Journal Guidelines

Suffolk County Community College
Journal Guidelines
Dr. Laura Tanenbaum

A reading journal allows you to respond to the works we’ll read in a variety of ways. You might talk in detail about a single passage, discuss your personal response to the themes being considered, or describe the connections between the text and other pieces of writing from the class or from your outside reading.
Guidelines: Each entry should be at least one page, typed and double spaced. You should collect the entries in a notebook or binder that allows you to turn them in individually. Hold on to all your journal entries throughout the semester. They will serve as the basis for further writing assignments and will help you review your progress in the class, as well as to study for the midterm and final exam.
Content: On most occasions when a journal entry is due, I will hand out a brief prompt designed to stimulate your thinking. In responding to the prompt, you have a range of options: you might discuss your initial reaction to the text, including things you found confusing or disturbing. Or you might discuss its relation to your own experience of personal beliefs. When needed, you should refer to specific moments in the text to illustrate your ideas. The journal entries need not have any formal structure or one overarching argument. However, you should read over your work to make sure it will make sense to your reader and do your best to make your writing grammatically correct.
Evaluation: I will respond to your individual journal entries with comments and questions designed to stimulate further thinking. Each journal entry is marked with a check, check-plus, or check-minus. Check with me if you receive a check-minus and are uncertain as to why. A letter grade will be given to the collection of entries you turn in at the end of the term. If you do the reading, put thought into your responses, and complete journal entries on time, the journal grade should help your course grade.