Keeping a journal offers you an opportunity to think more deeply about the readings and our discussions, to make connections, test out arguments, think through topics for further discussion or for your research project, and plant the seeds for future research.
I will read the journals in their entirety at various times during the term.
I will let you know in advance when I will be reading the journals, so that
you can 'edit' them beforehand, if you wish. Journal entries must be typed before
they are submitted. Here are the guidelines.
Write regularly. Date your entries. The number of pages you write is less important than the evidence your entries provide of serious, sustained inquiry and engagement in the course. Often, however, quantity and quality are intertwined. The more you write, the better you tend to get at producing entries that push your thinking forward. The minimum requirement is a reasonably substantial journal entry each week.
Vague comments are usually of little value. Make good use of your time by focusing on specific details or passages from the texts or on exchanges that took place in class. It often helps to focus on what you find especially 'odd', mysterious, or frustrating about a particular work, passage, character, or critical essay. Sometimes your entries might be analytical; sometimes they might be imaginative (for example, imitating a writer's style or coming up with a different ending for one of the stories we read). You can also include any in-class writing that we do in the course of the term.
It is fine to start with your pre-critical, "gut" reactions to the readings, but see if by reflecting upon them you can gain insights into yourself as a reader and critic and into how your assumptions affect your response to the works and issues at hand.
Ask questions. A good question opens up other questions that in turn will lead you to new insights. At times you might want to respond at some length to one or two of the questions that you raise in your journal or that were raised in class. You don't have to come up with "definitive" answers. Think of yourself as trying to keep the discussion going, instead of trying to shut it down. ("Shutters shut." -- Gertrude Stein)
Make connections between works we're reading, or between these works and others you've read, or between these works and your own experiences, memories, dreams, and ambitions.
If you wish, you could also explore websites related to this course and evaluate one or two of them in your journal. Click here to see how to go about evaluating a website.
Site created and maintained by Cheryl Mares, English Department, Sweet Briar College.
Last updated 6 February 2001.
