Hopefully, you have learned a lot about reflection and how it is a vital component to your success as a college student. As you work your way through higher education, remember the following ideas:

• Reflection means exploring the “so what” rather than just the “what.”
• Consider the four knowledge types when you reflect: self-knowledge, content knowledge, rhetorical knowledge, and critical knowledge or judgment.
• You can reflect meaningfully on past events, present events, or future events.
• Reflection happens across all academic disciplines and into your careers.
• Structure your reflective writing using the DEAL (Describe, Examine, Articulate Learning) or DIEP (Describe, Interpret, Evaluate, Plan) models.
• Strong reflective writing relies on a process, just like other writing tasks.
• You will compose different reflections as part of your Reflective Journal this semester, which will allow you a space to collect and unpack ideas.

Your work in the Reflective Journal over the semester will prepare you to compose the final reflective entry, which is the last major assignment in the course. Further, as you become more practiced at meaningful reflection, you should see the benefits in far more than just your academic work.

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