Choose a writing journal

For this class, you will need to keep a personal writing journal. You won't be asked to turn this in, it is for your eyes only, but you will often be asked to take notes in it, or to write a reflective text in it, and then to talk in class about the topic you have written about based on your notes. You will also want to jot down quotes you might want to cite and ideas you have along the way that might be relevant to your paper for this class or for your MA thesis - or for something else. 

Keeping some kind of writing journal is a useful tool for researchers and writers. You may already have a journal you use in this way, and if so, feel free to continue using what works for you. If not, you will need to choose what kind of journal will work best for you. 

Some will prefer a paper notebook. If so, think about what size will be most practical (how much will you be carrying it around? does it need to fit into a particular bag?) and about whether you prefer lined or blank pages (do you like to sketch drawings or use mindmaps?).

Some may prefer a digital tool. I use Evernote, but there are many other good note taking apps. Some, like DevonThink, and to some extent Evernote, encourage you to put not just your own notes in but also to add PDFs of articles you are interested in, and do a sort of basic analysis of it all, suggested related notes to you. You could even just use Word or another text editor, but probably that's going to be a bit cumbersome. I really like Evernote because it's pretty light weight and it syncs between my phone, tablet and computers, which means my notes are always available to me.

Some may prefer to use a public or semi-public writing journal, like a blog or Tumblr. An advantage of this can be the ability to link and to share all or some of your posts, which can lead to interesting discussions. You can also develop a voice of your own and learn to feel more comfortable about writing in public, even if your blog has a small or almost non-existent audience.

Which ever platform you choose for your writing journal, choose one now, set it up, and start writing! 

Please post a few sentences describing your chosen platform, explaining why you chose it. If you like, you can include a URL or a photo.