A globe representing Gibbs' reflective cycle, serving as a reference for educational materials in a book - Gibbs Reflective Cycle Reference 1998.

Graham Gibbs in 1998 developed this reflective cycle to build a learning structure. This framework has a cyclic nature, enabling you to plan things for your teaching and learning. The procedure of Gibbs cycle of reflection has six stages:

  • Description about the experience.
  • Feelings on the experience.
  • Evaluation of the experience.
  • Analysis of the experience.
  • Conclusion of the process.
  • Action plan for future projects.

 The reflective cycle is a seminal theory in reflective practice. It has been tried and tested over and over across reputable institutes including Oxford and other well-known universities.

A Reflective Practice for Education Units

The main purpose of Gibbs reflective cycle reference is to improve management of educational practices when it comes to learning and teaching both. Let’s have a look at the six stages in detail for quality academic writing.

Description

  • Here you describe in detail the entire situation.
  • What happened; where, when, and how did it happen?
  • What did the present individuals including you do?
  • Why were you there, what was your goal, and what was the result of the situation?
  • This is the kick start to upcoming crucial steps.

Feelings

  • Here you reflect on your thought process regarding an experience. 
  •  What were you feeling before, during, and after a situation?
  • How were others feeling about it?
  • How do they feel about it now?
  • What were you feeling then and what are you feeling now?
  •  If this part is not clear, then it cannot be passed on to the next step.

Evaluation

  • This is where you have to evaluate positives and negatives of the situation. Be honest, objective, and as critical as possible.
  • Ask yourself the good and bad sides to the experience as in what did and did not go well?
  • How did you and others contribute, whether positively or negatively?
  • What can be enhanced here?

Analysis

  • This is where you analyze the situation and make sense of all that happened. The earlier steps were there to show you what happened; now you need to take something away, find a meaning in the situation. 
  •  Why did and did not things go well?
  • How much sense of the situation can be made?
  • What knowledge can aid me to grasp the situation better?

Conclusion

  • This is where you can finally conclude what happened. This is where you imagine what could possibly be better in the situation. 
  • What did I learn?
  • How could this be a positive situation for everyone?
  • What do I need to tackle this situation better next time?
  • What else I could and should have done?

Action Plan

  • This is where you plan your action for the future. Ask yourself:
  • What would I do differently in the same situation the next time?
  • How would I develop the needed skills?
  • How to ensure I act differently in the future?

The moment you are done with this step, the whole method of 6 stages is complete. Even the best dissertation writers follow this entire procedure. Now you can revisit the model of reflection for every incident and situation with respect to helpful questions and develop practical solutions accordingly even when it comes to professional essay help.

Depths of Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle

You need various levels of details depending on the context you are reflecting in. Here is a brief scenario with a detailed example of Gibbs reflective cycle:

Description:

We divide sections for a course assignment by peoples’ strengths. When we got the assignments, they were written with different methods and styles. And so we had to rewrite them all.

Feelings:

This is where we felt frustration. We thought the work would be completed well but we had to do it all again.

Evaluation:

There was nothing wrong with the division. However, the lack of planning and instructions is why the desired result was not achieved.

Analysis:

Dividing work according to strengths is useful and even recommended. A must-do act is proper instructions. Refer students toward the essential detail and ensure they cite sources in needed styles whether it is APA (7th ed), Chicago, and whatever.

Conclusion:

Using others’ abilities as teamwork is efficient. Planning before action is double efficient and must keep the setbacks of groupthink into consideration. This is why Gibbs reflective learning cycle is so special for improving grades.

Action Plan:

Proper roles should be assigned before the group is divided in the future. Also, the first task should be done together, even for nursing assignments, so understanding and team coordination is made to implement university writing techniques in a practical way. 

Adapted from

Gibbs G (1988). Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit. Oxford Polytechnic: Oxford.

A practical sample of Gibbs reflective cycle can be found online; study it well before you make use of it and deliver a Gibbs reflective cycle example presentation for your future tasks.

FAQs

Following are the Faq’s:

How do I reference a Gibbs reflective cycle example?

Include details that you have read in other works. Make a reference list using Gibbs and his reflective cycle. Whether it is for health nursing or social sciences or any other subject, this model is practical for all.

The research conducted by Graham Gibbs in 1988 to give insight to reflective writing is universal in nature and can be applied to any academic challenge. Gibbs 1988 reflective cycle enriches the experience and adds a lot to learn.

How to reference this reflective cycle in Harvard style?

This is how it can be used in Harvard style:

  • Author’s name and initials
  • Publication year.
  • Journal Title.
  • Edition.
  • Publisher.
  • Publication Place.

First read the original reflective cycle properly. Even if you have found the reference already, every situation either went well or didn’t go well. Only once you ponder over these elements, can you build a strong response and get top grades.

What is Gibbs reflective cycle 1998?

 It is a popular cyclic method of reflection covering various stages: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. It is all to observe and fix things that either went well or didn’t e.g. must make guidelines for teamwork in a formal setting.

How to reference in a reflection?

If you want to add references in your paper, rely on proper sources. Referring to the work in which you found authenticity and reliability is essential. Make sure you extract meaning regardless of citation styles and actions could be evaluated in any specific situation; this is how Gibbs reflective cycle citation stands out and works well for reliable assignment writing services

Conclusion

The Reflective Cycle method caters to people’s behavior and forms a structure for learning to avoid repeating things that go wrong and frustrate students.

Using this technique, you are confident and act differently to deal with similar situations in the future in a better way. This is how you describe the situation in detail and make sense of what happened without assumptions.

This is how you can investigate and critically assess the situation; be evaluative and believe in your team and inform them of necessary steps.

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