A reflection paper is an analytical academic essay that requires you to express your opinion on a topic, supporting it with your observations and personal experiences. It is a chance to express your own thoughts regarding a book, experience, or academic lecture that shaped your thoughts and opinions on a subject. Reflection papers are one of the only academic essays where you get to discuss your own opinion, and there is no wrong answer. There are two main types of reflection papers: experiential and textual.

• Experiential: This type of paper is an analysis of a personal experience or observation. In the paper, you will summarize and highlight underlying principles that support your analysis of the experience.

• Textual: This type of paper analyzes a written text, which can be an article, essay, or book. Your opinion, analysis, and interpretation of the material will be backed up using specific quotations.

Reflective writing can help you improve your analytical skills because it requires you to express what you think, and more significantly, how and why you think that way. Reflective papers are still academic pieces of writing that require organized thought, academic language and tone, and intellectually-driven critical thinking to the course content and your learning experiences and their significance. The reflection paper format is familiar for academic writing, and it should include an introduction, body, and conclusion.