Writing a Reflective Essay Using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle
Introduction
Reflective writing involves considering an experience that you have had, whether from your own life or as part of a class or professional training, and thinking about and evaluating the experience and learning from it. The experience could relate to anything from a clinical placement, to participation in a group project, to involvement in a social or political campaign. Reflective writing is not just a casual looking back on an experience but a thoughtful examination of what happened, how you were affected, and what you have learned from it. Using a structured framework to guide your reflection can help ensure that your reflective essay is coherent, thorough, and insightful. One of the most common models for structuring reflective writing is Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle. In this article, we will examine the components of Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle and how to use it to write an effective reflective essay.
What is Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle?
Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle was developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 as a structured model of reflection that could be applied to experiences in many different contexts. The cycle consists of six stages:
Description: Briefly describe the experience or situation you want to reflect on. Stick to the facts and avoid judgements or opinions. What happened, where and when? Who else was involved?
Feelings: Consider and write about your feelings associated with the experience. Were you anxious, frustrated, disappointed, satisfied? Identifying feelings can make you more aware of your emotional reactions and provide insights into why you responded as you did.
Evaluation: Evaluate the experience based on your own values and opinions – what went well and conversely what could have gone better? Did aspects of the experience align with or violate your personal values or professional standards? Recognize both positive and negative aspects.
Analysis: Analyze the experience by looking at possible causes and reasons for events and your associated feelings. Think about why things happened as they did. What were the most important factors? Relationships between cause and effect? Can you isolate any specific critical incidents?
Conclusion: State your conclusions drawn from the analysis and evaluation of the experience. What did you learn from it? How has it affected your practice or understanding? Has your perspective changed as a result? How can you apply this learning to future situations?
Action Plan: Use the conclusion to plan how you can develop from the experience. Set specific, measurable, and achievable goals for how the learning can be applied in future practice or experiences. How will you behave differently as a result of the reflection?
These six stages provide a logical flow and framework for examining an experience from different perspectives and arriving at meaningful conclusions. Using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle to structure a reflective essay ensures a considered process of reflection and learning is captured.
Stages of Writing a Reflective Essay Using Gibbs’ Cycle
Here is a suggested process for writing a reflective essay using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle as a guiding structure:
Choose an experience or situation to reflect on. Select something manageable that you had a significant involvement in but also something that is relevant to your academic course, professional training, or personal development aims.
Jot down initial notes on each of the six stages of the reflective cycle – description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan – related to this experience. Don’t edit or overthink at this point, just get your raw thoughts down.
Return to the description and elaborate on the objective facts – what happened, when, where, who was involved. Set the scene and put the reader in the picture without judgement or opinions yet.
Examine your initial feelings note and expand on the emotions you experienced during and after the event. Identify both positive and negative feelings and how they impacted your perspectives and actions at the time.
Study your evaluation note and develop a critique of what went well and poorly based on comparing your experience to your own values and standards or any relevant best practices. Identify both achievements and opportunities for improvement objectively.
Deepen your analysis by exploring possible reasons for events and outcomes including your own feelings and behaviors. Consider connections between causes and effects using principles from academic literature or theoretical models where relevant.
Elaborate your conclusion based on the learning uncovered in your reflection. State clearly what new understandings or perspectives you developed specifically as a result of contemplating this experience.
Refine your action plan by translating the outcome of your conclusion into goals for applying your learning moving forward. Set specific, measurable, and achievable next steps to further develop your knowledge and practice.
Review and refine your reflective essay, ensuring a logical flow and balance between the six stages of the reflective cycle. Check the discussion and analysis is supported by evidence and insights from reviewing the experience.
Proofread the final draft for clarity, conciseness, grammar, and professional presentation as required for your target audience. The depth and quality of reflection using Gibbs’ structured process should produce an insightful evaluation of practice that can be applied to future learning and improvement.
Examples and Tips
Here are a few examples of how Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle could be applied to nursing practice along with some general tips for using the model effectively:
Clinical Placement Reflection:
Describe a challenging clinical scenario encountered
Identify feelings experienced and reactions
Critique nursing assessment and care delivery skills demonstrated
Analyze factors influencing performance including available support
Conclude areas for strengthening competence
Plan goals to refine skills through repetition and mentoring
Group Project Reflection:
Outline objectives and roles within your student group
Share emotional reactions to interpersonal dynamics
Evaluate functioning of the group process and dynamic
Link outcomes to leadership, organization and cohesion
Determine lessons on teamwork and collaboration
Commit to actions that build stronger future teams
General Tips:
Be honest yet constructive in self-evaluation
Back up assertions and critiques with concrete examples
Consider multiple perspectives on what occurred
Connect to relevant literature, research and theory
Adopt an open, learning-focused attitude to drive growth
Set specific, measurable goals for applying lessons learned
Conclusion
Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle provides a structured yet flexible framework for analyzing experiences through description, examination of feelings, critical evaluation, exploration of causes and influences, conclusion drawing, and planning for future action. When used to scaffold reflective writing like a reflective essay assignment, it helps ensure learning occurs through a deliberately thoughtful process of reflection. This model has broad applications for deriving insights from experiences across many professional fields and personal endeavors where continuous enhancement is valued. Taking the time to work through each stage of Gibbs’ cycle yields deeper understandings and leads to more meaningful goal setting and progress.
Andrew Stroud