5 Weekly Research Log Entries and Reflections
Overview
Weekly (or regularly scheduled) research logs help track and organize research. In addition, short informal reflections can help you think more about your successes and challenges in research and recognize the growth of your skills. Log entries act as a formative assessment, with the opportunity to receive feedback on your work before a higher stakes assessment.
- Research Logs: You will be submitting weekly research logs showing your progress on the efficiency and effectiveness of your research process, your progress on finding and analyzing research results, and your ability to reflect on your weekly progress toward your individual research goals. The weekly log also documents the information you need to complete the assigned course projects. Throughout the research process, you should receive substantive feedback on the work you are doing. This feedback allows you to learn from mistakes, improve research strategies, and exercise your metacognitive skills.
- Reflections: Reflections are a more informal re-telling of what happened during research, such as what strategies worked well for you, what strategies were frustrating, where you spent more time than you wanted, etc. This metacognitive work helps you grow as a researcher, and provides valuable information for the instructor.
Format
The form/platform for the log entries is up to you. You can do a video entry, a blog, a text document, substantive chart, or a diagram. Consider your audience; make your log easy to read and understand for both you and the reader (i.e. a supervising attorney or colleague).
Substance
Logs should include:
- an explanation of research process, including steps taken to navigate databases and commentary on the reliability/usability of the research database or platform;
- research results related to the week’s subject focus (i.e. if we are covering secondary sources during that week, your entry should focus on the secondary sources you found), including evidence that you read and analyzed the material in that source (a summary or explanation) and citations to other legal sources that you found in the source and plan on investigating further;
- a reflective element demonstrating your thinking about your progress toward short and long-term research goals, new techniques you learned, new resources you encountered. Note that a reflection might be assigned separately from the log.
sample Rubric: Weekly Log entry grading rubric
| Grade | Description of Student Work |
| Excellent (5 points) |
|
| Good (4 points) |
|
| Satisfactory (3 points) |
|
| Below Professional Expectations (1-2 points) |
|
Sample Log/Reflection Prompt (This is a sample prompt for the first log entry)
Your first log entry will be a statement of your research goals and a reflection on your current starting point (what are your strengths, weaknesses, challenges, concerns, etc.) as well as a discussion that you have done this week on secondary sources. Every weekly log entry should (1) explain the research that you done in relation to the sources that we are covering during the week (i.e. this week we are talking about secondary sources), (2) discuss platforms, resources, websites, or other tools you used, and (3) reflect on your development as an effective researcher (did you discover something new? become more efficient? become better at creating effective searches?) You can use any form you like: a text document, a video, a visual chart, or diagram.
