Something that helps me with my dream recall is that I set my alarm clock about 30 minutes early, which not only gives me time to write down my dreams, but to just sit in bed with my eyes closed and try to think of what I've dreamt.

The important thing is patience, stay in bed for about 10 minutes, even if you don't remember anything the moment you awoke. Try not to open your eyes when you realise you awoke, don't think of the matters of the day, try to sit in bed in different positions (it's said that if you sit in the same position in which you were when you had the dream, it would be easier to remember it). And while sitting in bed think of all the things you might have dreamt - like a mental list, or you could even write one down - like, the things you've been recently dreaming, or the things that have preoucupied you a lot recently, people you know, places you've been to etc. Sometimes, if you think of the thing you dreamt, you get that wierd deja-vu feeling and then realise "Hey, I dreamt this!"...

Hope it helps.