Journal

C Fox, Page 1/1

25 April 2022

PS450: A Reflective Journal

You will keep a reflective journal that will be graded as Pass/Fail. It must include weekly or more frequent entries. Entries may be as long as you wish but should be a minimum of 1/2 page. The journal will be your self-reflection and critical thinking on all work including what happens in and out of the classroom. It is also a place for you to record questions or observations about readings & presentations. This is a place for reflection and thought, it is NOT a work log; do not just record what you are doing.

Please note – this is not a general life journal but one specific to our course. You can and should include things from your life and things that happen outside of class but write about how they are related to psychology and our class. For example, you going to the movies is nice but it doesn’t belong in this journal UNLESS you are reflecting on how the movie used color, or 3D, or perspective, or psychological profiling – things relevant to psychology.

You may struggle with this if you have never kept a journal before. There is a great deal of advice on the internet about keeping a journal and feel free to consult it. But first try this. Sit at a desk or table with your journal, or computer, or whatever you will write with. Do this at a time when you are not distracted (maybe you need to sit in your car to do this). Start writing, doesn’t matter what you write about – just write whatever you are thinking or feeling. Stay with it for 20 minutes, set a timer on your phone or wherever. At the end of 20 minutes feel free to continue if you want. If you have never kept a journal, you might want to do this every day during the 1st weeks of class to get in the habit. You may want to read the handout on examples.

You will submit your journal at the end of the course. This is a journal and so grammar, spelling, formatting, etc. will not be counted in the grading – BUT – remember, if I can’t tell what you are saying I can’t give you credit for it. If you hand write your journal, no need to type it out – submit to me the hard copy or send me scans. If you wrote it on a computer, send me it as an MS Word file (remember the file naming conventions in Syllabus.