How to Start a Reflective Essay

Reflection is a person’s ability to explain the individual reaction to events or emotions. In this essay, a writer has to analyze the gained experience and general feedback from the situation. Students don’t know how to start such type of writing. And it is no wonder because it is significant to attract reader’s attention from the very first words. In this article, you will understand how to begin your reflective essay to make it perfect.

What is a Reflective Essay

A reflective essay is a particular type of writing which focuses on examining and understanding how specific events influenced person’s life experience. It is the best way to explore how the described events changed the attitude to something.

The structure of the reflective essay can be different depending on the target audience of your paper. Even the language style can change according to the characteristics of your reader. If it is a task for the university, you will have to write in an academic form and prepare a specific structure beforehand. If it is creative writing, there should not be lots of planning but rather the flow of your inspiration and creativity. There are lots of exciting ideas which you can use for both types.

How to Start a Reflective Essay Introduction

The most significant rule of beginning any paper is making a good first impression. It should make readers excited and interested in analyzing the entire text. Look at the following types of engaging introduction techniques and select the most suitable ones for you. Depending on the topic of your article, you can use various methods.

Describing the exact situation. Begin with involving the reader in the story which once happened in your life. This technique will make your audience engaged in the plot, and they will have inner desire to understand how the situation ended. In order not to lose their attention, you can keep them in suspense till the very conclusion, and devote the main body to analyzing feelings.

Dialogue. By starting with several phrases said by you or somebody who is related to your situation, you will make the read “watching your story.” Moreover, they will see that the case is real because you are writing exact replicas.

Begin with the conclusion. Although this method looks like nonsense, if done correctly, this can make your text engrossing. Write like a Sherlock Holmes where you need to trace the entire story back to understand its real influence on your life.

Quotation or idiom. This method can be annoying unless you choose a great phrase which motivates and inspires. It shouldn’t be something commonplace which everyone can find on Facebook. It shouldn’t be even said by a famous person. Sometimes your friends or parents can say something which changes your attitude to situations. Share this with your audience and be sincere.

Reflective Essay Introduction Example

Here is the introduction of the sample paper about the scariest situation which happened in the writer’s life. Examine which type of hook, the author uses. Try writing similar beginning about your frightening moment to practice this technique.

“The darkness of that night would never disappear from my memory. It was a breezy summer night with no stars in the sky. My parents and I were driving the long road towards long-awaited seaside holidays. Our GPS showed us the way to the weird turn where no signs or markup were seen. We looked at each other and decided to take this turn. And this was the biggest mistake.”