English 300, Section 001
Fall, 2005
Dr. Susan Stewart
Hall of Languages 221
903-468-8624
e-mail: susan_stewart@tamu-commerce.edu
website: http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/slstewart/
Office Hours: M/T 3:00-4:00; W 10:00-noon or by appointment

Response Journal

A response journal is an informal, thoughtful, honest reaction to and analysis of whatever has been assigned for the class to read that day. They are designed to help you prepare for the major writing assignments by working with your own experiences, unpacking the reading assignments, and generating an informed response you can apply to your more formal writing assignments. One purpose is to show me that you have indeed read the assignment. But just summarizing the assignment won't make a good log. A second purpose is to show you in the act of thoughtful, analytical, and/or critical reading. (You may also sometimes "read" other topics as discussed below.)

Rationale:

1. Logs show me that you are doing your reading, even if you are quiet in class.
2. The best way to understand what you have read is to write about it. The log requirement means that you are not finished with your homework when you finish reading and marking a text. Next you have to respond in writing.
3. Logs show me how well you are able to understand the reading
4. Logs let you practice writing interpretive discourse, which is a major point of this course.
5. Logs let you practice critical, analytical thinking, another major point of this course
6. Logs let you and me develop an ongoing personal dialogue, since I'll respond to what you have to say and return them (hopefully the next class period).
7. Logs often lead to topics about the readings that can be developed into full papers.

Your entries can be personal, quirky, experimental, information, and/or include pictures. I do, however, want to reiterate that they should demonstrate that your engagement with the text.

The Specifics:

Have your log ready to hand in at the beginning of class. Type (double-spaced) your log in a 12 pt. Times New Roman. I only accept typed logs. Number and date each of your logs. Keep them carefully as you'll hand these in at the end of the semester in a portfolio. I anticipate that each entry should be about 2 pages long.

Each log entry is worth up to 10 points:

9-10: Very Strong: shows serious engagement with the topic and good critical thinking about it. It is analytical, and provides new insights to our reading

8: Strong: shows a great deal of engagement with the topic and that you have thought about the text. The analysis is strong, but won't be as insightful as 9-10.

7: Satisfactory: Shows you have done the reading and understood it, but it might not demonstrate a critical engagement with the text or interesting insights.

6 and below: Weak. You turned something in, but it's brief or entirely off topic and doesn't show much work or thought on your part.

In order to do well on these logs, it's critical that you go beyond summary and the obvious. One way to approach these logs is to identify a passage or thought that you find interesting, or one that you disagree with, or one that you want to pursue. It is not so helpful to simply go on about how much you like the reading--think about problems that might arise in terms of what the author has written.

Remember, your goal is to come up with several logs that will serve as fodder for your thinking when you begin (planning, thinking and) writing major assignments, so take logs seriously. I do. Be sure to explain what it is about the text that leads you to your conclusion/position, and to cite and discuss specific portions of it. The more work you put into logs, the more help they'll be to you during class discussion and when writing essays.

The above is taken almost verbatim from Lori Rios's explanation of writing logs; Lori borrowed much of the wording from Dr. Dick Fulkerson. Thanks to both of you for paving the way.