Professor Batty

Reading Journal Instructions

Reading journals are used to help readers think about, digest, summarize, question, clarify, critique, and
remember what is read. They are one way to critically read a tet and help impro!e reading comprehension.
"ou will need to keep a reading journal this semester, filling in each entry as you read your assigned tets
for homework. "ou may choose to annotate any assigned tets #Norton Field Guide, Postmortal, Eating
Animals, etc.$, but please focus your annotations only on tets assigned for this class.
The following eplains how to format each entry%
Left Column:
The left column is used for direct quotations, paraphrases, or !ocabulary words from the tet being read. &opy
the quote and include quotation marks and the page number in parenthesis.
' quote is when sentence are copied directly #word for word$ from the tet. (uotation marks #) )$ are placed at
the beginning and end of the passage.
Right Column%
The right column is used for commenting on quotes in the left column. The comments on the right may include%
* what the passage reminds you of
* feelings toward the author+s words
* words or passages not understood
* words or passages that look important
* connections among passages or sections of the work
* ,f it+s a !ocabulary word, the right column should ha!e the definition
Title of Text You Are Annotating
Date of Entry
Quote Commentary on Quote
-. Joe, in a fit of rage, screamed at
his friend ue! "heldon #$%
.. &oney, he had more than he could
s'end! "heldon ($%
/. There)s al*ays +een a di,ide
+et*een the 'roletariat and the
+ourgeoisie% -illed and uns-illed
la+or came from all 'arts of the
*orld to see- .o+s in the
/% 0hat does this mean1 Are they at
the end of their friendshi'1 I
*onder *hat ue)s feeling inside% I
hate *hen arguments turn into
screaming matches%
2% I *ish I had lots of money%
ometimes I *onder *hat I *ould
do if I *on the lottery% I thin- that I
*ould +uy 'resents for e,ery+ody
that I -no*, and then I *ould +uy a
ne* car% I don)t thin- I *ould -ee'
my same .o+%
3% I am confused +y this 'assage% I
don)t understand some of the
,oca+ulary in this 'assage% I -no*
that it)s a discussion a+out *or-ers
+ut *hat -ind of di,ide1 0ho are
Professor Batty
automoti,e industry! "heldon 32$%
#% 4roletariat! "heldon #5$%
6% They arri,ed later than ex'ected%%%
It *as mar,elous! "heldon ##$%
the 'roletariat1
#% 7oun8 the class of *age earners,
es'% those *ho earn their li,ing +y
manual la+or or *ho are de'endent
for su''ort on daily or casual
em'loyment9 the *or-ing class%
6% I thin- this is an im'ortant 'art% It
seems li-e this is *here the author
is stating the main idea%
Please title each entry, stating the name of the tet you are annotating.
,nclude the date of each entry.
,nclude in0tet citations #author and page number$ after each quote. This will help you locate
the quotes later.
1or each entry, include 5 or more QUOTES to annotate.
,nclude at least 5 journal ENTRIES #with at least 2 quotes per entry$ for every journal chec.
"our journal will be collected ! time" during the semester.
3ach journal check will be worth 5# $oint" %&! chec"' (5# $oint")*