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Health Science

Guidelines for Writing Reflection Papers

Guidelines for Writing Reflection Papers

Reflection papers are short essays written about a specific topic. The paper should include an introduction, a body (key arguments), and a conclusion. You might choose to divide the paper into more sections but these are the minimum requirements.

At the same time, with short essay papers (in this case 1 page) it is often best to restrict the number of sections in the paper to stay within the one page limit. The page limit doesn’t include references. Title page is not required. This is a more informal paper mainly focused on developing and improving critical thinking skills. 

The purpose of the introduction is to tell the reader what the essay is about, i.e., the topic covered and to tell the reader what to expect.

The body of the paper should inform the reader on key aspects of the paper. This includes offering reviews of others work, review of literature, and making observations based on these findings. Your interpretation of the evidence is critical in this section.

The conclusion is an opportunity to bring your thoughts together in a way that provides summary for the reader. The conclusion should state what the essay accomplished, if did it do what it set out to do, if questions asked in the introduction were addressed in the body of the essay. Briefly restate some of the main points made in the body of the paper and organize them in a succinct format.

  1. Introduction
    • Succinctly and clearly state the topic you are going to address.
    • Why it is important?
  2. Review of the Evidence
    • Discuss at least 3 research articles providing evidence about the central points in your paper.
    • Provide your interpretation and analysis of the evidence (please do not use quotes from the paper).
  3. Policy or Practice Implications
    • Describe the implications of the evidence you have reviewed on policy or practice and suggest changes that should occur using your own critical thinking.
  4. Conclusions
    • Briefly summarize your paper.
    • State overarching conclusion.
  5. References
    • All sources must be referenced in APA style

Specific steps for writing the reflection paper:

  1. Step 1: Obtain the necessary understanding to write an evidenced based reflection paper
    • Read the syllabus, guidelines (provided above) and assignment instructions on Canvas carefully.
    • Review APA guide, definition and examples of credible sources and peer-reviewed journals
  2. Step 2: Identify the topic and give it an informative, succinct title. For example, Strategies for Improving Public Health in the US.
  3. Step 3: Select at least three articles to cite in the paper and analyze and synthesize information as described above
  4. Step 4: Cite all your sources in correct APA style
  5. Step 5: Review & submit the paper.
    • Please review the guidelines above again before you submit the paper.  
    • Grade your paper using the rubric.
    • Submit your paper for originality check to Turnitin. 
    • Make corrections and submit

For your convenience, below I am copying an example provided for Refelction Paper #1. It details how you’d need to approach wirting the paper and offers specific steps based on Modules 1 -3. 

Please review all readings in Modules 1- 3 and reflect on the key points. How do they connect across the major themes? What is the central topic and why?

Bearing these questions in mind, and after closely reviewing the material in the selected modules, identify one topic that you consider the most important and write a reflection paper connecting the key points across the modules. 

For example, the topics of Module 1 – 3 are: Principles of Population Health, Health Professionals and Healthcare Institutions and Health Insurance and Healthcare Systems. 

Where do these topics intersect? Can we look deeper into how healthcare institutions and healthcare systems function to ensure that the standards and principles of the population health are met? If so, do we have evidence that they are met? If yes/no why? What’s missing? What challenges have been identified? What needs to be done to overcome the barriers? 

If you look at the reading list below, compiled from all 3 modules, you’ll see that there are many papers that will give you insights into these questions. Analyze and synthesize the information from these sources (feel free to add your own if you do additional research) and write a reflection paper on  any topic of your choosing that is related to the material covered in Modules 1 -3. 

Additional details on how to write a refection paper, what to include and how it’ll be graded is posted on Canvas.  

Also, under the paper title, please include your originality score generated via Turnitin submission in previous Module from last week. Note: 5 points will be deducted from your paper if you do not have the originally score or fail to include it on your paper. 

Module 1 supplemental readings: 

  • Morabia, A. (2020). The Public Health We Need.  download AJPH. 110(7), pp. 923–924
  • Kindig, D., & Stoddart, G. (2003). What is population health?   downloadAmerican Journal of Public Health, 93(3), 380-383. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.93.3.380 (Links to an external site.) 
  • Schroeder, 2007. We Can Do Better — Improving the Health of the American People  download. N Engl J Med
  • Trinh-Shevrin, C., Nadkarni, S., Park, R., Islam, N., & Kwon, S. C. (2015). Defining an integrative approach for health promotion and disease prevention: a population health equity framework  download. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 26(2 0), 146. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4530990/pdf/nihms707051.pdf (Links to an external site.) 

Module 2 supplemental readings: 

  • Hartzband, P., & Groopman, J. (2020). Physician burnout, interrupted  download. New England Journal of Medicine. 
  • Krisberg K. (June 2020).  Already-strained US public health workforce grapples with COVID-19 (Links to an external site.). The Nation’s Health, 50 (4) 1-12. 
  • Letter to congressional leaders (Links to an external site.) outlining funding priorities as the U.S. begins to prepare for the allocation, distribution and administration of a new COVID-19 pandemic vaccine

Module 3 supplemental readings: 

  • Rovner, J. (June 8, 2020). Rapid Changes To Health System Spurred By COVID Might Be Here To Stay. Kaiser Health News. https://khn.org/news/rapid-changes-to-health-system-spurred-by-covid-might-be-here-to-stay/ (Links to an external site.)
  • Emanuel, E. J., Persad, G., Upshur, R., Thome, B., Parker, M., Glickman, A., … & Phillips, J. P. (2020). Fair allocation of scarce medical resources in the time of Covid-19. NEJM. Available at https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMsb2005114 (Links to an external site.)
  • Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, 2017 Update: International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities for Better U.S. Health Care. Available at: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2017/jul/mirror-mirror-international-comparisons-2017 (Links to an external site.) 
  • Abrams A.(MARCH 19, 2020). Total Cost of Her COVID-19 Treatment: $34,927.43. Time. Available at https://time.com/5806312/coronavirus-treatment-cost/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_term=health_covid-19&linkId=84720876  (Links to an external site.)
  • McCausland P. (March 14, 2020) They’re treating uninsured Americans. But as coronavirus ramps up, money is running out. NBC News. Available at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/they-re-treating-uninsured-americans-coronavirus-ramps-money-running-out-n1157496?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma
  • America, all things not being equal – a series published by the Lancet, comprising five papers, which look in depth at the current inequalities in the health care system. Read at least one (of your choosing), available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014067361730939X (Links to an external site.)