This a central learning device for the course. You will be documenting the development of your questions, your thinking and conclusions about the issues encountered in the course. This device will assist you in doing other assignments.
Journals will be collected weekly. Write with the expectation that others will read it--YOUR JOURNAL IS NOT A DIARY. Your journal records your reactions to such things as:
*assignments you read for classThe goal is to make theoretical and practical connections between communication concepts and those of related fields in order to generate insight about the relationships between communication, self and society. To do that you will briefly review the content, idea, issue, or event to which you are reacting, but go beyond description. Demonstrate that you thought about it in a meaningful way. You may react selectively to anything you read (a idea or paragraph from a chapter) or react to the reading as a whole.
*ideas raised in class
*ideas discussed on class bulletin board (via WebCT)
*course-relevant ideas raised in other classes
*course-relevant ideas raised outside the university environment
CRITERIA FOR CONTENT OF EACH ENTRY
Each entry will exhibit the following:
Description/Observation: You will describe clearly and concisely the event or aspect of life that served as the trigger for writing the journal entry. The description should include sufficient detail to make connections to ideas, but be no longer than necessary to illustrate or illuminate your thinking.
Conceptual Linkage: Discuss how a class related concept, idea, or theory relates to the event described above. Explain in a clear, concise, logical, accurate manner how the topic or theory under study explains, controls, predicts, or provides insight into the event described. A simple restatement of the concept is not acceptable; your goal is to show a connection between the concept and the event you described above.
Conceptual Insight: This answers the SO WHAT? question. That is, after describing the event, and establishing a connection between it and a course concept, you explain or interpret the meaning and implications of the connections you see. Your goal here is to explain how knowledge of the concept or idea has value for you in understanding yourself and others. Explain how you can apply your insights in the future.
Authenticity of Involvement: Your writing will exhibit a genuine concern for the issue; a genuine involvement in struggling with the ideas as they relate to your understanding of communication, self and society.
Bibliographic Information in MLA form