In a certain sense, it can be compared to a basic personal narrative with the only difference being that one must reflect on what has already taken place. It can be a nursing journal reflection or analysis of internship experience at a large corporation. Most personal reflective essays incorporate a person's practice with a set of ideas that have been mastered or explored during a certain time period.
It usually starts with a brief introduction of topics that will be covered further on and a thesis statement. The body parts will tell chronologically about an experience starting from the most important to less important aspects. You can see a reflective essays sample to see the structure and how the topic sentences have been used. It will help you to understand how the ideas become connected to a thesis.