Scholarship

The following resources provide you with additional research and scholarship on reflective writing.

Category Article Year

Assessing Reflective Writing

 A Method for Assessing Reflective Journal Writing 2005 Margaret M. Plack, Maryanne Driscoll, Sylvene Blissett, Raymond McKenna, and Thomas P. Plack The coding schema developed [from this study] provides a mechanism to assess evidence of reflection in written journals, which enables instructors to evaluate student competency, obtain a baseline for facilitating reflective practice, and assess their own efficacy. 2005
Assessing Reflective Writing An exploratory study on assessing reflective writing from teachers’ perspectives 2020 Cecilia K. Y. Chan, Hannah Y. H. Wong, and Jiahui Luo Teachers’ understanding of reflective writing, teachers’ understanding of assessing reflections, as well as teacher training, are discussed in this exploratory study. The findings provide insight into how reflection is currently understood among teachers, also offering suggestions for reflective practices in higher education.” 2020
Assessing Reflective Writing Assessing Reflection Assignments for Public Affairs Courses: Implications for Educating Reflective Practitioners 2004 Christopher J. Koliba This article, the author reviews his experiences using an assessment tool to evaluate reflection assignments in the context of teaching public affairs courses, draws references to experiential learning theories, and explores implications for educating reflective practitioners.” 2004
Assessing Reflective Writing Capturing Nonlinear Intercultural Development via Student Reflective Writing 2025 Rebekah Sims, Phuong Minh Tran, Hadi Banat, Parva Panahi, and Bradley Dilger This study analyzed 219 reflective writings from first-year writing students in courses designed to build intercultural competence, using a grounded-theory coding scheme and a mapping procedure based on the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. The authors found that qualitative assessment of reflective writing reveals intercultural development as nonlinear and complex, showing growth that linear quantitative measures often miss, and that reflective writing especially engaged students' critical, cognitive thinking about cultural difference. 2025
Assessing Reflective Writing Engaging Graduate Instructors in Composition Theory through Reflective Writing 2023 Meridith Reed and Amy D. Williams This study analyzed sixty reflective essays written by graduate student instructors in a composition pedagogy seminar to understand how new writing teachers connect composition theory with their own experiences. The authors identify three discursive patterns and three orientations toward theory that GSIs use in their reflections, and they explain how they revised their assignment and training program to encourage deeper, more critical engagement with theory. 2023
Assessing Reflective Writing Grading reflective essays: the reliability of a newly developed tool- GRE-9 2020 Nisrine N. Makarem, Basem R. Saab1, Grace Maalouf, Umayya Musharafieh, Fadila Naji, Diana Rahme, and Dayana Brome This study finds that “the newly developed scale, GRE-9, is a short, concise, easy-to-use, reliable grading tool for reflective essays that has demonstrated moderate to substantial inter-rater reliability. This will allow raters to objectively grade reflective essays and provide informed feedback to residents and students. 2020
Assessing Reflective Writing The Relationship Between the Grading of Reflective Journals and Student Honesty in Reflective Journal Writing 2019 Jo Anne Genua This study’s findings indicated that a significant relationship exists between the grading of reflective journals and student honesty. 2019
Assessing Reflective Writing “I know it when I see it”: employing reflective practice for assessment and feedback of reflective writing in a makerspace classroom 2021 Ofer Chen and Yoav Bergner The purpose of this paper is to… [produce] a protocol for teacher reflective practice that can apply to challenging and feedback-giving situations,” including feedback behaviors such as “a comprehensive rubric and an increase in the frequency, specificity, and depth of feedback given to student written work.” 2021

Benefits of Reflective Writing

 Beyond the Margins: Reflective Writing and Development of Reflective Capacity in Medical Education 2010 Hedy S. Wald and Shmuel P. Reis Within this article, we consider opportunities and challenges associated with the implementation of reflective writing curricula for promotion of reflective capacity within medical education.” 2010
Benefits of Reflective Writing Developing college students’ critical thinking through reflective writing 2022 Hui-Chin Yeh, Shih-hsien Yang, Jo Shan Fu, and Yen-Chen Shih This mixed methods study found that through reflective writing, students improved in critical thinking, self-worth, volunteerism, patience, and gratefulness. 2022
Benefits of Reflective Writing Exploring Reflective Engagement that Promotes Understanding in College Classrooms 2007 Franco Zengaro and Asghar Iran-Nejad This study found that instructors asking probing questions and using symbolism, metaphors, and experiences helped facilitate student engagement and cross-domain perspectives. 2007
Benefits of Reflective Writing How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School 2000 John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking This National Research Council report draws on research in cognitive science, developmental psychology, and education to explain how people learn and what that means for the design of effective learning environments. Of particular relevance to reflective writing is its emphasis on metacognition, the ability to monitor and reflect on one's own thinking, as key to deep understanding and the transfer of learning to new contexts. 2000
Benefits of Reflective Writing Personal Illness Narratives: Using Reflective Writing to Teach Empathy 2004 Sayantani DasGupta and Rita Charon This article describes a reflective writing exercise, the “personal illness narrative,” used in a second-year medical student humanities seminar. 2004
Benefits of Reflective Writing Reflection in the Writing Classroom 1998 Kathleen Blake Yancey This foundational book theorizes reflection as a central part of learning to write. It argues that when students reflect on their writing, they set goals, monitor their progress, and develop a better understanding of themselves as writers. Yancey identifies three types of reflection: reflection-in-action, which happens while composing; constructive reflection, which happens across writing tasks over time; and reflection-in-presentation, which is reflection written for others, such as in portfolios. She also explores how each type can shape both teaching and assessment. 1998
Benefits of Reflective Writing Reflective Writing, Higher Education and Professional Practice 2015 John McCarthy This article considers the application of reflection via reflective education for built environment professional disciplines such as spatial planning and surveying, and how this is linked to subsequent application in professional practice. 2015
Benefits of Reflective Writing Reflective Writing/Reflective Practice: Promoting Engaged Learning and Student Confidence in the Beginning Ballet Class 2013 Betsy Cooper An analysis of student writing portfolios demonstrates that reflective writing promotes engaged and co-participatory learning, fosters a metacognitive approach to dance training, and spurs a positive shift in student perceptions of themselves as dancers and learners. 2013
Benefits of Reflective Writing Reflective writing for enhancing knowledge integration in modularised study programmes 2018 Liudmila Mikalayeva, Stoyan Panov, and Elina Schleutker To prevent the fragmentation and encapsulation of knowledge, the authors created a reflective writing exercise, “Building Bridges,” that requires students to find connections between courses. 2018
Benefits of Reflective Writing Research for the Classroom: The Power of Reflective Writing 2011 Julie Gorlewski and Katie Greene This action research study introduced Initial Reflection Letters and After Writing Reflection Letters into a ninth-grade short-story unit to encourage more authentic, metacognitive reflection on students' own writing. Students scored significantly higher on the unit assessment than the previous year's classes and reported greater engagement, ownership, and confidence in their writing. 2011
Benefits of Reflective Writing Stories and Explanations in the Introductory Calculus Classroom: A Study of WTL as a Teaching and Learning Intervention 2016 S. Doe, Mary E. Pilgrim, and Jessica Gehrtz This study compared a Calculus I section that used write-to-learn activities, such as narrative "stories" explaining mathematical concepts, with a traditional lecture section. Students in the writing section outperformed the comparison group on every exam and showed stronger conceptual understanding without losing procedural skill. The authors also discuss what the intervention means for faculty collaboration and for training graduate teaching assistants. 2016
Benefits of Reflective Writing Teaching for Transfer 2023 Liane Robertson and Kara Taczak This chapter reports on two parallel studies of first-year composition: one compares course content across three sections, and the other examines how reflection affects students' ability to transfer writing knowledge. The authors found that a curriculum built around key writing concepts, combined with sustained reflection, helped students move past the limits of their prior knowledge and apply what they learned to new writing situations. Themed courses, by contrast, did little to support transfer. 2023
Benefits of Reflective Writing The three-fold benefit of reflective writing: Improving program assessment, student learning, and faculty professional development 2014 Elizabeth G. Allan and Dana Lynn Driscoll This article presents a three fold model of reflection used to assess a US general education first-year writing course. 2014
Benefits of Reflective Writing “The pen is a powerful weapon; it can make you change”: The value of using reflective writing with adolescents 2017 Lisa Wegner, Patricia Struthers, Suraya Mohamed This paper describes the use of reflective writing with adolescents as part of a health-promoting schools project in Cape Town, South Africa. … Reflective writing enabled the participants to acknowledge personal changes and development and provide insight into their feelings and experiences.” 2017

Reflective Writing Assignments

 A Reflective Writing Assignment to Engage Students in Critical Thinking 2018 Taryn Melkus Bayles This paper features a description of a major engineering project that engages students in critical thinking and reflection, along with its challenges, solutions, and rubric. 2018
Reflective Writing Assignments Development and Implementation of a Reflective Writing Assignment for Undergraduate Students in a Large Public Health Biology Course 2022 Obidimma Ezezika and Nancy Johnston Considering Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle framework, in this article, we detail the design, implementation, and evaluation of a reflective writing assignment integrated into a lower-year undergraduate public health biology course. 2022
Reflective Writing Assignments Encouraging Critical Engagement with Course Readings Through Focused Reading Responses 2022 Laura Wildemann Kane This article will “demonstrate how Focused Reading Responses motivate students to 1) critically engage with reading assignments, and 2) write more substantive reading responses. 2022
Reflective Writing Assignments Generating, Deepening, and Documenting Learning: The Power of Critical Reflection in Applied Learning 2009 Sarah L. Ash and Patti H. Clayton This article will consider the meaning of critical reflection and principles of good practice for designing it effectively and will present a research-grounded, flexible model for integrating critical reflection and assessment. 2009
Reflective Writing Assignments Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods 1988 Graham Gibbs This guide argues that experience alone doesn't produce learning. To learn from what they do, students need structured opportunities to reflect on their experiences. Drawing on Kolb's experiential learning theory, Gibbs introduces what is now known as Gibbs' Reflective Cycle: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. He also presents practical teaching methods and examples for building this kind of reflection into courses. 1988
Reflective Writing Assignments Projects That Matter Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Engineering 2000 Edmund Tsang and Edward Zlotkowski This article is designed as a practical guide for faculty seeking to integrate service learning into engineering courses. 2000
Reflective Writing Assignments Reflecting on Practice: Student Teachers’ Perspectives 2002 John D. Bain, Roy Ballantyne, Colleen Mills, and Nita C. Lester This book helps student teachers reflect deeply on their practicum experiences and on broader issues in school education. It presents student teachers' own reflections alongside responses from practicing teachers, school administrators, and teacher educators, grouped under five themes: teaching for learning, classroom organization and management, behavior management, professional concerns, and assessment. 2002
Reflective Writing Assignments Reflective Journaling as a Flipped Classroom Technique to Increase Reading and Participation with Social Work Students 2015 Melanie Sage and Patti Sele This study examines weekly reflective reading journals as a flipped-classroom technique to encourage social work students to complete assigned readings and arrive ready for critical discussion. A survey of 27 students in two practice courses found that the journals increased student preparation and engagement, though they required more work from both students and instructors. 2015
Reflective Writing Assignments Rethinking Your Writing: Rhetoric for Reflective Writers 2024 E. Shelley Reid This open-access textbook combines rhetoric and reflection to help students move beyond "just do it" writing toward more deliberate prediction, problem-solving, and reflection throughout the writing process, so they can transfer what they learn to future writing tasks. Its modular chapters and more than seventy writing exercises can be used on their own or across a whole course, in contexts ranging from first-year composition to writing across the disciplines. 2024
Reflective Writing Assignments Student Learning in the Workplace: The Learning Evaluation and Reflection Narrative (LEARN) Framework 2018 Natalie Simper, Launa Gauthier L, and Jill Scott J. This paper presents a proof of concept for the LEARN framework, a reflective activity that uses pre- and post-placement surveys to prompt students to reflect on their learning goals and behaviors during work placements. Students' responses showed sophisticated self-awareness of their personal and professional learning and its relevance beyond the workplace, suggesting the framework is a promising tool for helping students articulate transferable, lifelong learning skills. 2018
Reflective Writing Assignments Teaching reflective learning in higher education: a systematic approach using pedagogic patterns 2015 Mary Elizabeth Ryan, editor This edited collection offers a theoretical model for teaching and assessing reflection across higher education, arguing that because reflection isn't intuitive, students need explicit, program-wide instruction and scaffolding to do it well. Chapters from disciplines such as law, accounting, dance, teacher education, and service learning show how reflective "teaching patterns" can be used in written, oral, visual, and embodied forms and embedded systematically across entire courses and programs. 2015
Reflective Writing Assignments Teaching Writers to Reflect: Strategies for a More Thoughtful Writing Workshop 2019 Anne E. Whitney, Colleen McCracken, Deana Washell This practical guide presents a three-step process for teaching reflection during the writing workshop: remember, describe, and act. The goal is to help students understand what they are doing as writers and why. Using classroom strategies, student work, and teacher stories, the authors argue that reflection helps students build writerly identities, solve problems in their writing, and transfer writing skills to new situations. The book closes with a chapter on moving from reflection to self-assessment. 2019
Reflective Writing Assignments Transformative Learning Outcomes: Shifting the Learning Outcome Conversation from Assessment to Design 2025 Mat Duerden and Jamin Rowan This article argues that learning outcomes have drifted from guiding course design toward serving external assessment. It proposes "transformative learning outcomes," which describe the habits of mind or ways of being students will develop rather than only what they will know. The authors suggest that courses designed around these outcomes, which target specific aspects of student identity and connect to multiple areas of life, may better support interdisciplinary curriculum and learning transfer, and they include a brief case study of such a course. 2025
Reflective Writing Assignments Using Reflective Practice to Support Management Student Learning: Three Brief Assignments 2018 Anne H. Reilly Three examples of brief reflective assignments are presented suitable for management educators teaching undergraduate, graduate, or non-credit learners:(1) writing an organizational story, (2) a reflection about learning from adversity, and(3) a goal oriented personal change. 2018
Reflective Writing Assignments Writing Into Awareness: How Metacognitive Awareness Can Be Encouraged Through Contemplative Teaching Practices 2019 Kate Chaterdon This essay describes an upper-division writing course built around contemplative practices, journaling, genre analysis, and student-created rubrics, with each unit scaffolding both internal reflection (introspection on oneself as a writer) and external reflection (attention to genre and audience). Chaterdon argues that practicing these two kinds of reflection at the same time can strengthen students' metacognitive awareness and help them transfer writing knowledge to new contexts. 2019