The second part of my Sound Design unit is to write a critical reflection. Over the years I have written some decent critical reflections but I’m hoping to elevate this one and make it my highest graded critical reflection yet. In class we looked at previous years students critical reflections and analysed them, guessing what grades they were given. This exercise helped me identify a few key things that I could do in my own critical reflection to get some points towards a high grade. Below are my top tips for creating a high quality critical reflection.

Clear professional Layout

The layout of a critical reflection is actually more important than you would think. On the brief there is clear instructions for the layout like using Ariel font and writing double spaced. These are the standard things you should do but it is also great to add your own things to the layout, for example a contents page, this will really help organise the pages and make it a clearer read. You could also add an appendix of any photos that help show your process of the project. Doing these things could gain you easy points when it is being marked.

Correct Harvard referencing

Making sure that your Harvard referencing is correct is key. There are tools to help like the Solent Harvard referencing guide or Ref Works. This is another area that can gain you easy marks or loose marks if you do it incorrectly. Next lesson we are going to have a class on Harvard referencing which will hopefully help me further when referencing.

Reflective not descriptive

Sometimes when writing a critical reflection people can write more descriptively than reflectively. Descriptive writing will only get you a C at best but if you are aiming for an A you need to be reflective writing. To write reflectively you should be analysing and discussing themes and processes, talking about how you felt/feel and why you made certain decisions, where you could improve or what you would/could change and reflecting on yourself as an individual. Doing this will make the critical reflection a much more insightful and enjoyable read.

Use your blog posts!

My last top tip when writing a critical reflection is to use your blog posts as references. In third year it is expected of us to use our blog posts as references. keeping our blogs up to date throughout each semester is key to doing this. Using blog posts and references allows the reader to understand your thoughts and decisions during certain periods of the process. It is also good to compare the end result to your blog posts and see if you have made an changes to original plans and why.