Writing reflective essays for nursing school is a skill and it took me a while to figure that out

The Gibbs reflective cycle gets mentioned constantly in nursing programs and for good reason. Having a framework stops reflective essays from turning into just a description of events with feelings attached.

The part most people rush is the evaluation and analysis sections. What was good or bad about the situation, and why. That's where the actual thinking happens and where most of the marks are. The description section at the start is just setup.

One thing that genuinely helped me was writing the analysis section first before writing the description. Once I knew what I was trying to say about the experience, the description became much easier to write because I knew which details actually mattered.