EE: Reflection

Writing the Reflective Statement

• Your 500-word reflective statement is written at the end of the extended essay process and included on your RPF (Reflection Progress Form)
• Keeping a thoughtful and regular record of your reflective thinking along the way is essential to crafting a satisfying and effective reflective statement to accompany your essay.

Resources to help write the reflective statement

• My record of the viva voce
• My record of the other reflection sessions with my supervisor
• My completed extended essay
• My RRS or any other record of my reflective thinking
• Informal feedback from my supervisor and others

Ideas to include in your reflective statement

• The main ideas discussed in the viva voce
• Learning skills I developed that I could use elsewhere as a learner
• Insights I gained from researching and writing the extended essay
• Changes in my perspective on the topic
• The impact of the choices I made during the extended essay process
• Experiences and insights that could shape my future thinking

How the Reflection is Scored: see full details on the Assessment tab above.

Examiners look for the following in the reflective statement.

• Reflection on the extended essay learning experience is consistently evaluative and includes specific examples.
• Reflection consistently demonstrates the student’s growth and transfer of learning.

Evidence may include any of the following.

• Experiences and insights that could shape future thinking.
• Explicit examples of how skills learned could be used in other current contexts and in the future.
• How changes in perspective impacted decision-making.

Writing Tips:

• Use strong active verbs (eliminate "to be"....am, is, was)
• Personal interest
• Research Planning
• Concrete details/examples (brief)
• Use words such as: choice, decision, progress, engaged 

Sentence starters:

Some sentence starters to help you get to evaluative language:

🔍 Evaluating Decisions and Processes

• "I recognized that my initial plan..."
• "In evaluating my process, I realized that..."
• "I found that this approach was effective/ineffective because..."
• "One limitation of my method was..."
• "Through reflection, I noticed that I tended to..."
• "Comparing my early drafts to my final version helped me see..."
• "I learned that focusing on... allowed me to improve..."

🌱 Demonstrating Growth and Learning

• "My understanding of... evolved when..."
• "I grew as a learner when I..."
• "Initially, I thought..., but over time I realized..."
• "This experience helped me develop better skills in..."
• "I became more confident in... after..."
• "My ability to analyze/synthesize information improved because..."
• "Looking back, I can see how my thinking has deepened regarding..."

⚙️ Adjusting and Refining

• "When confronted with..., I chose to..."
• "After receiving feedback on..., I decided to..."
• "I refined my question/focus because..."
• "I modified my research strategy when I realized..."
• "To strengthen my argument, I..."
• "When my sources presented conflicting perspectives, I..."

💡 Insights and Realizations

• "I came to understand that..."
• "This process revealed that..."
• "I discovered the importance of..."
• "Through engaging with different viewpoints, I realized..."
• "Exploring this topic changed my perspective on..."
• "This taught me to think more critically about..."

🔄 Looking Ahead / Future Growth

• "If I were to repeat this investigation, I would..."
• "Next time, I plan to focus more on..."
• "This experience will influence my future studies by..."
• "I now approach research with greater awareness of..."
• "Moving forward, I intend to apply what I learned about..."