ENGL 5106/Research and Process Journal

An effective way of showing your progress as a student is by sharing that progress. If you think about it, that’s what formal education is built upon: a class is supposed to teach a certain subject and students demonstrate their learning in various ways — usually some sort of exam, research paper, or other polished, formal assignment. The problem with this approach is that

1. it does not leave much room — if any — for exploration, and
2. it leaves no room for trial and error.

Indeed, we learn more through our failures than we do from our successes.

The idea behind the Research and Process Journal (RPJ)—you can think of it as a collaborative course blog—is simply to allow students to engage with the course materials in any way that stimulates them intellectually and creatively. Additionally, it allows space for experimentation, of working through a problem, of documenting how challenges were overcome, of engaging with and reflecting on the material. In the process, students practice their writing and associated skills of organization, focus, and development. They also increase their digital-age literacies of participation, research, and community-building.

The Basics

The RPJ asks students to write consistently throughout the semester. In general, students will be required to post at least once a week. Some topics will be assigned, but students will usually have flexibility in how they may address the prompt. See your individual syllabus for specific requirements.

The content of your RPJ posts should always directly address the course material in two ways:

• the current subject of the course, and
• how you are engaging the subject.

The audience for your posts should be future students in your shoes and/or your discourse community. Consider how to help them: what you learned that can further their progress in the course and their professional life.

Each RPJ post should begin with a brief summary of the activities associated with the week’s work (a sentence or two at most) and then reflect on these activities by recording thoughts, ideas, responses, and reactions. Entries should address such questions as:

• What did you learn during this activity? Did you have an “a-ha” moment? What did you contribute? Did you try something new? Did it succeed or fail?
• What decisions did you face during the week, and how did you make those decisions? Were the results satisfactory?
• How did this week’s activities relate to those of the previous week, or to your learning process as a whole?
• What do you hope to learn next?

Posts should reflect your own ideas and thoughts as completely as possible. Be as original, as constructive, and as professional as you can.

Ghost

All RPJ posts will be written on the Ghost publication platform installed on blog.techwriting.digital.

 note: See individual syllabus for due dates.

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