Summarize the following:
The first half of any journal response should involve a concise summary and analysis of the book and any main points the author seems to make. The summary section of your journal should be thorough enough that you could read through your journal response and be able to write a short paper on the book.  Address what the main thesis is for the reading. What is the reading about, and why did the author write the text? Acknowledge any conclusions or commentary/arguments the author arrives at. If the book is about something, like the social and political happenings of the author's time, what does the author ultimately think and how do you know this? Incorporate one or two important quotes that are representative of the rest of the text. The second half of a journal response should be your commentary on the text. This part of the journal is your subjective opinion of the book and any arguments or conclusions you believe are present in the text. While the summary focuses on the "what" of the reading, your commentary should focus on the "why."  Don't be afraid to make connections between the book and your own life; if there is a theme or character that speaks to you, write about why. Address and evaluate the author's arguments and conclusions, which should have been detailed in the summary part of your journal. Think of the commentary as either supporting or rejecting (what you consider) the author's main points. Justify your opinions in the commentary. Agreeing or disagreeing is only the first step; for a thorough response, you'll need to analyze your own opinions and arrive at a reason why you had that reaction. The goal of a reading response journal is to give yourself a semi-private space to reflect on the text and develop your thoughts and opinions. You don't need to have it all figured out right from the start, but your journal should help you figure it out along the way.  Allow yourself to explore a topic covered in the summary. Think about why you believe the author addressed certain subjects, as well as what you think about those subjects and the author's depiction. Analyze your opinions. Don't just write that you liked or disliked something, or that you agreed or disagreed with it - dig deeper and figure out why. Ask yourself: How far can I run with a given idea, and how can I make sense of it? Think of your journal as a place to make sense of both the academic and personal experience of reading a given book.  As your journal progresses over the course of the semester or school year, your responses should become longer and more complex. You should be able to chart the development of your thoughts within each individual response and across the journal as a whole. At the very least, your journal entries should be dated. You may also want to use headings and titles so that you can easily identify a given response to a particular text. Remember, the point of a response journal is to be able to track your own progress with that book and to better understand your experience of reading it.  Consider using clear and descriptive headings in your journal. It will help you more easily find your thoughts and insights as you read through your journal at a later date.  It's okay if the actual journal entries wander a bit while exploring the subject - in fact, this can be very helpful. The goal is to organize your journal as a whole so that you can make sense of your entries and track your progress.
Summarize the reading. Respond to the reading with your own commentary. Develop your ideas over time. Organize your response journal.