Journal
or LogJournal
or Log
Time-frame of assignment: term-long
Percentage of final grade: 20%
Throughout this course, you will need to keep an electronic journal of reflections on the readings assigned, class discussions, field trips, and of your own observations -- taken on your own and in response to issues posed during the class or from reflections on reading materials. Your journal should be stored in electronic format so that you always have the master but can periodically share portions of it with the instructor for purposes of grading.
Expectations, purpose and learning outcomes of the journal:
The purpose of your journal is four-fold. First, this journal should serve as a well organized compilation of your own major thoughts from the course for future reference. Second, this is intended to act as a catalyst for classroom discussion by providing you with the ability to cite actual examples and sources of hypotheses even contradictory ones. Third, because you will be organizing and writing out your understanding of materials, this also provides you with a means of critiquing how well you understood various materials. Finally, and most important, it is designed to get you thinking critically about the readings and provide you with the framework for writing your Reading Responses, in fact it should make those exercises much much easier.
Log book or journal parts*
1. Readings:
Citation including author, year, title, journal...
Two or more major points/bullets from each reading -- very short and targeted bullets on each course reading
Followed by a brief description and illustration of the point (this follows the old rule -- statement plus evidence) what arguments are these authors making? How are they backing up their arguments? (basically statement plus evidence), be sure to cite actual facts or quotes from the reading to illustrate the point
Your Reflections related to these points and over-all article, What do you think? (Here's where you come on stage after everything has been laid out. I'd save this section for after all the bullets have been covered, but you might not be able to wait)
Note when creating these major points do not focus on the minutiae, and do not duplicate normal notes you would take while reading an article. Also, this is not meant to be overly long. For many of you this will only be a page or so long for two readings.
2. Weekly Critical feedback on your readings, class discussions, field trips, videos.... How do things fit together? What important new issues have been raised? What more would you like to research?... Critical feedback should be done each week. Limit it to no more than a page maximum.
Things you might be including in this section
How do this weeks readings hold together, reflect on any areas of agreement or disagreement
How do this weeks readings relate to previous materials including previous readings, class discussions, videos, guest speakers...
Are there some general themes present throughout the course that you can start to identify?
How did this week's class relate to previous ones?
Ditto on field trips.
What other personal thoughts might you have?
3. Special Reflections if we have a special lecturer or watch a video, be sure that you also identify two or more major points based on the presentation (use your readings section above for the format).
Grading
Grading will be based on letter grades with "A" as outstanding, "B" as meeting all requirements, and "C" and below lacking in some fashion.
Due dates
Since it is important that readings be done before each class discussion, the log containing up to three entries (depending on the week) will be due in hard copy at the beginning of the class.
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*These notes and reflections MUST be in your own words, and NOT copied verbatim from the readings. These notes are also to be YOUR OWN WORK and not that of your peers. Identical sets of notes will be returned with no points. If multiple or large sections of your journal is copied either directly from the readings or from another student, it will be considered plagiarism, and you will be subject to academic penalty.