Reflective Writing: Developing a Unique and Effective Writing Style

This essay is a reflective account of the author's journey in developing their writing style from adolescence to college. It highlights the initial struggles with organizing thoughts and expressing them coherently, followed by the gradual improvement through drafting, organizing, editing, and revising. The author emphasizes the importance of structuring ideas, incorporating relevant content, and using referencing formats like MLA to validate statements. The essay also touches upon the influence of writers like Virginia Woolf and J.K. Rowling, and Jung's concept of the collective unconscious in collaborative writing. The author's purpose of writing is to connect with the reader through a simplistic style and personalized views on universal matters, achieved through reflection, analysis, and continuous revision.

Running head: REFLECTIVE WRITING
Reflective writing
Development of writing style
Name of Student
Name of University
Course Name and Number
Professor Name
Paper Due Date

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REFLECTIVE WRITING
The art of writing has essentially been an endeavor to express emotions, surroundings and
circumstances as filtered through the mind. It therefore requires reflection and sensitivity. As an
adolescent, I was reflective and exhibited every sign of being a sensitive person with a natural
flair for reading. What I lacked was the ability to channelize my thoughts and put them into
words and the problem with organizing expression persisted even when I joined college.
However, these college years have witnessed a noticeable change in my writing style.
Once I conceive of an idea, no matter exemplary or trivial, I let my thoughts flow and
they usually materialize into fully developed write-ups following a lengthy process of drafting,
organizing, editing and revising. I try to organize my ideas in a way it has relevance to the topic
but does not give away the conclusion midway. If the idea is structured into a format, the words
and sentences have their way of flowing with little hindrances. Organizing the idea also reduces
incoherency and imparts clarity and consistency of the thought flow. While drafting, I try to
assimilate the preliminary ideas and exclude everything that seem miscellaneous or slightly out
of context. This gives me a clear idea of the soul content of my work and I can proceed with
substantiating the theme and plot (if applicable). Once the matter is drafted into a structure, I
focus on the format while writing. Referencing is an integral aspect if I am preparing a thesis or
research proposal. The MLA format is easy to follow and the in text citations referring to works
by acknowledged scholars provide concrete validation to the statements. Google Scholar is an
excellent cite for accessing erudite material and resources for researching. For individual essays
to be written from personal perspective, I abide by the age-old tradition of reflecting and
analyzing before penning down my ideas. Of the many theories I have come across in the course
of my college years, I feel Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious highly effective for

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REFLECTIVE WRITING
collaborative writing. My professors always recommend revising and proofreading before
submission. Contrary to my expectations, these are too many things that escape notice while
editing, revision eliminates loose ends and abstractions in discussion.
My purpose of writing is to strike a responsive chord with the reader, and hence my style
is simplistic and my works demonstrate personalized views of universal matters. I am indebted to
writers like Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde and J.K Rowling, whose fictional works have inspired
me to write and develop my own style of writing.