The journal is an essential assignment that is meant to sum up the conclusions y

Posted: September 9th, 2023

The journal is an essential assignment that is meant to sum up the conclusions you come to after having reflected on the readings in the text, the online lecture, discussion posts, including your own and those of your peers, and any outside material you consult. You will probably find that you do as much or more thinking than you do writing in responding to the journal prompts – and that is perfectly okay. In general, the weekly journal should meet the noted length requirement – not including the space needed for the prompts.
You may feel the need to write out longer reflections – and that is also okay. If you do feel the need for longer reflections, then, once you have written them out, try to edit them, reducing them to their essence.
Part of this course is process – training ourselves to think critically. Part of it is learning to understand how we think and why we think or believe what we think or believe. While the journal prompts will occasionally address the process, it will more often ask you to reflect on the how’s and why’s of what you know and believe – or what you think you know and believe.