I'm currently writing up my dissertation and need a little advice on how to go about one particular section. My supervisor said it would be good within the intro to briefly set out my personal experience/connection with the topic but I'm not sure how to do that?

It may help to have a little background... I did a Town Planning degree/postgrad all with a focus on community engagement. I've worked in the field of planning for a couple of years again specifically in community engagement. I now work in the health sector...yep, you guessed, in community engagement. My dissertation is looking at the challenges planners face when engaging communities and comparing it to engagement carried out by professionals within health to see if there is common ground/lessons to be learned etc. Obviously, I've been heavily involved in the topic and work side of things for a few years and my supervisor said I should set this out but I'm really struggling to do so. I'm just not sure what to explain and how to explain it? Do I refer to myself as 'I' or 'the researcher'? What angle do I take when explaining?

It may be a really obvious one but my brain can't seem to get past it!

Thanks in advance!

My subject area is different from yours, jennypenny, but my Masters dissertation included a short reflective chapter, in which I explained things like my background, values, interests and so on, and how these might have impacted on the research questions and focus I chose for the research, looking at both the strengths and potential weaknesses of my particular perspective. It might be worth asking your supervisor's advice about writing in the first or third person, as supervisors and institutions vary on this one, but I definitely used the first person when doing reflective writing as I'd have found it far too awkward otherwise!

Thanks chickpea!

It's just a new thing for me. I've been so focused on the usual academic writing style that writing about myself doesn't feel right which is why my brain can't seem to get around it! Thanks for your advice too, it's helpful to focus my mind as to what to think about.

I know what you mean about it feeling strange, after all the focus on using objective academic language. You often see reflective writing in published qualitative research, where the researchers will start by introducing their own experiences and interest in the topic. It allows readers to consider the research in the light of the researcher's own angle on things.