Research and Reading Journal Protocols

Note: These can be separate journals or combined. Just make it clear what you’re doing.

Date your entries. You should have at least one entry per week.

Length: 1 page per entry.

Content: You should have a variety of entries; see sample categories below. You will find yourself moving between the categories as you write and this is fine—as it should be.

Style: I’m looking neither for eloquence nor for perfect grammar, but it’s your job to use this journal to persuade me that you’re fully engaged with your research and reading. If I can’t tell you’re engaged from what you write, then you need to write it differently.

What NOT to do:

1. Do not paste in information with no documentation of sources. This does not count as research.
2. Do not paste in multiple sources without reading them, e.g., a list of websites that possibly will be relevant. However, it IS ok to paste in a list websites of possible interest—so long as you provide a framing sentence saying what you intend to do with these sources. I’ll be looking for follow-up, even if you simply decide that they’re not useful.
3. Do not jot down random thoughts and call it a day.

Types of entries:

1. Research report. Examples:

• Lori reads an article about a new green effort in ABQ—her area of research. She takes notes and provides a full citation for future reference. This is reading, but it certainly counts as research.

• Regan interviews an APS teacher who works with ABQ homeless children. She writes up her notes in her journal; later she’ll transfer a version of these notes to her blog. She dates the interview and gets permission to quote.
• Geoff goes out to sample beers he’s not sampled before. He makes notes—which he’ll transform into a post.
• Sergio spends time looking at stock market graphs showing declines and gains in prices of independent businesses. He takes notes and documents his sources. He may use this information in a future post.
• Alex constructs visuals that simplify geek talk. He takes pictures of his daughter’s “science” environment. He checks his facts about a certain CS commonplace.
• Wendy finds some Frank audio files and then experiments on her practice blog with using these files She reports on the outcome of these experiments in her journal.
• Lindsay uses google image search to find striking images for her posts on visual rhetoric. She gathers many more than she will need—for future consideration. She says why she’s collected the particular type of image. She reviews her Aristotle and takes notes.

2. Reading Notes. Examples:

· Nathan begins steady reading conservative blogs. He reflects on what she learns from other bloggers, what he would like to emulate, what he finds unsavory, and what kind of content and angle these bloggers provide.

· Joe reads 10 articles on sports news—both on line and in print. He makes notes about figures or events he might blog about in the future; he documents his sources carefully and will incorporate his sources into the blog posts in an appropriate way.

· Sam reads his Huffington Post assignment and makes notations of which suggestions and claims seem useful to him.

· Jamie reviews game literature and takes notes, which she’ll later translate into something accessible to her readers.

· Victor reads about where ingredients for certain restaurants are grown or purchased and asks restaurant owners about processed foods in restaurant fare (e.g., canned salsas). He makes notes and documents his sources.

3. Reflections and Planning. Examples:

• Matt rents a video he’s seen before but wants to review more carefully. He makes notations for possible blog points as he views the film.

• Shay ruminates on ways that Banksy’s output intersects with definitions of cryptomnesia. She consults her notes, which were part of her former research. Her ruminations eventually are converted into a blog post.

• Justin plans new strategies for offering readers what they have said they want in comments. He plans a series of posts that satisfy their needs and notes what gaps there may be in his knowledge.
• Shannon tries out using more “I” in her posts in a series of drafts.
• Everyone plans a variety of ways to get readers to be active participants—more involved than they appear to be.

4. Notes on rhetoric from class presentations/exam material.

Everyone has good notes in their journals on Status Update conventions, on 2 kinds of ethos, on passive versus active blogs, on the various purposes for a blog, and other matters we have talked about in class. These notes will serve you well as lenses through which to reflect on your own blogging and for the exam.