The main aim of the reflective essay is to reflect thoughts about a certain event. Practicing writing a reflective essay helps in sharpening and further polishing critical thinking skills. This also helps the person in being able to express his or her opinions about a certain event. Following are some of the main steps that are involved in writing an effective reflective essay.
1. The first main step of writing a reflective essay is to brainstorm the topic. Once the topic has been decided, the materials related to the topic can be explored. When the essay is on an event, write down some main points of the experience you have had in the event.

2. The second main step is the organization of the essay. The raw materials of the essay in the form of the topic and materials or experiences have been arranged. Now it needs to be organized. The length of a typical reflection paper is under 1000 words. The essay needs to be brief and short. The introduction is where the writer mentions his or her expectations from the event. The thesis statement is an important part of the essay. The conclusion is an important part of the essay. The reflective essay is an overall conclusion of the event and the experiences associated with the event.

3. The experiences that are reflected in the essay need to be revealed in a careful manner. When perianal details are to be revealedin in the essay it is important that a professional and an academic tone is maintained throughout the essay.

4. It is important that the reflective essay is more focused on the personal experiences. For an effective essay, it is important that no one else is dragged in the essay. One of the strongest facts of the reflection essay is that this is one of the main pieces of academic written that allows the use of first person.

5. The reflection essay is composed of clear and well written sentences. The sentences should be clear enough. However, the essay has to be brief, but the sentences should have one idea. It is important that multiple ideas be not squeezed in one single sentence. There should be no sentence fragments. Simple sentences should have simple clauses. Longer and more complex sentences should have complex clauses.

6. For an effective reflective essay, the use of transition phrases should be used. The transitional phrases are used to make shifts in the arguments. These phrases are also used to make shifts towards the conclusion of the experience. Some of the most common transitional phases that make the reflectiveessay more effective include for example, “as a result”, and “an opposite view is,”.

7. One of the main parts of the reflection essay includes the linking and the connection of the classroom readings to the experience and the event that has been highlighted in the essay.