Using Academic Journals To Promote the Development of Independent Thinking and Writing Skills.

Research indicates that student journal writing promotes the development of independent thinking as well as writing skills. Journal writing helps students comprehend course material, relate course content to their own lives, and prepare for class discussions. Instructors who use journal writing to help students achieve instructional objectives are charged with the responsibility of: designing both free and restricted writing assignments, including analytical and evaluative questions; making provisions for students to complete in-class and out-of-class entries; offering constructive feedback to validate students' writing efforts; returning journals to students in a timely fashion; modeling the process of synthesizing and analyzing academic content by keeping a journal and reading entries to students; and encouraging students to read their entries to each other. Overall, student journals constitute a salutary teaching-learning tool in which the students can record their personal observations, impressions, and questions about academic content. (Nineteen references are attached.) (Author/KEH)