How to Write a Reflection Paper in Marketing – Reflection and Marketing Are Quite Related Things

Writing guide
Posted on March 2, 2020

Marketing has never been so advanced, smart, user-centric, and digital. And the introduction of technology in the marketing activities of companies provides new horizons for scientific discoveries while leaving opportunities for comparison, analysis, and reflection.

And if you think that writing a reflection paper in marketing is too difficult for you, then this is only for the reason that you have not yet begun to do this. Well, and because you did not have this complete and intuitive guide on how to cope with this task correctly with the least loss of strength and nerves. Therefore, if this issue is still important for you, then just stay with us.

The Essence of the Reflection Essay in Marketing

So, before you begin, let’s look at the very essence of this task. As the name implies, a reflection essay in marketing stands somewhere between a thorough scientific search and your personal perception of the problem that you will study.

Therefore, here you need to follow a specific approach. As with all types of essays, you will have to carefully study the scientific materials, develop a thesis that you will argue, select the appropriate evidence and enrich it with your personal opinion, vision and feelings.

Further, we will tell in great detail how to combine all these requirements in one text.

How to Write a Reflection Paper in Marketing – Follow the Algorithm of Actions

It is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. We developed a step-by-step algorithm of actions with practical hints. Start following it right now and you won’t notice how you are one step ahead of the completion of your work.

Evaluate Your Time and Capabilities

The best way to cope with absolutely any task, and especially with the one that currently seems difficult for you, is to have enough time for its implementation. Accordingly, we recommend that you start a reflection paper in marketing the day you receive this task.

If you do not have such an opportunity, then at least take 20 minutes to think about the topic and remember everything that you know about it. If you had to choose a topic yourself, then outline at least an approximate circle of topics from which you will choose, and think which of these has the strongest response within you.

The next day, you need to devote several hours to researching scientific material. Now you may not read everything to the smallest detail – just select and collect all the resources that you need in one place.

Looking ahead, we’ll say that if you have chosen the topic of digital marketing, then pay attention to the freshness of the data. In this case, it is better to use the source of the current or maximum of the previous year, since everything that was used and written earlier is most likely hopelessly outdated and is no longer used in marketing. The maximum you can do is use this data for comparison, but that will be about another type of essay.

Next, you need to devote a day to writing the thesis and the skeleton of your essay. The next day, you will have to write the text itself and check it – add another day. In total, in a perfect picture of the world, you need five days to complete the job without fuss.

Choose a Topic

Here, as always, you may have the opportunity to choose, or there may be a need to accept what is already there. And both of these cases have their own characteristics.
If you can research marketing ideas and reflect on from a position that seems most profitable to you, well, that’s good enough. However, remember that you need to choose a topic that will resonate very strongly with your inner feelings in the first place, and have a sufficient scientific basis for justification, in the second.

We recommend that you choose the most interesting, new, and progressive topics. Firstly, on the one hand, you will not have many materials for research, which means that you will have to spend much less time reading scientific literature. Secondly, these topics give the opportunity to develop a unique vision and ideally fit a specific problem into your experience. And besides, the topics for the study of modern marketing are very dynamic – you can easily follow the path from the development of a marketing idea to its implementation on the examples of real companies.

Some Topic Examples for a Reflection Essay

  • How AI and machine learning are changing marketing approaches in retail?
  • Digital marketing trends – Are there any ways to overcome competition while every company is doing almost the same?
  • Data collection for marketing strategies – the ethical side of the issue
  • Is there any way for the users to become invisible for too obtrusive marketing practices?
  • Content marketing – Is there a thing that is more important than high-quality content?

However, if your professor did not give you the opportunity to choose, then this is also not a reason to be upset. At the moment, at least one problem – the problem of selecting a topic has already been resolved. And you will have to stay within its framework, look for the positive aspects and interesting points for research and reflection.

Start Researching Your Sources

So, when you (or your professor) have decided on the topic of the essay definitely, then it’s time to move on to an immediate study. You can use the following sources of information, and we will tell in detail how to get the maximum benefit from them.

Books

It’s best to start with books to get the first idea of your topic. But if you are already well versed in your direction, and you need more in-depth research, then you better go straight to the scientific and practical materials.

Textbooks

Use textbooks only to understand a term that you have not encountered before. As a rule, it is not customary in academic practice to refer to student textbooks, but it may happen that you come across a valuable opinion of the author that suits your essay. And in this case, it would be unreasonable to throw away such valuable evidence. Therefore, remember the rules, but also do not forget that each rule has its own exception.

Case Studies

Perhaps case studies are the most useful source of information in marketing. These are materials that companies themselves write and publish and in this way tell how they implemented a certain marketing strategy, or how they solved a specific problem of their client. The advantages of case studies in their truthfulness and realism, moreover, as a rule, they are written in a very accessible language. And the information that is contained in these documents is a reality tested by practice, and at the same time, it is an iron argument in favor of whether or not a certain approach works. Therefore, be sure to use the arguments from the case study to substantiate your position.

Scientific Articles

It would be impossible to cope without a strong scientific component, so you definitely need to find at least a couple of scientific articles on your topic. The case study is certainly good, but there is another way to substantiate your argument – back it up with the opinion of an authoritative scientist.

Real-life Materials

The difference between these materials and the case study is that these are real marketing practices that companies are currently implementing. For example, you can be a client of a certain company and use its example to analyze modern approaches to email marketing, complementing your essay with screenshots from the email list. Or you can observe the activity of the company on social networks, also take some screenshots and use them in your essay for greater visibility and validity.

Using all the materials, or at least most of them, you will get an essay that has a wide variety of evidence and points of view on things. Moreover, this will show that you did really cool research before you start writing the paper itself, and your professor will definitely appreciate the depth of your research and the breadth of your thoughts.

Come up with the Main Idea of Your Paper

Now you need to do the most difficult. You need to mentally collect all the materials that you have studied, and form the main idea of your essay. We recommend that you write down a few ideas, one of which will be your thesis.

After you get a few ideas, try proving them. Opposite each idea, write the three most powerful pieces of evidence you learned from sources. Plus, briefly write your opinion in front of each of the ideas.

Most likely, you already see the idea that you like the most, which has the most evidence and resonates best with your inner sensations. Leave it as your thesis and move on to the next points.

Important! Do not be alarmed if, in the process of writing an essay, your final thesis is not the same as it was originally. It is normal practice to start looking at things from a slightly different angle after maximally deep study.

Draw an Outline According to the Structure

Now you can proceed to the preliminary plan of your reflection essay. We will follow a generally accepted structure, and this will help you form the skeleton on which your paper will hold.

Intro

Here you write some introductory sentences, which will smoothly bring the reader to the essence of your topic.

Thesis

Make sure that your thesis sounds very clear and does not take more than two sentences.

Body

Next, you need to write a few paragraphs in accordance with the following algorithm.

Thesis-Argument-Reflection Algorithm

Here we get to the most important essence of our essay. In order for your reflection paper not to turn into argumentative paper, you need to include your personal vision in each paragraph that argues your thesis. To do this, follow the familiar algorithm.
First, write a statement that is an offshoot of your thesis. Further, this statement is supported by scientific literature. After that, describe your reflection, but try not to be too personal and remember that you are writing about marketing and not about individual experience.

Conclusion

These are the last few sentences that will allow you to put the most logical point in your essay.

Just Write It

Now all you have to do is write your thoughts on a blank sheet according to the plan. At this point, you can write exactly as you think. Write, do not look back and do not edit. Let the thought flow by itself, relying on your plan, and at the next stage, we will give your essay the most readable and logical appearance.

You Are Almost Done – Final Checks

Well, at this stage you are one step away from victory — your text is already ready, the arguments are made up and it would seem that the whole essay is built in a logical sequence – from a stronger argument to a less strong one. However, it is necessary to check it again.

To do this, ask one of your friends to read your essay and evaluate how logical it is. Plus, ask to check if you made any grammatical mistakes, especially if English is a second language for you.

In addition, be sure to read your text out loud and make sure that your sentences have a length that is comfortable to read. If any sentences are too long, shorten them or make two sentences out of one.

At the very end, you need to check your text again. Once you have made the changes, check again for any grammatical errors or typos in the text.
Congratulations, you did it!

Conclusion

As you can see, reflection marketing paper has its own characteristics. The most important thing here is to correctly correlate scientific material and your personal response. All other rules obey the general rules for writing an essay – the structure and academic requirements of different styles have long been familiar to you.

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