Public versus private reflection shows mixed results: private journal paragraphs were more often analytic or integrative overall, but a larger share of public blog paragraphs were integrative big-picture writing¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2014 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Private journal paragraphs were more likely to be analytic or integrative (64 percent) than public ones (41 percent), yet nearly one-third of public reflections were integrative. → Sturgill 2014

Evidence¶

Sturgill 2014¶

Sturgill, A., & Motley, P. (2014). Methods of Reflection about Service Learning: Guided vs. Free, Dialogic vs. Expressive, and Public vs. Private. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 2(1), 81–93. doi:10.20343/teachlearninqu.2.1.81

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Comparison of public blog paragraphs (one section) with private journal paragraphs (three sections), coded on the three-level rubric. Table 3 shows public paragraphs were 51% descriptive and 31% integrative; private were 32% descriptive, 40% analytic and 24% integrative. The four assignments were naturally occurring and differed on several dimensions at once; the authors note a lack of experimental control and that the effects of individual reflection characteristics cannot be determined, so the comparison is an association, not an effect of public posting.

"As T able 3 indi - cates, private journal paragraphs were more likely to be analytic or integrative—64 per - cent, compared with 41 percent of the pub lic journals."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Writing Skills — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Reflective Practice Improves Outcomes When Structured — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Authentic Audiences Improve Student Work — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Guided written reflection yields more analytic and integrative paragraphs than free reflection in service learning — related
• Course sections given guided reflection assignments wrote roughly twice as much reflection as sections given free assignments — related