Journals help understanding. Journaling is a learning discipline. When we journal about our reading, the exercise lifts the information from the book and runs it through our brains, which it may stick as memory. Was the reading vague to you? Summarize it in a journal entry. Did you understand the reading but not see how it is important? Compare and contrast it to other readings in a journal entry. Journaling forces our attention on the subject and allows us to discover what it may mean to us.

A series of journal entries makes a record that can be reviewed later to refresh and strengthen our memory. Keep all of your journal entries on one computer file so that you can easily find them and review them later in the course.  You may want to review the final writing assignment in the course before you begin keeping your journal. If you write the journal entries with the final course assignment in mind, you will be much better prepared for that assignment.

After you have read all of the material for a lesson, and after you have taken the quiz, write about it in your journal for most of an hour--or longer, if you have time. Take time enough to get beyond present distractions and really concentrate on the subject. Try for a minimum of 500 words: 1,000 words are better.

First, write a summary of what you have read. The more detailed your summary is, the better the source will stick in your mind. You can summarize the reading overall, or, if you prefer, a small piece of the reading, such as one aspect, theme, character, or episode.

Second, if there's time after the summary has been written, write about what it seems to mean or how it relates to other readings. If you are stuck for a topic, answer one of the instructor's questions. At the end of each lesson page in this web, several questions are suggested. Try one that interests you.

How should the journal be kept through the course?

Keep all of your journal writing together on one file. To begin a new journal entry, open the old journal file, and edit it.  By keeping all entries together on one file, it will be much easier for you to find your records and to read through them. 

Should we read and comment on one another's journals?

All of the journals are readable by everyone in the class, so do not write in the journal anything that you do not wish to be public.

Reading others' journals is optional, but it can provide excellent ideas, as all of us read with different emphasis and bias in light of our personal experiences. Comments on other students' journals can be shared by sending the writer an email.