What Is a Reflexive Essay: Examples & Writing Tips

If you are thinking that there’s a typo, rest assured there isn’t. Even though the terms reflective and reflexive are often confused, these two types of essays are distinct from each other.

What is a reflexive essay? How does it differ from a reflective one? Although similar at some point, the difference between them goes beyond spelling. Unlike the reflective essay that you’re so used to, a reflexive essay takes into consideration not only psychology, but also broader social context. So, when you write a personal self-reflection about past events, you should also think about them as part of a bigger picture because everything is interconnected.

Read this detailed guide created by custom-writing experts and learn how to write a reflexive paper and grab some excellent reflexive essay examples!

❓ What Is Reflexive Writing?

Remember the primary purpose of reflective writing? You are usually asked to recall any critical experiences and events from your life that influenced you. This makes sense when you’re working on reflexive essays as well. However, you should add a broader social context to it. Therefore, you analyze not only how your experience influenced your development, but the role of socio-political factors in it.

Presenting an isolated event of your life would be too limited for a reflexive essay. You need to see if there is any relationship between you and the world in that particular context. To sum up, for this assignment, you are expected to dig deeper and include society into your self-reflection as well. And don’t forget that there’s no right or wrong when it comes to personal opinion.

👣 How to Write a Reflexive Essay?

1. Understand your assignment. Do not confuse reflexive essays with informative essays. Reflexive essays should not contain too many details about what you did. You do not need to tell how something happened or why it happened. Reflexive essays are about evaluation. You need to assess your knowledge and experience.
2. Choose a reflexive essay topic. There is a wide variety of options for the reflexive essay topic. Some of the most popular choices are writing about a place you have visited or a life-changing event. You can also focus on influential experiences or even a person that takes an important place in your life and helped you learn a lesson.
3. Brainstorm. Brainstorming can help you understand how much you know about the topic. There is not much hassle – you just set a timer and write down everything related to the chosen issue you have in mind. It doesn’t matter if it is in sentences or short phrases because the aim is to note as much as you can. Structure your reflexive essay. After you have done all the research, it is time to put it together. It might be incredibly helpful if you create an outline first as it organizes the main ideas according to their place in the essay.
4. Structure your essay. There should always be three parts of your writing: introduction, main body, and conclusion. As soon as you have the most important ideas written down, you can restructure them. The general overview of the topic and your thesis statement goes into the first paragraph. If it’s tough for you to write one, you can easily use a thesis statement generator for explanatory essay. Then, you pick three issues you want to highlight and make one paragraph for each in the main body. Finally, you restate the thesis statement in conclusion.
5. Write your essay. Whether you like it or not, you will have to stick to your tutor’s writing instructions when completing this reflexive essay.
6. Edit and proofread your reflexive essay once it is written. This will help you eliminate minor mistakes that can spoil your hard work.

📖 Reflexive Essay Examples

Below you’ll find the links to three reflection examples in various disciplines. We hope that they’ll inspire you to write your own reflexive essay!

1. Pride and Prejudice: Reflexive Essay

2. Behavioral Styles: A Self-Reflection

3. Registered Nurse Course Reflection

Reflexive Essay Topics

1. Reflections on the fairness of Dworkin’s ideas.
2. Describe your personal reflections on the meaning of soccer.
3. Reflections on the problem of steroid use.
4. Analyze the last track and field event you’ve seen and its meaning to young people.
5. Give your reflections on Hume’s views.
6. Reflections on the ideas of equality and tolerance.
7. Explain why the ability to create flow experience is important and how it helps you to deal with stress.
8. Discuss the notion of race and the problem of immigrants using your personal experience.

9. Describe the brightest person in your life and the lessons you received from that person.
10. Explain who taught you about self-worth and why it’s essential for every person.
11. Is it necessary to teach patriotism in schools?
12. Write about your experience of starting college and how it changed your life.
13. Evaluate the core ideas of The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.
14. Analyze your impressions of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
15. Reflect on the research program on diabetes and what it taught you.
16. Do you think the sports industry is an important part of people’s life?
17. Reflections on Why Don’t You Dance? by Raymond Carver.
18. Discuss the problem of the realization of the diversity based on your own experience.
19. Present your reflections on nursing practices and their role.
20. Explain what aging means to you.
21. Reflect on the problems Paul Vitello rises in his article Kiss Me, I’m Illegal.
22. Describe the historical value and your personal impressions of Chronicles of the Indies.
23. Evaluate how COVID-19 pandemic affected you personally and human race in general.
24. Present your personal reflections on what art is.
25. Reflect on the correlation between the concepts of family and culture.
26. Analyze your views on the controversial problem of drug testing.
27. Present your reflections on the things that motivate you in your personal nursing practice.
28. Discuss the important social role of the documentary Autism: Insight from Inside.
29. Analyze how studying for the degree of Bachelor of Science in social work contributed to your professional and personal development.
30. Reflect on the central theme of the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien.
31. Reflection on Decisive Treatise by Averroes.
32. Describe the impact of strategic leadership on the success of the organization using the example from your personal experience.
33. Examine the importance of Black Lives Matter movement and its impact on your daily life.
34. Give your reflections on the ideas presented in the philosophical work Pensées by Pascal.
35. Do you think photography can be considered an art form?
36. Consideration of the video about genocide in Darfur.
37. Describe how the PBS’s documentary Latino Americans influenced your views.
38. Present your reflection on the modern staging of The Tempest by William Shakespeare.
39. Analyze your impressions of Chaucer’s The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
40. Explain what the story Ordinary People by Judith Guest helped you realize.
41. Reflect on what a leader can do to help a multicultural team to work more effectively.
42. Consider the representation of society in literature and the impact it had on you.
43. Contemplation on the concept of the common good.
44. Think over the messages in A Doll’s House by H. Ibsen and what you’ve learned from them.
45. Describe the most important changes in your life and what they taught you.
46. Discus how adopting a homeless pet influenced your life.
47. Analyze the gender norms of modern society and the impact they have on your life.

🔗 References

1. Strategies for Reflexive Writing
2. Reflective essays – ANU
3. Reflective Writing Guide | UNSW Current Students
4. Reflection and Reflexivity: What and Why (SagePub)
5. Reflective writing – Current students – University of Melbourne
6. Reflective writing | Library | University of Leeds
7. Reflexive writers: Re-thinking writing development