READING JOURNAL Assignment ONLINE

The Reading Journal (RJ) is an ongoing assignment. One entry is required for each essay or documentary video assigned to be read or viewed for major argumentative writing assignments. The entries may be done as FREEWRITINGS—informal writing without concern for errors or structure—or as DIALECTICALS—specifically structured entries, also without concern for errors.

The requirement is at least (minimum) one half typed page of writing for each entry. Each entry should have a heading of the “Title of the Essay” in quotation marks (proper MLA form), and the author’s name and be double-spaced, 12 font. It will be graded three times during the semester—one set of entries for each major argument.

· Here is a sample entry written as a “FREEWRITING”

“Title of the Article” by Author’s Name

This essay’s thesis seems to be that food is a crucial part of every culture’s character– As evidence, the author gives examples of our American food culture by examining the fast food industry, particularly McDonald’s and Taco Bell—From that big picture perspective, he then moves on to the more intimate family food traditions and character—he divides family traditions according to region: southern cooking; west/southwest cooking; eastern shore cooking and Midwest cooking–for each region he identifies the food culture: Southern cooking includes fried chicken and biscuits, greens, sweet potato pie; West/Southwest foods include tacos, enchiladas, burritos, flan; Eastern shore foods are dominated by seafood, especially shellfish and particularly lobster; Midwest foods include chilies, meatloaf, casseroles and stews.

His audience seems to be Americans– I can relate to this essay because I am from the Midwest and I grew up loving all kinds of stews and casseroles, but my family’s favorite weeknight dinner was by far meatloaf with mac and cheese—classic comfort food. And now that I’m grown up and have my own family, our family meals are very special, and we often get together with extended family members and food is the center of the occasion– My own family loves our homemade pizza; our chicken nuggets; our roast lamb and my chocolate beet cake—oh and my potato salad, also–everyone always asks me to bring it to family gatherings. This essay raises lots of interesting questions about food and what it means to a family and to a culture beyond the practical necessity of eating on a daily basis—for example, do we often use food to alter our mood and is that a good thing? or how do our family food traditions reflect our emotional needs?

· Here is a sample entry written as a “DIALECTICAL”:

“Title of the Essay” by Author’s Name

“Quotation from the text”————————–

>Your response to the quote—what it means to you, why you like it, how it puzzles you, makes you feel—-anything about the quotation that made you include it here.

“Another quotation from the text”—————-

>Your response to that quote…….

“Still another quotation…”————————-

>More of your response to this particular quotation.

“Yes, you guessed it…..”—————————

>I think you have the idea by now, don’t you?

Here are some questions to focus your writing in the journal—these are suggestions:

1. What is the source’s thesis?

2. What evidence is used to illustrate and support that thesis?

3. Who seems to be the target audience? (describe the reader –his thinking—the author is trying

to influence)

4. In what ways can you relate to this source? Don’t be dismissive. Assume there IS some

connection between your experience and the experience/ideas in the source. If you cannot

see anything you can relate to, write about why that might be.

5. What questions does the source raise?

6. What struck you most about reading/viewing this source?

REMINDER: Please identify each journal entry with the full name of the source (properly formatted by putting article titles in quotation marks; underlining film titles) and the author or director, if a film.