The specific purposes of this preliminary journal assignment (together with the associated writing skills assessment project essay) is --

• to raise your educational goals and expectations for the course to a higher level and to make them more significantly specific and educationally meaningful;
  
  
• to assess your academic skill performance level; and --
  
  
• to initiate a profitable research agenda for the semester.

CLICK ON EACH OF THE ABOVE STATEMENTS FOR FURTHER CLARIFICATION of the instructior intentions and expectations for these two assignments

JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT ONE

STEP ONE: Expose yourself purposefully to information about Japan.

Look over the assigned readings for the course and the topics covered in the syllabus. Consider the content of the first several class sessions: How have our class discussions influenced your interest level in Things Japanese?

Follow some suggested Internet web site links. Read articles about Japan appearing in newspapers, magazines and online sources. Watch television programs featuring Japan. Talk to people with knowledge of Japan gained from personal experience or a developed interest in, for example, Japanese art or Japanese gardens or the Japanese martial arts.

STEP TWO: In a series of journal entries, written over several days, tell me about the resources you’ve exposed yourself to and what interest(s) that exposure prompted.

Document your sources appropriately. For example: “I read a short article, 'Mobiles Prompt Sex Crimes in Japan ', on the Internet web site CNN.com/world, located at < http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/08/21/japan.phone.arrests.reut/index.html> posted on August 22, 2002." Then detail something specific from that source that interested you and integrate that interest into an area of inquiry you might want to pursue further.

Date each journal entry. Don’t bother reporting on sources that you looked at which held no interest for you; concentrate instead on those that caught your attention. (You won’t remember the others anyway!)

And be specific in outlining interests aroused. Don't write “This story made me want to learn more about Japanese religious history” but instead “This prompted an interest in why Buddhism and Shinto coexist so easily in contemporary Japan.” Use terms like “why” and “how” in defining your new-found interests.

Be sure to include at least one book, one article and one Internet web source in your journal assessments so that I can assume you have considered multiple potential resources in your investigations.

BE SURE TO ATTACH A PROPERLY PREPARED COVERSHEET TO YOUR JOURNAL BEFORE SUBMITTING THIS SERIES OF ENTRIES TO THE INSTRUCTOR FOR EVALUATION. At the top center of the COVERSHEET indicate a title for your paper (something more original than Essay Assignment or Book Review); do NOT enclose this title in quotation marks. Below the title, indicate the nature of the assignment (such as "Journal Assignment One" or "Writing Skills Assessment Project"). Also list on the lower right hand corner of the coversheet your name, the number and title of the course, the instructor's name and the submission date.

STEP THREE: After completing and submitting the above series of journal entries, continue this assignment by completing the required Writing Skills Assessment Project essay.