The Research Log
This is only the third time I’ve asked for an assignment like this in English 205, so I want to tell you why I think it's valuable as well as give you a few guidelines for putting it together.
In all the other classes I teach (literature and creative writing and other composition classes), I ask students to keep journals, informal writing projects that continue through the semester. Journals have always been my favorite things to read and respond to, because they’re much more like conversations than formal writing assignments: I always stress that I don’t care about grammar mistakes or misspelled words, just ideas and opinions – and when I comment, I give my ideas and opinions back! Often, the lack of format and structure frees people to write really interesting things, things they can then develop into more formal essays if they want. They’re not just “diaries,” because the things people write are related to what we’re doing in class; it’s just that they can use the relative freedom to rant, or reflect, or wonder, or . . . anything they want! I know, as a writer, that the things I’m most proud of have pretty spontaneous beginnings, so I always want to give students opportunities to start wherever they are – wherever that is – and move along from there.
But I hadn’t asked people to do that in English 205. I was intimidated, a little, by the “outcomes” of this class, to write formal argumentative essays with proper MLA citation format; at first glance, there doesn't seem to be much room for creative freedom there . . . unless, of course, we create it!
So that’s what the research log is all about: it’s an informal writing project for the month of November. In it, I want you to include everything you can think of that somehow relates to your research process. Start your entries in the log NOW (as I write, it's October 28) with your first thoughts