The Well Educated Mind-Part 3

Chapter 3-- Keeping the Journal: A Written Record of New Ideas

• Isaac Watts tells us not to just read, but to meditate and study, an act that "transfers and conveys the notions and sentiments of others to ourselves, so as to make them properly our own."
• Keep a journal (commonplace book) to organize your thoughts about reading.
• (1) Jot down specific phrases, sentences, and paragraphs as you come across them, (2) when you've finished your reading, go back and write a brief summary about what you've learned, (3) and then write your own reactions, questions, and thoughts.
• Guidelines for summaries:

1. Write the title of the chapter in your notebook. Jot down ideas, phrases, or sentences that strike you.
2. Ask yourself: What is the most important point that the writer makes in this section? If I could remember only one thing from this section, what would it be? What else does the writer tell me about this important point that I'd like to remember? Make the summary for each section a separate paragraph.
3. When you have done this for the entire chapter, glance back over your summary paragraphs. Now write down your reactions to the information in each summary. (A different color is useful.)