Some hints for Personal Reflective Writing

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Have a scroll through these bullet points and think about how you will write effectively.




Personal Reflective Writing
National 5 / Higher


 
What’s needed?


  • A sophisticated piece of writing of up to 1000 words
  • which is reflective - (not just an account of what happened)
  • You must show that you have thought about the way the events influenced you
  • It must make sense at first reading
  • be well-structured
  • and punctuation and spelling must be sufficiently accurate


 
Style


  • First person
  • Conversational
  • Informal – when appropriate – but not casual
  • Well-informed
  • Varied vocabulary
  • Interesting sentences
  • Uses figures of speech appropriately


 
Tone


  • Sincere
  • Serious
  • Humorous sometimes helps
  • Self-deprecating – you can make and take a joke against yourself
     
Demonstrates your desirable qualities


  • Honest
  • Open
  • Witty
  • Intelligent
  • Humane
  • Friendly
     
Capture Reader’s Attention


  • Make your opening paragraph interesting and engaging.
  • It doesn’t have to be a ‘Once upon a time’ story
  • You could start in the middle of an event
  • You could start with a quotation, or an idea
  • In fact, you should start any way you can in order to draw your reader in
For example –


  • My mum always told me that I should never lie, so why does she lie to me?
  • Or – ‘Take that, you dirty scumbag!’ I shouted.
  • Or – When I think back, I wonder how I ever managed before I got together with my closest friend – my iphone 7.
  • Or – If you wanted to take my playstation from my bedroom, you would have to kill me first.
  • Please don’t say ‘I’m a Celebrity’ is rubbish. I have loved it to bits.


 
Use imaginative and interesting vocabulary


  • I was bored.
  • I was so bored, I imagined that, if you could get a penny for every minute spent  bored, I would be worth a fortune 


 
Use ‘emotive’ vocabulary (emotional)


  • I was angry.
  • I was absolutely raging. I was hardly able to contain my fury.


 
Use varied sentence structure


  • Use longer sentences and lists to build up description and action.
  • Instead of
  • It was a bit hilly.
  • In front of me I could see a vast range of hills, spreading from the swirling river in the east, which I had crossed that morning, to the towering cliffs of the mountain in the far west.


 
Action


  • Instead of
  • They chased me for ages.
  • I stopped abruptly, exhausted and gasping for breath and turned round. I could hear the cries of my pursuers as they came  closer and closer. Ahead I could see a deep, dark and dense green forest. It could be my only hiding place.


 
Use a sound technique:


  • Onomatopoeia
  • The thunder crashed above my head. I was terrified.
  • Alliteration
  • I ran rapidly across the racetrack.


 
You should also enhance your writing with imagery / comparison techniques.


  • Metaphor
  • He came rocketing down the road.
  • Simile
  • He had a grin like the Cheshire cat.
  • Personification
  • The storm raged through the night.













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