1. Journal Entry 1 Focus: Rhetorical appeals
In Enc1101, one of the most important concepts you should have studied was the use of rhetoric and the three rhetorical appeals
Take a few minutes to free write on your understanding and experience with the three rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos (see pg 58 in A&B if you need a refresher).
What do these strategies mean to you?
Do you use these strategies on a daily basis? If not, who does?
How have you utilized these appeals successfully in the past? (Outside of 1101)
Do you feel stronger or weaker with the use of one appeal when compared with another?
(Journal entries should have your name and the entry number at the top. These should always be written in essay form rather than as answers to individual questions. You do not need to answer each of the above questions directly; think of them as starting points for you to explore your experience with the rhetorical appeals. Successful journal entries should be about a page in length or more.)

2. Journal Entry 2 Focus: Research Experience Reflection
Take a few minutes to reflect on your experience with research in the past. Focus on academic research that you did in high school or college
Do you have a preference for primary or secondary research? Do you find one more interesting than another? Why?
How do you think you will use research in your current major or career of choice?
Was there any particular research experience that stood out to you for being particularly interesting, difficult, or unique?
Have you employed rhetorical reading, resistant reading, reading with the grain, and/or reading against the grain in the past?
What do you anticipate this research experience will be like now that you have the freedom to research a topic of your choice?

3. Journal Entry 3 Focus: Exploratory Narrative Question Brainstorm
At this point in your research process, you should have selected an arguable issue that you would like to work with for the exploratory narrative (you may still modify it later but select one to work with for now)
What are the unresolved problems related to this topic? Why is it difficult to find a solution to these problems?
What elements of this topic are still unknown? How could you (or researchers) learn more about these elements?
What sort of research do you plan to look for regarding this topic? (primary sources, secondary sources, peer reviewed, op-ed, historical reviews, objective, advocate, etc)

4. Journal Entry 4 Focus: Source Evaluation 2
Find the second source you will use for your exploratory narrative
Read and analyze the second source you will be using for your Exploratory Narrative. Sum up the argument it makes in the journal entry as well as your reaction to reading the source. Then play the Believing and Doubting Game to find the strongest and weakest elements of the source. Finally, reflect on how the source has changed your understanding of the research topic.
Think of this as a short version of Minor Essay 1 or as a body paragraph for your exploratory narrative.

5. Journal Entry 5 Focus: First Impressions & Introductions
Think about an experience you had where someone made a memorable first impression on you.
What was so memorable about the experience?
How did it shape your future interactions with this person?
Was your initial impression of this person accurate or did it greatly change over time?
If possible, think about a memorable introduction you have read in an essay, book, or other form of writing (or even a movie or TV show).
What was so memorable about the introduction?
What kind of strategy did it use to grab reader attention?
How did this memorable introduction affect your experience with the rest of the text?

6. Journal Entry 6 Focus: Exploratory Narrative Introduction
Based on our discussions in class today, begin construction the introduction to your exploratory narrative in your journal
Make sure to include the necessary elements we discussed in class, including: an explanation of the issue, your research question, how your personal view on the issue, and some kind of strategy for grabbing reader attention
Note: This journal entry may be slightly longer than others. 1-2 pages is completely acceptable.

7. Journal Entry 7 Focus: Reflect on research experiences
At this point in the development of your exploratory narrative, you should have selected a topic, formulated a research question, and evaluated at least two sources on this topic.
Take a few minutes to think about what this research experiences has been like thus far. You may wish to consider:
What did you know about your topic before conducting any research? Has this knowledge changed at all?
What was the experience of finding sources with the library databases like? What about analyzing these texts?
Was there any part of the experience you have found surprising or difficult? Why?
If you could start this research over from the beginning, what would you do differently this time?
What is your current viewpoint/stance on the issue? How have your past experiences shaped this? DO you think further research will change it?
Note: this entry is not asking you to focus on synthesizing your research results. We will work on that next class.

8. Journal Entry 8 Focus: Source Evaluation 3
Find the third source you will use for your exploratory narrative
Read and analyze your third source; Sum up the argument it makes in the journal entry as well as your reaction to reading the source. Then play the Believing and Doubting Game to find the strongest and weakest elements of the source. Finally, reflect on how the source has changed your understanding of the research topic.

9. Journal Entry 9 Focus: Source Synthesis
At this point in the development of your Exploratory Narrative Essay, you should have acquired at least 3 sources and should be beginning to get an understanding of the problems and complexities related to your topic . Take a few minutes to synthesize the sources you have found, considering how they relate to one another and how they have influenced your view. Then compare your research findings thus far to your research question.
What are the viewpoints of the articles you have analyzed thus far?
Based on this knowledge and your own background on the topic, what would be your ‘thesis’ on this issue? What would an antithesis or opposing idea to this thesis be?
If you had to come up with an answer to your research question based on your current progress, what would this synthesis, taking into account all your research thus far, be?

10. Journal Entry 10 Focus: Source Evaluation 4
Find the fourth source you will use for your exploratory narrative
Read and analyze your fourth source; Sum up the argument it makes in the journal entry as well as your reaction to reading the source. Then play the Believing and Doubting Game to find the strongest and weakest elements of the source. Finally, reflect on how the source has changed your understanding of the research topic.

11. Journal Entry 11 Focus: Source Evaluation 5
Find the fifth source you will use for your exploratory narrative
Read and analyze your fifth source; Sum up the argument it makes in the journal entry as well as your reaction to reading the source. Then play the Believing and Doubting Game to find the strongest and weakest elements of the source. Finally, reflect on how the source has changed your understanding of the research topic.

12. Journal Entry 12 Focus: Exploratory Narrative Results
At this point, you should have nearly finished doing the research for your Exploratory Narrative (5+ sources) and should be working towards your second draft. Take a few minutes to reflect on your research results and what questions you still have unanswered (that you may try to answer with your last source)
What did you learn about your topic as a result of this research? Did it change your viewpoint at all?
What was your most interesting or unexpected source or piece of data you found? Why?
What kind of results did your research give? Did you find an answer to your research question?
What unanswered questions do you still have about your research topic? What kind of final source might you look for to answer these?
If you had to write out the conclusion to your research right now, what would you say?

13. Journal Entry 13 Focus: Experiences with grammar
Take 5 minutes to free-write on your previous experiences learning English grammar.
When was the last time you had any grammar lessons? What did you learn?
Do you find grammar an easy thing to use or study?
Do you think grammar is useful to learn or a waste of time?
Did any particular grammar lesson stand out to you?
How has college affected your understanding and usage of grammar?

14. Journal Entry 14 Focus: Source Evaluation 6
Find the sixth source you will use for your exploratory narrative
Read and analyze your fourth source; Sum up the argument it makes in the journal entry as well as your reaction to reading the source. Then play the Believing and Doubting Game to find the strongest and weakest elements of the source. Finally, reflect on how the source has changed your understanding of the research topic.

15. Journal Entry 15 Focus: Reflect on Unit 1
Take a few minutes to remember the content from unit 1 of our class and the most important items within. Since January, we have reviewed the basic concepts of rhetoric and MLA format and learned about exploratory writing, conducting secondary research, thesis seeking prose, introductions, conclusions, and serial positioning effects.
What do you think the most important concepts from unit 1 were?
Was there any part of unit 1 that you found particularly easy or difficult?
How has this class compared to your other English or research-based classes in college thus far?
What did you find most useful from unit 1? I urge you here to consider your major or field of study and how you might use what you have learned in this field in the future.

16. Journal Entry 16 Focus: Primary Research Brainstorm
For this journal entry, brainstorm possible ideas for primary research you could conduct to answer the research question you generated in class.
Which of the three methods we discussed would be best suited to your research question? Why?
Which of the three research methods do you think you would be best equipped to perform?
If using interviews, what experts might you decide to interview?
If using observations, what situations or media could you observe for useful data?
If using surveys, what kind of information from the general public would be useful to your research?

17. Journal Entry 17 Focus: Draft Statement of Purpose
Take a few minutes to begin drafting the statement of purpose for your research proposal (or at least the ideas that you will use for it). You may wish to consider?
What is your research question? (remember to keep this focused and determinate, as we discussed last class)
What do you expect to find as a result of your research? This will become your hypothesis and should be stated in the Purpose Statement
Why is your research so important? Who will benefit from it?
This is likely the question you should spend the most time on as it will take up the most content of the Purpose Statement
You may also wish to consider what types of background information you can use to support this

18. Journal Entry 18 Focus: RP Source Evaluation 1
Find the first source you will be using for your research proposal (a peer reviewed article)
Read and analyze the first source you will be using for your Research Proposal. Sum up the argument it makes in the journal entry as well as the most important or convincing facts in the article. Then reflect on how that article has changed your perspective.
General suggestion: focus on logos for all RP source evaluations

19. Journal Entry 19 Focus: RP Source Evaluation 2
Find the first source you will be using for your research proposal (a peer reviewed article)
Read and analyze the first source you will be using for your Research Proposal. Sum up the argument it makes in the journal entry as well as the most important or convincing facts in the article. Then reflect on how that article has changed your perspective.
General suggestion: focus on logos for all RP source evaluations

20. Journal Entry 20 Focus: Research Qualifications/SoQ Brainstorm
Take a few minutes to brainstorm about your relationship to the topic you have chosen for your research proposal. Specifically, consider how it relates to your major, education, and personal experiences. Which of these make you uniquely qualified to conduct this research?
In what areas of your life have you excelled (academics, sports, community work, hobbies, etc)? How might one of these areas aid your credibility or be related to your research topic?
What first interested you in this topic? How have your personal experiences shaped your understanding/view on the topic?
Have you received any awards or acknowledgements either academically or related to the field of your topic?
Most importantly, why are you more qualified than someone else to research this topic?

21. Journal Entry 21 Focus: RP Source Evaluation 3
Find the third source you will be using for your research proposal (a peer reviewed article)
Read and analyze the third source you will be using for your Research Proposal. Sum up the argument it makes in the journal entry as well as the most important or convincing facts in the article. Then reflect on how that article has changed your perspective.
General suggestion: focus on logos for all RP source evaluations