In this assignment, students will submit five installments worth 7 point each of a journal that contains responses to background readings and the course discussions in the five study modules of the course. The due dates for the journal installments are noted on the course calendar. The manner for preparing and submitting the journal installments will be convered in class during the campus residency. Each submission will include the work from previous submissions–i.e., each submission will consist of the entire journal for the quarter up to the point of submission. However, grading will be based solely on the new entries submitted.

Part A: Reflection

Generally, the focus of Part A of the journals is reflective and should be on identifying major ideas in the readings and discussions for each study module in the course and will include explanations and personal evaluations of those ideas. This part of the journals may be framed in a personal and informal manner and should be direct and succinct. While personal, the reader of the journal is not likely to be very interested in unsupported opinion (even though passionate) regardless of how conventional or extraordinary that unsupported opinion might be. The text of the journal need not be rigidly compartmentalized around individual readings or discussion for a specific module. In fact, to the degree the journal writing represents a synthesis of evolving understandings on the part of the student, the better.

Part B: Glossary

Part B of the journal will identify important terms found in the readings and discussions and will provide glossary-like definitions. Obviously, these entries should be reserved for the most important terms. If necessary, information beyond the readings and class discussions may be necessary to adequatly define terms.