You are free to choose a notebook of any kind for your journal, however, please keep the notebook exclusive of coursework from other classes.
In class we will discuss various pieces of literature as well as approaches to academic writing about the literature. The journal assignment is intended to be a place for keeping our in-class conversation going when you’re reading on your own. As you read, use the journal to respond to the short story, poem, essay or play and take notes on your reactions, observations and analyses of the readings. .
The journal should also be used for notes about the authors we read. You may want to include a short summary of each piece with a description of the narrator or list of the main characters. If something doesn’t make sense to you, record your thoughts and questions in the journal.
All quizzes are open-journal tests. The journal notes may be referenced when taking any quiz.
The journal will also be handy during class as you may want to use your notes to help you contribute to our discussions.
As we near the end of the semester, you can also keep notes concerning your final paper in your journal.
While your journal is graded–it’s worth 50 points, 5% of your final grade–I will not be reading the journal. Use
the journal for your own thoughts and notes about class and the literature we read. During your conference the week of November 7, I will check the journal for page length. You should have at least 50 to 70 pages by November 7 (you can, of course, write more). I will check the journal again during the final exam period on December 14 at which point you should have completed at least 70 to 90 pages. Please number your pages as you write so we can easily keep count.
A page of my journal is like a cake of portable soup. A little may be diffused into a considerable portion.
-James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (29 October 1740 – 19 May 1795) was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh. Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson. Boswell’s surname has passed into the English language as a term (Boswell, Boswellian, Boswellism) for a constant companion and observer, especially one who records those observations in print–an assiduous and devoted admirer, student, and recorder of another’s words and deeds.
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW IF YOU USED THIS ASSIGNMENT IN YOUR CLASSROOM. HOW DID IT GO? WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN? DID YOU MAKE ANY MODIFICATIONS?