5 Weekly Research Journal Entries
Overview
The journal entries are simultaneously a reflective exercise and a formative assessment.
- Reflective exercise: You will be submitting weekly research journal entries or 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 journal/log also documents the information you need to complete the assigned course projects.
- Formative assessment: 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. Instructors will provide personalized feedback on each of your journal entries so that you continue to improve throughout the course.
Format
The form/platform for the journal 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 journal easy to read and understand for both you and the reader (i.e. a supervising attorney or colleague).
Substance
Journal entries/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 journal 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.
sample Rubric: Weekly journal entry grading rubric
| Grade | Description of Student Work |
| Excellent (5 points) |
|
| Good (4 points) |
|
| Satisfactory (3 points) |
|
| Below Professional Expectations (1-2 points) |
|
Sample Journal Prompt (This is a sample prompt for the first journal entry)
Your first journal 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 journal 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.