Writing Journal

From LitWiki
Writing in 1830

An important requirement for this course will be a writing journal: essentially a log that documents your participation on this wiki during the course of the semester. This should be kept on a sub-page of your user page. Just edit your user page and paste the following on its own line:

[[/Writing Journal/]]

When you save the page (be sure to preview it first), you will have a red link. You can click on it to set up and begin adding to your journal.

The idea is to keep track of your important contributions on the wiki: everything from adding to the discussion of a text to work done on projects. Every major edit[1] should be included, with the date it was accomplished and a link to the contribution. You may use any ordering structure you’d like, but I recommend something like the following example:

Writing Journal
Date Contribution Explanation
August 3, 2021 Added a reference. Added Lucas to the Odyssey bibliography, including annotation.
August 1, 2021 Participated in a discussion. Started and responded in a discussion of book 6 of the Odyssey.
July 29, 2021 Revised entry. Copy edited and revised the literary term “Allegory.”
July 28, 2021 Wrote user bio. Wrote my short biography on my user page, including links and photo.

This is just an example so every entry's link does not work, but every one should be linked to evidence of your work. Use correct wiki links and try to be consistent. You should update your journal as soon as you’ve completed your writing for the day, but if you forget, you can always see a record of every edit you have made on LitWiki by going to your user page (click your user name on the top of the page), then selecting the main menu (upper-left of the site), and clicking “User contributions” under “Tools.”

The important part of this journal is that it shows regular participation on the wiki—at the very least once a week if you’re aiming for a C. Many of your entries will be links to discussions you’ve participated in (see your class syllabus for specific assignments), but many of them should be to contributions you have made to class projects. The best way to learn and contribute effectively is to participate regularly. In other words: try to do make a contribution every (other) day if you’re aiming for an A.

Notes

  1. Edits you mark as minor, like fixing a typo, should not be included on your writing journal.