Mirror, mirror on the wall...

                                                                       

Reflecting upon academic work is vital for any educational setting and in my case, essential for surviving university.  When I think about the word "reflection" the first idea that pops into my mind is mirror. This is because when you reflect on a piece of work, essentially you are looking at a reflection of yourself in a mirror. You will need to identify who you are; ask yourself questions which relate to your learning processes; for example, how do I learn? What are my strengths and weaknesses?

I know the concept of reflection is heavily emphasised upon throughout academic studies e.g. in comprehensive school peer marking is the way forward; and it sounds to be a very long and tiring process but trust me, stick with it.  

Step one to reflecting any piece of academic work would be to READ the feedback you gain from your teacher/lecturer in detail. I say read as in the comments your teacher or lecturer has written (not to just glance at the mark you receive for that piece of work, close the cover of your file; and place it at the back of the drawer to never to look back on again. This will help you to identify your strengths and weaknesses; with this information, make a list, write down bullet point or create a poster, anything that helps you to understand what you can confidently do well and what you need to improve on. Secondly, make an action plan on how you can improve the standard of your work for next time. Additionally, try to select different sources to include in your work, in order to widen your learning experiences. For example, read some e-books, journals and articles. This may also help you to understand what your preferred learning style is e.g. if you are an acoustic, visual or kinaesthetic learner.

Here I have created a mind map on bubbl.us which acts as a checklist, when I receive a piece of academic work back with feedback. Feel free to use this as a guideline or plan for the next time you need to reflect upon your work. Good luck!