2500 words REFLECTIVE JOURNAL- NOT A SUMMARY OR ESSAY, THIS IS A REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Journal: Getting Started 4/17/13

The journal is not a summary of the reading. It is not your “opinion” since opinions do not require support. Instead, it is a thoughtful response which shows that you’ve read the material thoroughly and reflected on it carefully and can give good reasons to support your beliefs and what you are saying. It is not a discussion of what went on in class. It should show your own “voice,” i.e., it should show that you are doing the thinking and not someone else. On the other hand, you may acknowledge the contributions of others (“Jane pointed out to me that ….”).

The dates of the entries need to be included.

MLA parenthetical documentation is required. Do not use “on page …” instead of parenthetical documentation.

It should be well-written and well-structured. To achieve this, virtually all students will need to rewrite as they go along, not at the end when the journal is due. Get help for this – from the LRC, and if that’s not working, from the instructor.

You want to show humility – you actually don’t “know it all” -- and respect for the author -- the same respect you would like to receive. Generally, saying "I was interested" or "I was bored, etc." should be avoided. Avoid phrases such as “I like/dislike”; instead, address the content -- what is being said and how it is said and what you have to say about this. Don’t evaluate the work or “criticize Shakespeare.” On the other hand, saying “Romeo and Juliet were quite young by our standards today (Juliet was around 14, Romeo a few years older]; they must’ve been more mature than we are today” is OK, but “Romeo and Juliet is a stupid story; they were too young” is not.

You may criticize yourself, however. “It’s amazing how much more capable Plato was than I; I’m going to have to do a lot of work here just to stay even.” Not, “Plato is confusing.”

There are many different ways to create a journal entry..

You can relate the readings to other readings (“Moses here sounds like Jesus in Matthew”) or other media in our culture such as plays, TV Shows (“This is like the time on ‘American Idol’ when …), movies, cartoons, music, etc.

You can relate the readings to the world at large and to current or historical issues (“I’m wondering if the invasion of Iraq is actually compatible with Jesus’ teachings on peace and love of one’s enemy.”)

You can relate the text to your own life (“This reminds me of when my mother got ill …”). However, if you do this, you must be focused on the issues and avoid being simply “chatty.”

The reflections need to develop a relevant idea. The reader of your writing should be able to come away with new insight about the issue or idea at stake. If the reader just knows more about you, this is only personal and is therefore irrelevant to the assignment.

The writing can be “multi-genre,” that is, there can be different kinds of writing in the same journal. One entry can be more personal while another can be more analytical, discussing the reasoning, structure or thesis of the reading. Poetry can be included. The responses can be more imaginative (“When I read this I got an image of an icy waterfall ….” “The feeling I had after I read this was ….”) or more straightforward (“Muhammad faced difficult practical decisions of war and peace …. I can see now why today Muslims ….”). You can question the author and/or the problem without coming to a definite conclusion: “In one place she says this (8) but later on she says something else (47). Maybe it’s because …. I need to think about this some more.”

You can look at the material with different “lenses.” Religious: “In the Catholic faith people report visions, and Native Americans also have visions. Now what I’d like to know is ….” Moral: “How could the United States break its treaties with these people?” Psychological: “They certainly show a lot of courage, but how does it affect children’s growth and development?” Economic: “The Sioux economy is hunter/gatherer; now how in the world ….” Gender-conscious: “His language sounds patriarchal to me, yet the women ….”

You can refer back to earlier entries and correct your misunderstanding or narrow-mindedness. “I said on 9/14/08 that the Sioux had a ‘primitive’ idea of God but now I can tell that was my ignorance talking.”