How to Write a Reflection Paper in Business Studies: First Steps to Begin with
Posted on July 12, 2021
The best way to write a paper is to study everything about its peculiarities and then proceed to its writing. Unfortunately, students often neglect college demands. They lack time to learn everything about a concrete academic assignment and fail because of that. Luckily, today one can turn to many websites that offer detailed manuals concerning various writing tasks. They help to do everything right and do not miss important things.
This article provides a reader with things one should know about how to write a reflection paper in Business Studies. Here a person can find step-by-step instruction, useful tips and sources, and, of course, recommendations from experts.
People often feel puzzled when dealing with academic writing. They do not know how to start. It is especially hard for beginners who have never written a single paper and need professional support to do that. The first thing to do is to learn what type of paper that is.
Study.com explains that a reflection paper introduces a writer’s understanding of a specific activity, notion, or some problem. It is important to know that a student cannot depend only on personal knowledge and feelings. Such writing needs a thorough investigation of the topic. Consequently, a person conducts research, compares the received knowledge with personal observations, and writes a paper.
A reflection paper in Business Studies concerns a topic that a writer has to study, analyze, and reflect. What does that mean? It means that one selects a problem or an argument in Business Studies. He or she speaks about the topic providing the already existing information taken from reliable sources. After that, a student reflects his or her vision of the problem. It can be a unique resolution or one can just support someone’s point of view. Nevertheless, the text is to be logical, smart, and based on facts and examples.
How to Write a Reflection Paper in Business Studies: Topic Selection
Reflection involves critical thinking and the ability to see and describe one thing from different angles. College tutors often want their students to express their suggestions concerning some events. It usually turns out that students’ visions of the situation are different. It means that they mirror the problem differently and can suggest a range of solutions. Thanks to that, participants of such ‘an experiment’ are able to reexamine their knowledge and enlarge one’s scope and improve logical thinking.
One of the most difficult but essential steps in academic writing is the choice of the topic. Business Studies deal with various spheres of life. A student should select a significant problem and reflect it in the paper. Where to find a good one? Nowadays, it is hard to argue about the positive influence of the Internet on education. Students can not only entertain but also to study and search for information there. This is the list of useful websites that might help to find a worthy topic in Business Studies:
One can also find websites devoted to people who ask and answer questions about different subjects. For example, Quora is popular among students. They ask others to help them answer some questions or give a shred of advice. There a student can ask about important topics in Business Studies. Experienced students and even college tutors and professors can suggest something precious and help students find a striking topic for a reflection paper in Business Studies.
Students can unite Business Studies with other important areas to make the topic compelling and valuable. For instance, one can combine it with management, entrepreneurship, ethics, law, marketing, and technological innovations.
How to Structure a Reflection Paper in Business Studies
Everybody knows that academic papers differ in structures and volume. Students have to present thesis papers, essays, reviews, reports, and other types of academic writing. Some assignments are to be short while others are lengthy.
As a rule, students have to deal with three basic types of reflection papers:
- Educational
- Professional
- Personal
The first type involves the review of some books, articles, movies, and news in business.
The second type asks students to analyze professional characteristics like behavior or personal growth (for example, ‘What one needs to become a successful entrepreneur’).
The third type demands a person’s ideas, thoughts, and views of some topic or problem.
College professors often demand journals, learning diaries, notes, essays, logbooks, and reviews that involve reflection. It is impossible to speak about all variations of reflection in one article. Still, almost every academic paper has the following structure.
- a title
- an introduction
- a body
- a conclusion
- an outline
Title
People select books judging its title, cover, and abstract. A title is a heading or, in other words, the name of the paper. Its goal is to reflect the key idea and purpose of the writing. It must be brief, precise, and to the point. It usually includes up to 80 characters. Consequently, a student must carefully select words to convey the message of the paper.
E.g., ‘What Must a Successful Entrepreneur Know about Market Disequilibrium?’
Sometimes, a college gives a topic and just asks to write a reflective response. It simplifies the tasks. In case a person has to look for the topic individually, it will be necessary to create a catchy title to attract the attention of the target reader.
Professionals recommend brainstorming as an effective method for topic selection and the creation of an impressing title.
Introduction
The first part of the paper is usually an introduction. Its purpose is to introduce the topic, idea, problem, or dilemma. It informs the reader about the information he or she can find when reading the paper. This part lacks details. Its function is informative. One should hook the target audience using different eye-catching ways. A student can use:
- citations and quotations
- provocative reflective questions and statements
- samples
- dilemmas
- sayings and proverbs
A person should also think of words that will fit the topic and the target reader. Professors like to see terms and complex constructions while students prefer simple telling that guarantees an easy explanation of the topic. All the same, a student must make it sound clear. Experts recommend using active voice and reduce the number of adverbs to improve the readability of the text.
An introduction also includes a thesis statement. Lumen Learning gives more information about the thesis statement. It explains what that is, how to write and make it strong.
Body
A student should keep in mind the following proportion formula when writing an academic paper.
I10% + B80% + C10% = 100%, where
I – introduction
B – body
C – conclusion
It means that a body is the biggest part of a reflection paper in Business Studies. It supports the thesis statement presented in the introductory part. Moreover, it must present the personal experience of a student related to the subject. Professional writers recommend supporting thoughts with facts. A person should not forget to cite them at the end of the paper or in footnotes.
It is better to divide all the information into several logical parts and present them in different paragraphs. A person has to connect everything logically. For instance, one paragraph presents one idea and the following one reflects another important issue but has logical connectedness to the previous paragraph. A person must remember to apply only trustworthy sources and cite them correctly.
Conclusion
As a rule, an introduction has a reflection question and a conclusion answers it providing a brief restatement of the thesis statement with supporting facts. It also presents a personal response to the topic. The best option is to compare one’s experience at the beginning and the end of the writing. Due to that, a student shows personal growth and understanding of the problem.
Outline
Sometimes students are aware of the structuring but still lack ideas concerning its fulfillment. An outline can become a perfect assistant in this case. The best way is to include reflective questions and answer them.
Introduction: What can I say about the topic? Am I an expert in this field? What is the purpose of my writing? What is the value of my writing? What should I write to make my writing interesting and precious? What can present me as a knowledgeable person in this business area?
Body: What sources can help me support my thesis statement? Am I precise enough? What do I require to improve my writing? Does my writing lack facts? Is the language selection good enough and reader-oriented? Did I succeed to prove the importance of the idea?
Conclusion (after-writing step): Did I manage to achieve the settled goal? (solve the problem/ explain something/ support or refute the argument) What did I learn? How did the writing influence me and my vision of the problem? How to make the last word sound strong and convincing?
After that, a person will be ready to start writing and create a perfect reflection paper. It is better to start writing and do not stop until the last drop of inspiration.
How to Improve the Reflection Paper: Editing Tools for Writing
A reflection is a perfect tool that professors use to make their students understand topics in Business Studies. Thanks to reflection writing, a person can compare things he or she already knows with new things that a student learns through analysis and reflection.
Nevertheless, it is important not only to take care of the content but of its structure and presentation as well. Various online apps and programs help to improve the quality of the text.
Writing Programs
A person should feel comfortable when writing a paper. Except for Microsoft Word, a person can use Google Docs, WPS, LibreOffice, and other alike writing tools that simplify the procedure due to a user-friendly interface and available functions.
Grammar
Some programs scan texts and point to mistakes, colloquialisms, wrong word selection, improper punctuation, and other grammatical and lexical things. Grammarly, After the Deadline, and ProWritingAid serve as perfect grammar editors.
Bibliography
A bibliography section enlists sources a student decided to use to investigate the topic. One must do it regarding the demanded format. It can be MLA, Chicago, Harvard, or APA style. It is hard to cite and keep in mind essential details. That is why one can use tools to generate citations like Scribbr or Cite This for Me.
Readability
Students often write using too many complex sentences and constructions. It usually complicates reading. A reader finds it difficult to get the idea because of long sentences, passive voice, and weighty constructions. One can use apps to scan texts and see what complicates reading. Such editors like Hemingway app assists a person to deliver the message more effectively.
Uniqueness
It is not a secret that each paper is to be unique. Plagiarism checkers scan files and reflect unique and copied extracts. Plagscan, Copyscape, and Dupli Checker fit this purpose perfectly. A person must cite all papers to avoid blaming for plagiarism.
Dos and Don’ts in Reflection Writing
Experts in reflection writing suggest studying good examples. Besides, there are dos and don’ts a person should regard when writing reflection papers.
Dos:
- showing instead of telling
- make it sound serious despite its reflectivity
- combine reflection with facts and pieces of evidence
- mind the structure
- write clearly and laconically
Don’ts:
- depend only on the personal viewpoint
- overload the paper with too many details and ideas
- avoid logical sequence of ideas and their presentation
- neglect excellent sample papers
- be too personal and neglect academic requirements
Educational guides highlight the most important things that students are to remember when creating a paper. Colleges and universities post them to let their students create supreme papers without mistakes. Such manuals lead students. They describe each step a writer has to take. Furthermore, they can offer tools for editing and improvement of the text.
