Before starting to write your paper, you should know exactly what your teacher expects from you. It would be a shame to invest a lot of time and effort into a paper only to have it rejected because it does not address the right issues. A semester reflection essay must capture the growth of the author in an effective and substantiated way at the school he is attending. In other, less pompous words, your paper must show your audience how you grew as a student and person and how the semester has helped you do so.

The Structure of a Reflective Essay

While there are many ways in which you can craft an amazing semester reflection paper, we find that the five-paragraph composition is most adequate. It looks like this:

1. A strong introduction that presents your thesis statement. You must be very careful when crafting the introduction, so don’t be afraid to invest as much time as necessary into writing it.

2. Three body paragraphs. Of course, you can add as many paragraphs as you need. Just make sure that each paragraph discusses a main idea. Of course, you should start with important statements and work your way down to the less important points.

3. A conclusion that summarizes your writing and synthesizes the information. This part, while reiterating the thesis statement, must wrap everything up nicely and provide a global statement in the last sentence (a statement that tells you readers that the paper has ended).

The Introduction of a Semester Reflection Essay

We know, writing the introduction is one of the most difficult tasks. It must be powerful, must include a thesis statement, and must captivate the attention of your audience. In case you are running out of ideas, don’t be afraid to use this company – they’re the best at academic writing. Here are a few tips that are sure to help you write the best introduction possible:

• Start your introduction with what is known as an “attention grabber." Use anything from an anecdote or dialogue to some startling information or even a summary of what you are about to write. The attention grabber does not necessarily have to be a single sentence. You can write several sentences – in fact, it is better this way.

• Insert your thesis statement after the attention grabber part. Tell the audience in a few words how this semester has influenced you as a scholar and how it has made you a better person.

• Write a transition sentence at the end of the introduction. The transition sentence makes the transition from the intro to the first body paragraph. Remember, these connecting sentences should also be used to go from one paragraph to the next.

• The intro must be concise and objective. This is no place for subjectivity or emotions.

• Remember that the intro is there to persuade the readers to read your entire paper. It’s there to make your audience WANT to learn more about the topic.