FYS 101: Journal Writing
Journal writing helps you PROCESS your experiences and can be used for the purpose
of critical reflection, clarification of issues, asking questions, expressing concerns,
testing theories against experience, and sharing insights.
You will write eight (8) journal papers in the course, each with the given prompt
outlined in this document. Your goal is to demonstrate your understanding of the
course material. You can talk about what you have learned in the class as well as
share resources from other classes or that you have come across in your reading and
research.
For each journal you must respond to the following questions with a MINIMUM of four
(4) sentences to each of the four questions:
1. What did you THINK about the class discussion and activity today? What
resonated with you?
2. How did it make you FEEL?
3. What did you notice yourself DOING? How did you react in your body? Did you
pay more attention? Did you stop paying attention?
4. Is there anything about your reaction you would like to change?
Each journal should be typewritten (no handwritten journals), double-spaced, and use
a 12-point font size. Use Sherman sans, Sherman sans-serif, Verdana, or Trebuchet
font style. Times New Roman is also an acceptable font style.
Journal papers will be graded based on your adequate response to the prompt,
meeting the minimum sentence requirement, incorporation of new
information/resources, reference to course information, and timely submission.
Grammar, spelling, punctuation and writing mechanics are important in the journal,
but the most important element of the grade is that you demonstrate that you have
processed the experience.