Critical Reflection Essay

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Critical reflection

Critical Reflection

A Critical Reflection (also called a reflective essay) is a process of identifying, questioning, and assessing our deeply-held assumptions – about our knowledge, the way we perceive events and issues, our beliefs, feelings, and actions. When you reflect critically, you use course material (lectures, readings, discussions, etc.) to examine our biases, compare theories with current actions, search for causes and triggers, and identify problems at their core. Critical reflection is not a reading assignment, a summary of an activity, or an emotional outlet. Rather, the goal is to change your thinking about a subject, and thus change your behaviour.

Tip: Critical reflections are common in coursework across all disciplines, but they can take very different forms. Your instructor may ask you to develop a formal essay, produce weekly blog entries, or provide short paragraph answers to a set of questions. Read the assignment guidelines before you begin.

How to Critically Reflect

Writing a critical reflection happens in two phases.

• Analyze: In the first phase, analyze the issue and your role by asking critical questions. Use free writing as a way to develop good ideas. Don’t worry about organized paragraphs or good grammar at this stage.
• Articulate: In the second phase, use your analysis to develop a clear argument about what you learned. Organize your ideas so they are clear for your reader.

First phase: Analyze

A popular method for analyzing is the three stage model,

What? So What? Now what?

What?

In the What? stage, describe the issue, including your role, observations, and reactions. The what? stage helps you make initial observations about what you feel and think. At this point, there’s no need to look at your course notes or readings.

Use the questions below to guide your writing during this stage.

• What happened?
• What did you do?
• What did you expect?
• What was different?
• What was your reaction?
• What did you learn?

So What?

In the second So What? stage, try to understand on a deeper level why the issue is significant or relevant. Use information from your first stage, your course materials (readings, lectures, discussions) — as well as previous experience and knowledge to help you think through the issue from a variety of perspectives.

Tip: Since you’ll be using more course resources in this step, review your readings and course notes before you begin writing.

Below are three perspectives you can consider:

• Academic perspective: How did the experience enhance your understanding of a concept/theory/skill? Did the experience confirm your understanding or challenge it? Did you identify strengths or gaps in your knowledge?
• Personal perspective: Why does the experience matter? What are the consequences? Were your previous expectations/assumptions confirmed or refuted? What surprised you and why?
• Systems perspective: What were the sources of power and who benefited/who was harmed? What changes would you suggest? How does this experience help you understand the organization or system?

Now What?

In the third Now what? stage, explore how the experience will shape your future thinking and behaviour.

Use the following questions to guide your thinking and writing:

• What are you going to do as a result of your experiences?
• What will you do differently?
• How will you apply what you learned?

Second phase: Articulate

After completing the analysis stage, you probably have a lot of writing, but it is not yet organized into a coherent story. You need to build an organized and clear argument about what you learned and how you changed. To do so, develop a thesis statement, make an outline, write, and revise.

Develop a thesis statement

Tip: For more help on developing thesis statements, see our Thesis statements resource

Develop a clear argument to help your reader understand what you learned. This argument should pull together different themes from your analysis into a main idea. You can see an example of a thesis statement in the sample reflection essay at the end of this resource.

Make an outline

Once you have a clear thesis statement for your essay, build an outline. Below is a straightforward method to organize your essay.

Introduction     -Background/Context of Reflection      -Thesis statementBody    Paragraph/Section AIntroduce theme A- Writer’s past position/thinking- Moment of learning/changeWriter’s current/new position      Paragraph/Section BIntroduce theme B- Writer’s past position/thinking- Moment of learning/changeWriter’s current/new position     Paragraph/Section CIntroduce theme C- Writer’s past position/thinking- Moment of learning/changeWriter’s current/new position  Conclusion     – Summarize learning               -Discuss significance of learning for self and others               -Discuss future actions/behaviour

Write and revise

Tip: Keep your writing formal!Even though you are writing about your personal experience and learning, your audience may still be an academic one. Consult the assignment guidelines or ask your instructor to find out whether your writing should be formal or informal.

Time to get writing! Work from your outline and give yourself enough time for a first draft and revisions.

Sample Critical Reflection

Below are sample annotated paragraphs from one student’s critical reflection for a course on society and privilege.

IntroductionBackground/context of reflection: I became aware of privileged positions in society only in recent years. I was lucky enough, privileged enough, to be ignorant of such phenomena, but for some, privilege is a daily lesson of how they do not fit into mainstream culture. In the past, I defined oppression as only that which is obvious and intentional. I never realized the part I played. However, during a class field study to investigate privileged positions in everyday environments, I learned otherwise. Thesis: Without meaning to, I caused harm by participating in a system where I gained from others’ subtle oppression. In one of these spaces, the local mall, everything from advertisements to food to products, to the locations of doorways, bathrooms and other public necessities, made clear my privilege as a white, heterosexual male.

Body paragraphTopic sentence: Peggy McIntosh describes privilege as an invisible knapsack of tools and advantages. This description crystalized for me when I shopped for a greeting card at the stationary store. There, as a white, heterosexual male, I felt comfortable and empowered to roam about the store as I pleased. I freely asked the clerk about a mother’s day card. Writer’s past position: Previously, I never considered that a store did anything but sell products. However, when I asked the sales clerk for same sex greeting cards, she paused for a few seconds and gave me a look that made me feel instantly uncomfortable. Some customers stopped to look at me. I felt a heat move over my face. I felt, for a moment, wrong for being in that store.  I quickly clarified that I was only doing a report for school, implying that I was not in fact homosexual. Writer’s current position: The clerk’s demeanor changed. I was free to check, she said.  It was the only time during the field study that I had felt the need to explain what I was doing to anyone. I could get out of the situation with a simple clarification. But what if I really was a member of the homosexual community? The looks and the silence taught me that I should be feared.  I realized that, along with its products, the store was selling an image of normal. But my “normality” was another person’s “abnormality.”  After I walked out of the store I felt guilty for having denied being homosexual.

ConclusionSummer of learning: At the mall I realized how much we indirectly shame nonprivileged groups, even in seemingly welcoming spaces. That shame is supported every time I or any other privileged individual fails to question our advantage. And it leads to a different kind of shame carried by privileged individuals, too. Value for self and others: All of this, as Brown (2003) documents, is exacerbated by silence. Thus, the next step for me is to not only question privilege internally, but to publicly question covert bias and oppression. If I do, I may very well be shamed for speaking out. But my actions might just encourage other people to speak up as well.

Critical Reflection On Gender And Sexual Identity Essay

The central focus of this critical reflection will be on my own experiences with gender and identity. I will aim to critically reflect on how my experience interacts with the following aspects such as religion, class, age, and race. While also drawing on my own experience using theorists such as Butler, Steph Lawler, Bell Hooks. I will be addressing the following point- Feminism in a cultural home.

We must first understand ‘Gender’ and ‘Sexual identities’. With both Gender and Sexual identities, there’s purpose and effects, this comes to play in gender roles, the importance of gender roles allows one to accept themselves while also understanding how to connect with people. The understandings of the term ‘Gender’ is continuously evolving. Gender is a social construction of the definition of men and women, one’s characteristics are thought to distinguish the difference between a man and women, such as roles, norms, and relationships. However, it differs within other societies and can also change. Whilst a majority of the population are either born ‘Man’ or ‘Woman’ they are learned the suitable norms and conducts, this including-how to interact with those of the same or different sex within communities, work, and homes. However, when one does not ‘fit’ the appropriate gender norms they are most likely faced with discrimination, social barring, and shame.

The establishment of Gender identity is a complicated process there are many elements to consider such as, cultural, psychological and biological. Gender identity is one’s inner experience in which names one’s gender. This can fit or change the sex we were given once birthed. Our first understanding of ‘Gender’ for most of us is established in early childhood. Most of us are only familiar with two gender identities ‘Male’ and ‘Female’, due to the lack of information and social norms we are introduced from young, that these two gender identities only exist. And that one must be either male or female ‘Assuming for the moment the stability of binary sex, it does not follow that the construction of ‘men’ will accrue exclusively to the bodies of males or that ‘women’ will interpret only female bodies’ (Butler,2011) – ‘Gender binary’ this disconnects forms of Masculinity and femininity. Also, Gender expression is how we choose to communicate our gender to the world, social gender involves gender roles and beliefs, society uses these to impose traditionalism to present gender norms.

Lawler draws upon the Psychoanalysis theory and what it may offer to the sociological theories of identity. The psychoanalysis theory emphasises as what it perceives as the subconscious elements of identity formation. According to Lawler ‘The social world is messier than this, and part of the messiness, it seems to me, derives from the messiness of the unconscious’ (Lawler, 2015) Lawler suggests that this perspective provides numerous ways of comprehending non-rational, concealed characteristics of identity in other ways would be unreachable.

Furthermore, ‘Gender roles express our respective place or position in the larger society relative to traditional beliefs of masculinity and femininity’ (Miville, 2013), from when we are born, we are taught expectations and rules that differ from both genders. Historically, gender roles have always been established within my household, I come from a very traditional cultural family, and with that comes expectations and rules that I have seen and also abided by. Many generations before me, there were expectations from both genders- Women were expected to be seen as the caretakes of both the family and home, while men were expected to be seen as the main provider for both the family and home. Furthermore, I’ve also had little freedom growing up, while the men in the family were allowed to do as they please because they are ‘Men’. During the Middle ages, the treatment for both genders always differed ‘Some medieval scholars, in fact, regarded girls as the result of weaker or damaged sperm, while boys resulted from sperm produced by men at their most fertile’ (Bardsley. S, 1997) this suggests that, before the birth of their child, distinctions were already established on the basis of their gender. However, I am very familiar with the appreciation that comes from the birth of a boy, they are seen as a ‘Trophy’, According to Bardsley, ‘The system of primogeniture, under which the oldest son inherited his father’s land, meant that boys were often welcomed more warmly than girls’ (Bardsley, 2007) both genders were shown affection in different ways, however, there were more opportunities given to a male than a female and this was on the basis of their gender, males had much more to lose and much more to give once they had inherited their father’s name as well as his land. Traditionally, it is known that a ‘woman’ is not eligible to carry on her father’s name whereas with a ‘Man’ it is very much the opposite and with this come’s many opportunities, this will not likely be reciprocated to women.

Nonetheless, there have been significant changes in regards to gender roles specifically to ‘Women’ in the early 16th century women were given the voice to express their equality issues and anger, later recognised. ‘Feminism aims to end sexist oppression. Importantly it aims not to benefit solely a specific group of women, any particular race or class of women. It does not privilege women over men’ (Hooks, 2000). Feminism was subconsciously introduced in my household, life outside Europe is very hard to come accustomed to, after many years of creating a living in the United Kingdom I have become accustomed to their way of living and thinking. My family, have also changed their mindset on gender roles, as well as mine and my families class status after many years of residing in the UK, When I first migrated to the UK myself and my family were of lower class and brought our traditions with us, this meant that my family were very close-minded and this was also pushed onto myself, However, I do believe from experience that those who are of a higher class are more lenient towards both genders and change their traditional values. ‘The multidimensionality and interconnected nature of race, class and gender hierarchies were especially visible to those who faced oppression along more than one dimension of inequality’ (Landry, 2016) These academics visualized axes of inequality applicable to the class, gender and race that divides with each other. Power relationships in line with race, class, and gender were perceived to be mutually reinforcing and reciprocally defining instead of systematic structures of oppression, this establishing a ‘Matrix of domination’