What are the three questions in Driscoll's reflective model?

What? So what? Now what? What? describes the situation, So what? analyzes it and asks what it means, and Now what? sets out what you will do as a result. The questions originate with Terry Borton (1970) and were adapted for clinical practice by John Driscoll.

How do I reference Driscoll's reflective model in APA?

A common APA 7 reference is: Driscoll, J. (2007). Practising clinical supervision: A reflective approach for healthcare professionals (2nd ed.). Elsevier. Cite it as (Driscoll, 2007). Catalogs date this edition 2006 or 2007, so use the year printed in your copy, and cite the 1994 Senior Nurse article instead if that is the one you read.

Who came up with What? So what? Now what?

Terry Borton posed the three questions in Reach, Touch, and Teach (1970). Driscoll built his model on them for nursing, which is why many reflective-writing guides credit both. If you cite Driscoll's model, cite Borton as the source of the questions.

How long should each stage of a Driscoll reflection be?

There is no fixed rule. Most markers want the weight on So what?, because that is where you analyze and use sources. Keep What? to a short factual account, and keep Now what? specific and brief. If your assignment sets a word limit, check the balance with the counts under each box.

Is Driscoll's model the same as Gibbs' reflective cycle?

They are related but not the same. Driscoll's has three stages; Gibbs' has six and separates feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. Both ask you to describe, analyze, and plan. Use the one your assignment names.

Can I use “I” in a Driscoll reflection?

Yes. Reflective writing is about your own practice, so the first person is expected. Keep the register academic and keep patient, colleague, and workplace details anonymous.

Does this Driscoll reflection generator use AI?

No. It arranges the words you type into the three stages, shows trigger questions wherever a stage is empty, and adds the references. It runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Driscoll Reflective Model Generator

Answer the three questions of Driscoll's reflective model — What? So what? Now what? — with trigger questions beside each box and a running word count, then copy a structured reflection that ends with the model's references in APA 7. Built for nursing, health, and education students. Honest templates, no AI: every word is yours. Free, no sign-up.

What are you reflecting on?

Give each stage its own heading

The three questions

1. What? — What is the situation, and what happened?

Describe the event and your part in it: what you were trying to do, what you and others did, and what the outcome was. Say how you felt at the time. Keep to the facts. Trigger questions: What was my role, and what was I trying to achieve? What did I and the other people involved actually do? What were the consequences, and how did I feel? What went well, and what did not? · 0 words

2. So what? — What does it mean, and what explains it?

Analyze it. Work out why it happened, what effect your actions had, and what you understand now that you did not before. Bring in theory, research, or professional standards — and cite them. Trigger questions: Why did I act and feel the way I did? What effect did my action, or my inaction, have? What do guidelines, research, or theory say about this? What do I understand now, and what could I have done differently? · 0 words

3. Now what? — What will you do as a result?

Decide what to do differently. Name the actions, the wider factors that could help or block them, and how you will know whether they worked. Trigger questions: What do I need to do to improve things? What wider issues — colleagues, resources, policy — affect that? What might happen if I make this change? How will I know whether it has worked? · 0 words

Your reflection

3 stages still to write

Reflective Account

Structured with Driscoll's reflective model (Driscoll, 2007)

Tip: Write in the first person — “I did”, “I realized” — because the subject is your own practice. Keep “What?” brief, give most of your words to “So what?”, and make “Now what?” specific enough that someone could check you did it. In health care, change or omit anything that could identify a patient, a colleague, or a workplace.

1. What?

To write: What is the situation, and what happened? Describe the event and your part in it: what you were trying to do, what you and others did, and what the outcome was. Say how you felt at the time. Keep to the facts.

Tip: Trigger questions: What was my role, and what was I trying to achieve? What did I and the other people involved actually do? What were the consequences, and how did I feel? What went well, and what did not?

2. So what?

To write: What does it mean, and what explains it? Analyze it. Work out why it happened, what effect your actions had, and what you understand now that you did not before. Bring in theory, research, or professional standards — and cite them.

Tip: Trigger questions: Why did I act and feel the way I did? What effect did my action, or my inaction, have? What do guidelines, research, or theory say about this? What do I understand now, and what could I have done differently?

3. Now what?

To write: What will you do as a result? Decide what to do differently. Name the actions, the wider factors that could help or block them, and how you will know whether they worked.

Tip: Trigger questions: What do I need to do to improve things? What wider issues — colleagues, resources, policy — affect that? What might happen if I make this change? How will I know whether it has worked?

References

Borton, T. (1970). Reach, touch, and teach: Student concerns and process education. McGraw-Hill.

Driscoll, J. (2007). Practising clinical supervision: A reflective approach for healthcare professionals (2nd ed.). Elsevier.

Tip: These are the APA 7 forms. Driscoll's model was first published in a 1994 journal article and developed in later editions of the book; cite the source you actually read, and check its year and publisher against your copy. Use the style your course requires.

How to Use the Driscoll Reflective Model Generator

1. Pick one event. A specific episode of practice — a handover, a difficult conversation, a lesson that went off plan — gives you more to analyze than a whole placement.
2. Answer the three questions. Write What?, So what?, and Now what? in your own words. Each box shows a guide and four trigger questions; use them to unstick yourself, not as headings.
3. Check the balance. The word counts show where your words went. A reflection that spends most of its length on What? is a story, not an analysis.
4. Take it with you. Copy the reflection, download it, or print it. The references for Borton (1970) and Driscoll (2007) are added at the end. Remove anything that could identify a patient, colleague, or workplace before you submit.

What Is Driscoll's Model of Reflection?

Driscoll's model is a three-question framework: What?, So what?, and Now what? The questions come from Terry Borton, who used them in Reach, Touch, and Teach (1970) to structure learning from experience. John Driscoll adapted them for clinical practice, publishing the model in the journal Senior Nurse in 1994 and expanding it, with trigger questions, in Practising Clinical Supervision: A Reflective Approach for Healthcare Professionals. It is now taught across nursing, midwifery, allied health, and teacher education, usually because it is short enough to apply to a single incident.

Stage	What it asks you to do	Typical share of the words
What?	Describe the situation, your role, and what happened, including how you felt	About a quarter
So what?	Analyze it: why it happened, its effects, what theory or evidence says, what you now understand	About half
Now what?	Decide what you will do, what could help or block it, and how you will check	About a quarter

The shares are a common rule of thumb, not part of the model — follow your assignment brief where it differs.

How the Trigger Questions Work

Driscoll's published model gives each stage a set of prompts that push the writer past description. This tool shows its own short set of trigger questions in the same spirit, paraphrased and shown while a stage is empty. They are worded to demand an answer rather than a summary:

Description versus analysis in So what?

Describes

The daughter nodded as I read out the medicine list.

Analyzes

Nodding is not evidence of understanding. I read the list in the order printed on it rather than the order the daughter would use it at home, and I only checked her understanding at the end.

Driscoll, Gibbs, or Kolb?

Use the model your course names. If you are free to choose, Driscoll's is the shortest: three questions suit short reflections and single incidents. The Gibbs Reflective Cycle Generator separates feelings, evaluation, and conclusion into their own stages, and the Kolb Reflective Cycle Generator follows a four-stage theory of experiential learning. The writing task is the same in all three: describe briefly, analyze with evidence, and end with something you will do.

Common Mistakes in Driscoll Reflections

A long What? If the description fills half the word count, the analysis is thin. A short paragraph of context is enough.
So what? without sources. Analysis needs theory, research, or professional standards, cited in the text and listed in your references.
A vague Now what? “I will communicate better” cannot be checked. Name the action, when you will do it, and how you will know it worked.
Identifiable details. Nursing and professional bodies require confidentiality. Use a pseudonym or a role, not a name, and leave out dates and places that could identify anyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the three questions in Driscoll's reflective model?: What? So what? Now what? What? describes the situation, So what? analyzes it and asks what it means, and Now what? sets out what you will do as a result. The questions originate with Terry Borton (1970) and were adapted for clinical practice by John Driscoll.
How do I reference Driscoll's reflective model in APA?: A common APA 7 reference is: Driscoll, J. (2007). Practising clinical supervision: A reflective approach for healthcare professionals (2nd ed.). Elsevier. Cite it as (Driscoll, 2007). Catalogs date this edition 2006 or 2007, so use the year printed in your copy, and cite the 1994 Senior Nurse article instead if that is the one you read.
Who came up with What? So what? Now what?: Terry Borton posed the three questions in Reach, Touch, and Teach (1970). Driscoll built his model on them for nursing, which is why many reflective-writing guides credit both. If you cite Driscoll's model, cite Borton as the source of the questions.
How long should each stage of a Driscoll reflection be?: There is no fixed rule. Most markers want the weight on So what?, because that is where you analyze and use sources. Keep What? to a short factual account, and keep Now what? specific and brief. If your assignment sets a word limit, check the balance with the counts under each box.
Is Driscoll's model the same as Gibbs' reflective cycle?: They are related but not the same. Driscoll's has three stages; Gibbs' has six and separates feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. Both ask you to describe, analyze, and plan. Use the one your assignment names.
Can I use “I” in a Driscoll reflection?: Yes. Reflective writing is about your own practice, so the first person is expected. Keep the register academic and keep patient, colleague, and workplace details anonymous.
Does this Driscoll reflection generator use AI?: No. It arranges the words you type into the three stages, shows trigger questions wherever a stage is empty, and adds the references. It runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

More in Essay & Paper Writing

See all Essay & Paper Writing