Step 7 · Reflection (Criterion E)
Criterion E is marked only on your 500-word statement on the RPF, but it comes from reflecting throughout.
By the end of this step
- Your reflective statement on the RPF.
Three compulsory reflection sessions
| Session | When | Bring | You'll discuss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · First reflection | Early, after initial reading | Topic ideas, sources, possible RQs | Why this topic, whether it's CS, ethics, a plan |
| 2 · Interim reflection | Research well under way | Results so far, a rough draft if you have one | Progress, problems and how you're solving them |
| 3 · Viva voce | After you've handed in the final essay | Your finished essay | What you learned, how the work is yours, ideas for your statement |
Each lasts about 20–30 minutes and is recorded on your RPF. Short check-ins in between are normal but aren't recorded.
The last steps, in order Order drill
Keep a researcher's reflection space (RRS)
Not compulsory, but strongly recommended: a document or notebook where you record your thinking as you go. For a CS essay, include:
- An experiment log: date, settings, what went wrong, what you changed and why.
- Decisions and dead ends: the RQ versions you dropped, a library you abandoned.
- Surprises in your results and what you thought at the time.
- Skills you had to learn (statistics, a library, reading papers) and how.
Dear RRS: today my code worked and I don't know why.
The 500-word reflective statement
Written at the end and marked out of 4 on two strands:
| Strand | Aim for |
|---|---|
| Evaluative | You judge the value of the experience for you as a learner, consistently, with specific examples |
| Growth | You show how you changed and how you'll transfer what you learned to other subjects, university, work or life |
What happened · why it mattered to you · what you now do differently, and where you'll use it (Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper, 2001). “Now what?” is where the transfer marks are.
“First I chose my topic, then I wrote my code, then I ran my tests. It was hard but I learned a lot about hash tables and time management.”
(a description of the process)
“My first timings varied by up to 40% between runs, and I assumed my code was wrong. Discovering that the noise came from the machine, not the algorithm, changed how I treat any measurement: I now repeat and report spread by default, and I've already used this in my physics IA…”
Specific moment → what changed in your thinking → where you've used it or will use it.
Descriptive or evaluative? Self-check drill
Build an evaluative paragraph Interactive
Write one moment in three parts. The meter shows how evaluative it sounds (it looks for words that judge and transfer, so it's only a guide). Your text stays in this browser.