While journaling is a relaxing exercise that can help align and organize thoughts, there are many benefits that students and writers alike could gain from the passtime to help them in their academic careers.
Vanessa Evans, a doctoral candidate and teaching assistant, encourages students who wish to improve their academic writing to engage in journaling. “Not only does journaling (what we might also call ‘life writing’) offer a place where we can transcribe our lived experiences or thoughts and begin to process them, it can also create a space of empowerment for those who may feel denied a voice off the page.
“I was always told, and have since come to believe, that the best way to improve my writing was by reading and writing as much and as frequently as possible. Journaling provides a low stakes environment where you can do just that, writing however you want about whatever you want. As we all know, improving any skill requires practice, but that practice does not have to be solely in the repetition of that same skill,” says Evans.
Evans further explains that journaling acts as a warm up to academic writing and can also help clear clutter and fog, resulting in unbounded academic flow.
“Ultimately, journaling and academic writing share a lot of core competencies, making it possible for regular engagement in a reflexive and reflective practice like journaling to be effective at sharpening the skills needed to improve our academic writing.”
Dr. Jon Sufrin, an associate professor in the writing department, explains that they use journaling to help make sense of the day and to reflect on positive and negative aspects. “There’s something about the act of writing it down that allows new connections and new insights to form.
“I journal about the events of the day and my reactions to them— often about my relationships with people I care about. I do re-read over the previous day and try to reflect on how things have evolved, but usually with an eye towards resolving narratives or problems,” says Sufrin.
“I’ve been journaling for many years, so I have lots of ‘back issues.’ If things get really slow, I sometimes go and read about what I was writing 10 years ago today and compose a short entry on that. As one gets older, it puts the thoughts and cares of the moment in perspective.”
Sufrin adds that journaling can act as a vessel for reflection and integrating our actions and emotions of the current moment into a plan for the future.
“This is an essential part of learning — to become aware of one’s thought processes and actions means we can recognize our strengths and we can act to improve areas that need more development. Self-awareness does not solve everything, but it’s nearly always a critical first step to positive change.”
