01Not a diary, not an essay
A diary records what happened. An essay argues a case with sources behind it. A reflection lives in between: an account of one real event, examined honestly, finishing in something you will do differently. The event is raw material rather than the point, which is how an entry can be well written, entirely true, and still land in the middle of the scale.
What markers are hunting for is movement. Something occurred, you noticed something about yourself or about the situation, you connected that noticing to what you have been taught, and you ended up somewhere you were not standing before. Without that movement there are no marks to give, however vivid the story is.
02The models, and why your course names one
Most programmes adopt a reflective model and expect to see it used, sometimes as literal headings. The names on them differ and the skeleton hardly ever does. Where your brief names one, follow it to the letter, headings included, because somebody is checking off boxes that carry those exact words.
- Description. What happened, briefly, in the past tense. This is the section everybody overwrites
- Feelings. What you thought and felt at the time, named plainly, in one short paragraph and without apology
- Evaluation. What worked and what did not, kept separate, with both of them genuinely answered
- Analysis. Why it happened, drawn from your reading, a policy or your standards of practice, cited where the brief expects citation
- Conclusion and action. What else was available to you, and what you will do next time, put so specifically that somebody could check whether you did it
03The last box is the graded box
Rubrics load their weight at the end. A commitment reading I will be more aware of communication earns almost nothing, because no one can tell whether it ever happened. Rewrite it with a verb and a date attached: at handover tomorrow I will read back the three items I am given, in the order I am given them, and note which one I nearly lost.
That is the whole distance between a reflection and a resolution, and it is exactly what markers are trained to look for. It also makes the following entry easy to begin, since a specific commitment hands you something to report on. A run of entries that answer each other reads as somebody developing, rather than as somebody producing four hundred words every Sunday.
04Writing safely about real people
One incident, small enough to hold still, beats a whole shift summarised. But the second real people enter your writing, confidentiality applies precisely as it does on the unit: no names, no dates that pin the event down, no ward or employer identifiers, nothing that lets a reader assemble who anybody was. Use a role or a single letter, and add a line stating that identifying details have been removed.
Be honest about the error without turning the page into a confession. Reflective writing does ask for the moment you got something wrong, which is uncomfortable in a document that somebody grades. Write what you noticed and what changed afterwards, and leave anything belonging in an incident report where it belongs. If your programme collects these, they follow you for years, and the portfolio keeps every one of them, so write each as though it will be reread in your final term. It probably will be. And when the weekly reflections rather than the clinical hours are what is sinking you, those small recurring items are the cheapest thing to hand over to somebody covering your week.
FAQQuestions to control
How personal is too personal?
Include feeling where it explains a decision, and stop there. A line saying you were frightened and therefore checked twice belongs in the entry, because it drives the analysis. Your relationship history, your finances and your opinion of a colleague do not, since none of them can be assessed against a criterion. Ask of each sentence whether it earns its place by explaining something you did.
Can I write about the same incident more than once?
Yes, and returning to one deliberately is often the strongest thing in a portfolio. The second visit should not repeat the description. Open where the first entry ended, report what actually happened when you tried the change you promised, and analyse why it worked or did not. That is longitudinal reflection, and it is precisely what a final portfolio commentary is meant to show.
Do reflections need citations?
Usually yes at postgraduate level, and the brief will say so. The analysis section is where they belong: a standard, a guideline, a policy or a paper explaining the thing you observed. Two or three well chosen sources are plenty, and the model you are following is itself normally cited once. Description and feelings sections need none, since nobody else published your Tuesday.
Nothing happened this week. What do I write about?
Something did, it simply was not dramatic. A conversation you handled better than last month, a moment you nearly skipped a check, a piece of equipment you had to ask about, a decision another person made that you would have made differently. Small events analysed properly outscore big events narrated, and a quiet week is often where the most honest reflection actually sits.
