Critical Incident Reflection
Incorporating the literature

Let’s return to my situation from the previous video, where I was analysing a disagreement I had with my husband about our teenage daughter going away overnight. Let’s just focus on a few of the aspect variables of this case. First of all, my husband and I bring different ideas to the table about what it means to be a parent. To explore this deeply, I might refer to key terms such as these. These might draw from a wide variety of fields such as psychology and in particular, parenting, of course.

Another aspect of this case is that we’d heard. So our assumptions and perceptions play a big part in this incident. To explore this more deeply, we might talk about adolescents and peer pressure. This may draw from many fields that look at how adolescents think and behave, what detrimental behaviours they may indulging in, and what percentage are actually doing so. Another aspect that I will explore is that my husband grew up in a fairly traditional Greek immigrant family. Now, as a father, he presents many different ideas and values that he was raised in. To explore the differences that this creates, I might need to read something about Greek culture, their social values, and their concepts of honour and gender roles for women. Now, this is certainly not something that you would go looking for before you had your incident worked out.

When you go looking for references, books are a good place to start. They are easier to understand when you first get into a topic, and they will give you the general idea. Their limitations, however, are that they do not go into anything very deeply. They do not have the depth and detail that a research paper needs at university level, and the higher you go in tertiary study, the truer this becomes. Most books are on the shelf for a number of years, as well. In medicine and nursing, there is a need to limit your resources that have been published in the last five years. The reason for this is that the medical field is evolving so rapidly that most technology, techniques, and drugs are completely different even after just a few years. In medicine, five years is a long time.

In other fields however, this is a little more relaxed. In fields such as psychology, or education, ten years would be acceptable, but the more recent the reference, the better it is, of course. So when you select your references, keep the field in mind because the requirements for medical references are quite stringent, and the five-year rule might exclude some useful and appropriate references from other disciplines. Apply your common sense to this, and if unsure, don’t hesitate to ask a lecturer from the field.

The internet is another useful source. But as you know, anyone can create a webpage, so be careful. Look at the fine print at the bottom of the page, which often includes the date the web page was last modified, and make sure the website is controlled by a reputable authority or institutions. Blogs, wikis, and dot com sites which aim to sell things to you are not suitable for academic references.
The best references are peer-reviewed research journals, which you search for and can access through the databases of the library. These are reputable and contain sufficient depth and detail. However, journals – whether they are electronic or paper-based – are not good places to start your research. They usually detail very specific studies that were carried out, and their language and findings are quite specialised. They are something to tackle when one, you have some familiarity to the topic, and two, you know exactly what you’re looking for.

So, what now? Ponder your incident deeply and reflectively. Perhaps discuss it with a friend to get another person’s insights into it, and then write it out all in one go. Forget the references for the time being. This will give you the structure of your critical incident report, and this could be done in a few hours.

After that, read it over and see where your references could inform or expand on some of the things that you have touched on. Since this is largely about communication, change, and personal growth, there are any number of theorists that can give you an structure for analysing your incident. You might like to refer to their categories and analyses when thinking about what went on in your incident. I would, however, use them sparingly, because you would also have to explain their theory, even briefly, and this could chew up a lot of word space.