Reading journal requirements

You will need to include 7 entries in your reading journal. Your entries will be based on specific incidents in your novel as well as interpretations on your novel as a whole.

For two of the 7 entries, you will have the choice of what to do. Your choices will depend on what you are discovering and are curious about in your novel.

The remaining entries will be based on the prompts provided.

Seven journal entries: requirements checklist

Item No. 1

A short, written reflection about why you chose your novel.

Item No. 2

Notes about character development in three parts.

• What have you learned about the main character(s) from the first third of the novel?
• How have the main character(s) changed, grown, or revealed themselves in the second third?
• How have the main character(s) changed, grown, or revealed themselves in the final third?

Item No. 3

Notes on resilience in response to the following questions:

• How do the characters demonstrate resilience?
• How is the concept of resilience linked to themes in the novel?
• What is the author saying about the role of resilience in people’s lives?

Include significant quotations. You may need to reference other journal entries.

Item No. 4

Examine how one or more of the following literary lenses affects your interpretation of the novel:

• contextual lens
• psychological lens
• gender lens

Item No. 5

Notes on text-to-text connections

Make ongoing comparisons between your novel and other texts or media that you are familiar with, such as:

• films or television shows
• texts you have read in this course (short stories, personal essays, poems, songs)
• other novels you have read

Items No. 6 and 7

Consult the "List of prompts for reading journal entries" document for inspiration. Press “List of prompts for reading journal entries(Opens in a new window)” to access the document.