the past. The act of reflection is intended to think introspectively about previous learning experiences. However, reflective thinking should document the ways in which you progressed in obtaining new insights and understandings about your growth as a learner that can be carried forward in subsequent coursework or in future professional practice. Your writing should reflect a furtherance of increasing personal autonomy and confidence gained from understanding more about yourself as a learner.

Structure and Writing Style

There are no strict academic rules for writing a reflective paper. Reflective writing may be assigned in any class taught in the social and behavioral sciences and, therefore, requirements for the assignment can vary depending on disciplinary-based models of inquiry and learning. The organization of content can also depend on what your professor wants you to write about or based on the type of reflective model used to frame the writing assignment. Despite these possible variations, below is a basic approach to organizing and writing a good reflective paper, followed by a list of problems to avoid.

Pre-flection

In most cases, it's helpful to begin by thinking about your learning experiences and outline what you want to focus on before you begin to write the paper. This can help you organize your thoughts around what was most important to you and what experiences [good or bad] had the most impact on your learning. As described by the University of Waterloo Writing and Communication Centre, preparing to write a reflective paper involves a process of self-analysis that can help organize your thoughts around significant moments of in-class knowledge discovery.

• Using a thesis statement as a guide, note what experiences or course content stood out to you , then place these within the context of your observations, reactions, feelings, and opinions. This will help you develop a rough outline of key moments during the course that reflect your growth as a learner. To identify these moments, pose these questions to yourself: What happened? What was my reaction? What were my expectations and how were they different from what transpired? What did I learn?
• Critically think about your learning experiences and the course content . This will help you develop a deeper, more nuanced understanding about why these moments were significant or relevant to you. Use the ideas you formulated during the first stage of reflecting to help you think through these moments from both an academic and personal perspective. From an academic perspective, contemplate how the experience enhanced your understanding of a concept, theory, or skill. Ask yourself, did the experience confirm my previous understanding or challenge it in some way. As a result, did this highlight strengths or gaps in your current knowledge? From a personal perspective, think introspectively about why these experiences mattered, if previous expectations or assumptions were confirmed or refuted, and if this surprised, confused, or unnerved you in some way.
• Analyze how these experiences and your reactions to them will shape your future thinking and behavior . Reflection implies looking back, but the most important act of reflective writing is considering how beliefs, assumptions, opinions, and feelings were transformed in ways that better prepare you as a learner in the future. Note how this reflective analysis can lead to actions you will take as a result of your experiences, what you will do differently, and how you will apply what you learned in other courses or in professional practice.

Basic Structure and Writing Style

Reflective Background and Context

The first part of your reflection paper should briefly provide background and context in relation to the content or experiences that stood out to you. Highlight the settings, summarize the key readings, or narrate the experiences in relation to the course objectives. Provide background that sets the stage for your reflection. You do not need to go into great detail, but you should provide enough information for the reader to understand what sources of learning you are writing about [e.g., course readings, field experience, guest lecture, class discussions] and why they were important. This section should end with an explanatory thesis statement that expresses the central ideas of your paper and what you want the readers to know, believe, or understand after they finish reading your paper.

Reflective Interpretation

Drawing from your reflective analysis, this is where you can be personal, critical, and creative in expressing how you felt about the course content and learning experiences and how they influenced or altered your feelings, beliefs, assumptions, or biases about the subject of the course. This section is also where you explore the meaning of these experiences in the context of the course and how you gained an awareness of the connections between these moments and your own prior knowledge.

Guided by your thesis statement, a helpful approach is to interpret your learning throughout the course with a series of specific examples drawn from the course content and your learning experiences. These examples should be arranged in sequential order that illustrate your growth as a learner. Reflecting on each example can be done by: 1)  introducing a theme or moment that was meaningful to you, 2) describing your previous position about the learning moment and what you thought about it, 3) explaining how your perspective was challenged and/or changed and why, and 4) introspectively stating your current or new feelings, opinions, or beliefs about that experience in class.

It is important to include specific examples drawn from the course and placed within the context of your assumptions, thoughts, opinions, and feelings. A reflective narrative without specific examples does not provide an effective way for the reader to understand the relationship between the course content and how you grew as a learner.

Reflective Conclusions

The conclusion of your reflective paper should provide a summary of your thoughts, feelings, or opinions regarding what you learned about yourself as a result of taking the course. Here are several ways you can frame your conclusions based on the examples you interpreted and reflected on what they meant to you. Each example would need to be tied to the basic theme [thesis statement] of your reflective background section.

• Your reflective conclusions can be described in relation to any expectations you had before taking the class [e.g., “I expected the readings to not be relevant to my own experiences growing up in a rural community, but the research actually helped me see that the challenges of developing my identity as a child of immigrants was not that unusual...”].
• Your reflective conclusions can explain how what you learned about yourself will change your actions in the future [e.g., “During a discussion in class about the challenges of helping homeless people, I realized that many of these people hate living on the street but lack the ability to see a way out. This made me realize that I wanted to take more classes in psychology...”].
• Your reflective conclusions can describe major insights you experienced a critical junctures during the course and how these moments enhanced how you see yourself as a student learner [e.g., "The guest speaker from the Head Start program made me realize why I wanted to pursue a career in elementary education..."].
• Your reflective conclusions can reconfigure or reframe how you will approach professional practice and your understanding of your future career aspirations [e.g.,, "The course changed my perceptions about seeking a career in business finance because it made me realize I want to be more engaged in customer service..."]
• Your reflective conclusions can explore any learning you derived from the act of reflecting itself [e.g., “Reflecting on the course readings that described how minority students perceive campus activities helped me identify my own biases about the benefits of those activities in acclimating to campus life...”].

NOTE: The length of a reflective paper in the social sciences is usually less than a traditional research paper. However, don’t assume that writing a reflective paper is easier than writing a research paper. A well-conceived critical reflection paper often requires as much time and effort as a research paper because you must purposeful engage in thinking about your learning in ways that you may not be comfortable with or used to. This is particular true while preparing to write because reflective papers are not as structured as a traditional research paper and, therefore, you have to think deliberately about how you want to organize the paper and what elements of the course you want to reflect upon.

ANOTHER NOTE: Do not limit yourself to using only text in reflecting on your learning. If you believe it would be helpful, consider using creative modes of thought or expression such as, illustrations, photographs, or material objects that reflects an experience related to the subject of the course that was important to you [e.g., like a ticket stub to a renowned speaker on campus]. Whatever non-textual element you include, be sure to describe the object's relevance to your personal relationship to the course content.

Problems to Avoid

A reflective paper is not a “mind dump” . Reflective papers document your personal and emotional experiences and, therefore, they do not conform to rigid structures, or schema, to organize information. However, the paper should not be a disjointed, stream-of-consciousness narrative. Reflective papers are still academic pieces of writing that require organized thought, that use academic language and tone , and that apply intellectually-driven critical thinking to the course content and your learning experiences and their significance.

A reflective paper is not a research paper . If you are asked to reflect on a course reading, the reflection will obviously include some description of the research. However, the goal of reflective writing is not to present extraneous ideas to the reader or to "educate" them about the course. The goal is to share a story about your relationship with the learning objectives of the course. Therefore, unlike research papers, you are expected to write from a first person point of view which includes an introspective examination of your own opinions, feelings, and personal assumptions.

A reflection paper is not a book review . Descriptions of the course readings using your own words is not a reflective paper. Reflective writing should focus on how you understood the implications of and were challenged by the course in relation to your own lived experiences or personal assumptions, combined with explanations of how you grew as a student learner based on this internal dialogue. Remember that you are the central object of the paper, not the research materials.

A reflective paper is not an all-inclusive meditation. Do not try to cover everything. The scope of your paper should be well-defined and limited to your specific opinions, feelings, and beliefs about what you determine to be the most significant content of the course and in relation to the learning that took place. Reflections should be detailed enough to covey what you think is important, but your thoughts should be expressed concisely and coherently [as is true for any academic writing assignment].

Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; Critical Reflection: Journals, Opinions, & Reactions . University Writing Center, Texas A&M University; Connor-Greene, Patricia A. “Making Connections: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Journal Writing in Enhancing Student Learning.” Teaching of Psychology 27 (2000): 44-46; Good vs. Bad Reflection Papers , Franklin University; Dyment, Janet E. and Timothy S. O’Connell. "The Quality of Reflection in Student Journals: A Review of Limiting and Enabling Factors." Innovative Higher Education 35 (2010): 233-244: How to Write a Reflection Paper . Academic Skills, Trent University; Amelia TaraJane House. Reflection Paper . Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence, University of Arkansas; Ramlal, Alana, and Désirée S. Augustin. “Engaging Students in Reflective Writing: An Action Research Project.” Educational Action Research 28 (2020): 518-533; Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; McGuire, Lisa, Kathy Lay, and Jon Peters. “Pedagogy of Reflective Writing in Professional Education.” Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2009): 93-107; Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; How Do I Write Reflectively? Academic Skills Toolkit, University of New South Wales Sydney; Reflective Writing . Skills@Library. University of Leeds; Walling, Anne, Johanna Shapiro, and Terry Ast. “What Makes a Good Reflective Paper?” Family Medicine 45 (2013): 7-12; Williams, Kate, Mary Woolliams, and Jane Spiro. Reflective Writing . 2nd edition. London: Red Globe Press, 2020; Yeh, Hui-Chin, Shih-hsien Yang, Jo Shan Fu, and Yen-Chen Shih. “Developing College Students’ Critical Thinking through Reflective Writing.” Higher Education Research and Development (2022): 1-16.

Writing Tip

Focus on Reflecting, Not on Describing

Minimal time and effort should be spent describing the course content you are asked to reflect upon. The purpose of a reflection assignment is to introspectively contemplate your reactions to and feeling about an element of the course. D eflecting the focus away from your own feelings by concentrating on describing the course content can happen particularly if "talking about yourself" [i.e., reflecting] makes you uncomfortable or it is intimidating. However, the intent of reflective writing is to overcome these inhibitions so as to maximize the benefits of introspectively assessing your learning experiences. Keep in mind that, if it is relevant, your feelings of discomfort could be a part of how you critically reflect on any challenges you had during the course [e.g., you realize this discomfort inhibited your willingness to ask questions during class, it fed into your propensity to procrastinate, or it made it difficult participating in groups].

Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; Reflection Paper . Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence, University of Arkansas.

Another Writing Tip

Helpful Videos about Reflective Writing

These two short videos succinctly describe how to approach a reflective writing assignment. They are produced by the Academic Skills department at the University of Melbourne and the Skills Team of the University of Hull, respectively.

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Home / Essay Samples / Environment / Environmental Ethics / Exploring My Environmental Philosophy and Ethics

Exploring My Environmental Philosophy and Ethics

• Category: Environment , Life
• Topic: Environmental Ethics , Personal Experience

Pages: 6 (2685 words)

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Works Cited

• Callicott, J. Baird. Earth's Insights. University of California Press, 1998. Merchant, Carolyn. Ecology. Humanity Books, 2008.
• Worthy, Kenneth. Invisible Nature: Healing the Destructive Divide between People and the Environment. Prometheus Books, 2013.

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