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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 to think of more:

• It helps us to slow down – we all need

time to develop our critical thinking, and

writing in a journal provides us with the

scope to do this more effectively.

• It helps to externalise things – if we

spend too long thinking, things can start to

go round and round in our heads, which can

make us feel confused and overwhelmed.

Writing in a journal gets our thoughts out

on to paper, and often makes our heads

feel clearer as a result.

• It’s a place for offloading – all

research has its ups and downs, and a

journal can be a place for articulating

our feelings, particularly when things don’t

go according to plan. This helps us to cope

with stress and deal with anxiety.

• It helps us to keep on track – most

of us know that in order to succeed we

need a plan; hence the well-known phrase,

‘To fail to plan is to plan to fail’. A journal

can be a secure place (more secure than

a piece of paper that we can lose) for our

research plans.

• It provides us with a record that we

can go back to – most of us think that

we will remember things, particularly

when it is something significant.

Unfortunately, everyday life is hectic, and

we can’t remember everything; sometimes

even important things can escape

our memory.

• It helps us to question our

assumptions – taking a questioning

approach to journal writing (see

Theme 1.5) can help us to address issues

of subjectivity and bias in our research.

• It makes us accountable to ourselves

– a good supervisor will want to know

about the progress we are making, but

the progress we make will always be

down to us. Keeping a journal means

that we can keep a check on ourselves;

for example, how far we have achieved

our goals and what we need to do next.