History 120 Journal

For this class, you will need to keep a journal that includes your responses to each week's online exercises.

What are the journal entries supposed to be? Well to begin, all the things that count in a paper—grammar, spelling, thematic coherence, clarity, organization, evidence and argument—will count in grading the journal. But they can be written in a more casual style--you can use the first person, "I," if you like. You can discuss your personal reactions to the material.

Your journal entries should not simply describe the material or summarize it--you need to draw some conclusions about the material, to make an argument. It's fine if the journal describes your personal reactions to the material, but you can't simply react--you have to make an argument about the material and what it tells us about the United States at that time. And you have to prove your case. Journal entries should quote from the material being discussed. You need to provide examples of what you are talking about.

Journal entries, for each online exercise, should be roughly 250-500 words, double spaced. They should, like a paper, make specific references to the material in that week's online exercise, including quotations. They can include graphics.