In academic writing the ideal oppoortunity for a student to express his or her thoughts and feelings is through critical writing. Critical writing is that genre of academic writing where a student is encouraged to consider themselves as the primary subjects and express their deepest feelings, emotions and thoughts.
In academic writing, since it is important to state proven or researched facts, it may be important that one reads up on published and credible content rather than just blindly expressing opinions. However it is considered acceptable for a student to express opinions or debate on published content provided that the arguements are substantiated sufficiently. Care should also be taken to enure that the reflections are structured and cohesive.
Critical self reflection is not easy for everyone .While for some it comes effortlessly for others it’s a painful process. For the latter category of people it may be advisable to follow a structure. A recommended structure is the Gibbs Reflective Cycle.
Most reflections come from experience- either ones own or some one elses which one can connect to at various levels. It is ideal that the writer starts from one critical juncture then expands on that thread into myriad directions as the writing progresses. Thoughts trigger behaviour or action which in turn leads to new behaviours leading to further actions. This is a continuous process and thus reflective writing should be indicative of this continuity.The crux of academic critical relective writing is not to use borrowed thoughts but to substantiate ones thoughts with pragmatic proof.