A description says what you did. A reflection says what you learned from doing it and what that means for your next step. In reflection and improvement you are asked for the second, even though the first is easier to write.
How do you tell them apart?
Description answers “what happened?” Reflection answers “so what?” and “what now?”. A useful test: could an observer who watched you work have written the sentence? If yes, it is description.
| Question it answers | Type | Typical wording |
|---|---|---|
| What did I do? | Description | “I searched for articles and made notes.” |
| Why did I do it that way? | Reflection | “I chose reports over blogs because they showed their method.” |
| What did I learn? | Reflection | “I learned that one statistic can mislead without a date.” |
| What next? | Reflection | “I would now check when the data was collected.” |
Worked example (invented)
Imagine a student researching whether plastic bag charges reduce waste. Here is a first draft.
“First I searched online. Then I found five sources. I made a table. After that I wrote my argument.”
Step 1: underline each verb phrase (searched, found, made, wrote). All are actions an observer could see, so this is description.
Step 2: ask “so what?” for the most important action. Why a table? Perhaps it helped compare sources.
Step 3: add what you learned. “The table showed that two sources used older data, so I gave them less weight.”
Step 4: add what you would do next. “Next time I would record the date of each source as I collect it.”
Revised version:
“I found five sources and compared them in a table. The table showed that two used older data, so I gave them less weight. Next time I would record each source’s date as I collect it, which would save time.”
The facts of the activity are unchanged. Only the thinking was added.
What is a common mistake?
Students often add feeling words and think they have reflected: “I enjoyed the research and it was very interesting.” This still does not say what was learned.
The fix is to attach a reason. “The research was useful because it showed me that a government report and a campaign group can use the same figure to support opposite points.” That sentence names something you now understand.
Self-check
1. Is this description or reflection? “I interviewed a classmate for ten minutes.”
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Description. An observer could have written it. It becomes reflection if you add what the interview showed you or how it changed your thinking.2. Is this reflection? “My first question was too broad, so I could not find focused evidence. I narrowed it to one city.”
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Yes. It explains a problem, links it to a cause and states a change in approach.3. Rewrite as reflection: “I read an article about water access.”
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Possible answer: "The article about water access showed me that average figures hide differences between regions, so I now look for data broken down by area." Your own wording will differ.Where does this lead next?
Next, see how to connect a changed view to specific evidence. In online one-to-one Global Perspectives tuition, a teacher can mark your sentences as description or reflection with you, and the writing stays yours.