The Research Journal. Bassot, Barbara

      12

      Theme 1.1

      What does a

      research journal

      look like?

      On the surface this sounds like a simple

      enough question but delve a little deeper and

      it’s not necessarily as easy as it appears. A

      quick internet search shows that people do

      not necessarily agree on what a research

      journal should look like, and indeed there are

      views that appear to be at opposite extremes:

      there are those who see it as a place to take

      brief notes, primarily in relation to sources

      (for example, books, journal articles) and

      others who advocate keeping a record of

      everything! Most support the idea of writing

      in it regularly but are much less clear on what

      to write. The words ‘journal’, ‘diary’ and ‘log’

      are sometimes used interchangeably, which

      can also be confusing. In general, these three

      terms tend to mean different things:

      • Journal – this often means a place

      for free-flow writing. Some people keep

      a personal journal where they write about

      their everyday lives; others keep a journal

      for a specific purpose, for example for

      a project or during their travels. In

      everyday life, a journal can often take the

      form of a nice quality notebook where

      you can write freely about whatever you

      have decided to focus on. A journal can

      also be used as a place to keep other

      things, such as photographs, diagrams

      and lists. Initially most of the pages will

      probably be blank.

      • Diary – this tends to be calendar-driven

      with specific dates listed, and there are a

      variety of options to choose from (for

      example, a week to view on each page

      or a week spread across two pages); it

      will often include planners for the month

      or year. There will also be space to write,

      but this can restrict your writing to the

      amount of space given.

      • Log – this is a basic record of events, often

      kept in date order. It is generally factual –

      a list of what you did and when.

      So, what will be the most useful as you start

      your first piece of independent research? It

      is likely that there will be aspects of each of

      these kinds of records that you will want to

      capitalise on in order to make it work for you.

      Free-flow writing in a journal will help your

      ideas and understanding to develop (see

      Theme 1.3). This could be prompted by things

      like reading texts that you feel are key to your

      research, discussions with your supervisor,

      things you discover as you gather your data,

      13

      among others. Diary aspects will

      be particularly helpful for planning (see

      Theme 3.1), which will help you to keep

      on track and not lose sight of what you

      need to do and when. A log will ensure

      that you can find things quickly and easily

      (see Table 3 on page 57), such as those

      all-important references. This book is designed

      to help you to do all of these things, so feel

      free to use it in the way it helps you most.

      Notes

      14

      Theme 1.2

      The importance

      of journal

      writing

      Many people in universities are beginning to

      see the value of journal writing and recognise

      that it can help students in various areas of their

      academic and personal development. Here are

      some of the reasons for this, and you may be

      able

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