+

Research and Reflection JournalA worksite for composition

+Ann Berthoff, one of my teachers, often asked people when they said they didnt know what to write about: “Where’s your notes, your pictures, your quotes, your data, your mind maps – you can’t write out of thin air!”A Research and Reflection Journal provides the materials out of which papers are made.

+The Research

+Things to Include in your Journal

Quotes

Questions from class

Research Notes

Visuals and pictures

Interviews

Close Readings (We will do one of these together in class. The workshop is already on D2L.)

Drafts of paragraphs

Essay outlines and maps

(Well . . . Just about anything really.)

+Reflecting, the double-entry option.

+The idea is simple enough – for example:

Most Americans, I believe, would define student success as the ability of a student to support himself or herself in this society after completing the educational process. Our value and belief systems are strongly based on economics and accumulation of material wealth. How often do you hear parents say, “I don’t want my children to have to come home to live with me after completing their education?” (Ken Messersmith)

Ken Messersmith‘s statement is true I think, but there is more than that:

Life quality

Life long learning

Citizenship

What do people in my group thing about this?

You enter something on one side of the paper

You reflect on what you entered on another part of the paper or another page

+Why Respond to prompts and activities in the Journal

When a writer has a prompt or activity to do, it is a starter for the writing process but often leads directly to more sustained writing, especially if the writing teacher has a sequence of assignments in mind.

The Journal provides a record of your work in class and keeps things in one place for easier reference.

Use the prompts and activities offered to: Get engaged in a topic Write something to share with others or to rewrite at some

point Write to learn something Practice summary, annotation, and critical thinking

+For Composition: Remember to work with your journal in class and out. The Research and Reflection Journal can be a record of

your thinking, research, discussions, and writing in class and out of class. It is a record of your work.

Often the prompt or activity will be used by a teacher to build a sequence of assignments leading to a paper.