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The Personal
Reflective essay
• Your second folio piece.
• 500-1000 words.
• 15% of total mark for National 5
What is personal-reflective writing?
This type of writing involves describing and
explaining your thoughts, feelings and
reactions to something important in your
life.
It is an opportunity for you to express
yourself and be creative.
What can I write about?
As long as it is about you and your life
then you can write about anything!
Remember that whatever you choose
to write about, you must be able to
explain why it is important and the
impact it has had on your life.
For example...
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An important event in your life.
An important experience in your life.
An important person or place in your life.
An important object or item in your life.
You must choose something that allows you to
go into great detail with your thoughts and
feelings!
“But nothing ever happens to me!”
To write a good personal reflective essay, you
don’t have to have an exciting or interesting
life! Even the most simple and boring
experiences or events can lead to an excellent
personal reflective essay!
Let’s take a look at some example personal
reflective essays that received full marks
(15/15).
Thoughts and feelings
The most important things to remember about personalreflective writing:
1. You cannot just describe what, why, where, when, who.
2. You cannot just provide a series of details.
The focus is always on your thoughts, feelings
and reactions!
At some points you may have to describe the
details (what, why, where, when, who).
But, this should not be the focus of your essay.
You must not just “tell a story”.
You should only use this information as a basis
to explore your thoughts, feelings and
reactions!
Thoughts, feelings and reactions are essential as
they help to convey your personality.
You must ensure that you not only describe
your thoughts, feelings and reactions, but
you also explain them!
Making your writing engaging
There are a number of things that you can do to
make your personal-reflective writing more
engaging.
1. The five senses.
2. Use of imagery.
3. Use of emotive language.
4. Varied vocabulary.
5. Other literary features.
Refer to the 5 senses
Instead of only writing about what you saw
during the experience, you could also mention
the other senses:
• What did you hear, touch, taste, smell?
Use of imagery
• In your essay, you could try to use some
interesting similes, metaphors and
personification when describing your thoughts
and feelings; what happened; the people
involved etc…
Use of emotive language
• One of the best ways to convey your emotions is by
using emotive language in your essay.
“As I entered the exam hall, the nerves started to take
over: I suffered a panic attack and had to be taken
out as I felt overwhelmed and traumatised at the
prospect of sitting the exam”.
Varied Vocabulary
• Try to ensure that you are using a wide range
of mature and sophisticated vocabulary
throughout your essay.
• When you are describing things, ensure that
you are using effective adjectives and adverbs
(describing words).
• Think carefully about the connotations of the
words that you are using.
Other literary techniques
• There are a wide range of different literary
and language techniques that you can use in
your essay.
For example:
Alliteration; onomatopoeia; irony; symbolism;
hyperbole…
Writing Task: 200 words minimum
• A time you felt betrayed or let down by
someone.
• A time that you felt most happy.
• A time when you showed the type of person
you really are.
• A time that you lost something
special/important.
• An experience that makes you feel regret.
• A time that you feel nostalgic about.
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What is the strangest experience you have ever had?
What is the most difficult challenge you have ever faced?
What is the worst thing you have ever done?
What event or experience has most shaped you?
What event or experience has made you grow up or mature?
What event or experience has been most confusing?
What event or experience has shown you the best of
people/someone?
What event or experience has shown you the worst of
people/someone?
When did you feel most alone or isolated?
Have you ever had a relationship that had a big impact on your life?
Have you ever been in conflict with someone?
Have you ever lost something special?
Have you ever experienced personal success?
Have you ever had a particularly frightening experience?
Is there a particular place that is special or important to you?
Who has had the biggest influence on your life?
Structure
There is no specific structure that you have to follow for
a personal-reflective essay, but it still has be wellorganised.
• There does not have to be an introduction, middle or
conclusion.
• It doesn’t have to be written chronologically.
• You can structure it according to the “flow” of your
thoughts (within reason, of course).
Some advice about structure
• In your opening paragraph, try to engage/interest
the reader from the very start so that they want to
read on.
• Your essay could have a turning point.
• Your essay could use flashbacks and flash-forwards.
• Your essay could build up to a climax.
Another very important feature of
personal writing is that it should
include reflection.
“careful thought, especially the process of
reconsidering previous actions, events,
or decisions”
Essentially, this means that, in addition to
describing and explaining your
thoughts/feelings/reactions, you must also:
• Explain what you learned/discovered due to
the experience; and/or
• Explain how you changed due to the
experience; and/or
• Explain how this experience has affected you;
and/or
• Explain what you might have done differently.
It is important to remember that your
reflection should not just be something
that you add on at the end of your essay.
Your reflection should be present
throughout the essay.
“The water undulated around my legs, enveloping
me in its gentle embrace. Mesmerised, I glanced
down at the shimmering surface of the pool that
distortedly mirrored my surroundings[…]the girl I
saw in the water was a stranger. That summer,
that night, I was changing right before my very
eyes.
[…] I struggled to remember a time when my mind
had been untroubled. I had visited my home in
Sicily every summer since the age of two- this
was my home, my sanctuary. However, this
summer I noticed a change in myself; I was
plagued by worries of the year ahead.
[…] My thoughts had turned my sanctuary
into a cruel reminder of my childhoodlong hours spent without a care in the
world, when the pool had seemed
limitless and as vast as my imagination.
Now, it seemed pitifully small and
shallow.”
Reflective words and phrases
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Looking back...
In hindsight...
On reflection...
In retrospect...
I should have...
Since this happened...
If I could change
things...
• I learned that...
• I wish I had...
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I now understand...
If this happened now...
If I could do this again...
Because of this, I...
This made me realise...
Now that I have been
through this...
• I grew through this
experience because...
• I could have...
Task- 200 words
Option 1
Choose one of the ideas that I suggested to you
last week.
Option 2
• A letter to my younger self.
• The soundtrack to my life.
• My most important possession.
• Who am I?
Your personal-reflective
essay
Success Criteria
• Choose an appropriate topic.
• Write between 500-1000 words.
• Ensure that you focus on describing and
explaining your thoughts, feelings and
reactions.
• Ensure that you include mature reflection
throughout your essay.
• Ensure that your essay has an appropriate
structure.
• Ensure that you are using paragraphs to
organise your essay.
• Try to use language features such as metaphor;
simile; emotive language etc..
• Ensure that you are using a wide and
sophisticated range of vocabulary.
• Ensure that you are using accurate spelling and
punctuation.
Me, myself and I
We are going to a number of activities to
help you think about the type of person
you are and the type of life that you
have. This will help you choose a topic for
your essay.
You must write notes for each bullet-point.
Who are you?
• What do you think about yourself?
• What kind of person are you?
• What would friends, teachers and family
members say about you?
• Is there a side or sides to you that no-one
knows about that you keep hidden?
• What kind of person would you like to be?
• How have you changed over the past few
months or years? What caused these changes?
How do you feel about this?
What do you do?
• How do you get on at school?
• What do you do outside school and/or work?
• Have you done anything which has caused you
to learn something about yourself or other
people?
• Has anything happened to you or have you
done anything that has had a big impact on
you and your life?
Who and what do you care about?
• What important relationships do you have in and
outside school? (friends, teachers, relatives etc).
• Have you had any relationships that have changed
over the months and years? Why? How did you feel?
• Are there people (alive or dead) that you care about
and who have had a big influence on you and your
life?
• What are the main aspects of your life that you care
about? What is important to you in your life? What
do you want to achieve in your life?
What have you learned?
What experiences have you had that made you
learn something about yourself or other
people? What did you learn?
What experiences have you had that made you
learn something about life? What did you
learn?