The effects of creative, expressive, and reflective writing on career learning: An explorative study

Abstract This study investigates whether creative, expressive, and reflective writing contributes to the formation of a work-life narrative that offers both meaning and direction among students in higher education. The content of writing done by students who participated in a two-day writing course at the start (or in preparation) of their work placements and of a control group who did not take part in the course were compared. Writing samples were analysed using the Linguistic Index Word Count program ( Pennebaker, Booth, & Francis, 2007 ) and an instrument based on Dialogical Self Theory ( Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010 ). Results show writing promotes the development of career narratives.