Conde 1

Elva Conde

Professor Marianita Escamilla

ENGL-1301-92L

25 September 2020

Revised Proposal: Sources

As we enter the new series of Inquiry, coming up with questions wasn’t as simple as I

thought. With that being said, after plenty of thinking and researching I came up with one that is

personal to me. My question is do people who own a diary/journal develop a better literacy than

those who don’t. I would assume that journaling your thoughts is almost like doing a daily

reflection. You get to think deeper into your mind and try to find answers or come up with

questions as you write. Journaling is always claimed to benefit mental health or a way to release

your stress, anxiety, etc. But is it proven to help improve your writing skills and thought process.

My first source was found using Google scholar searching words, "Literacy and self-

journaling." The source is an academic article, Reflective Journaling in Information

Literacy, that fell in the area of my question. It goes into depth about evaluating the student’s

abilities to both adapt to the framework of undergraduate life and excel in their academic

pursuits and critical thinking abilities have been essential considerations. How writing is a skill

set that allows students to evaluate their learning experience and thereby enables them to look at

their own self-efficacy. When they (students) enter a learning environment, writing insightful

journal entries addresses a variety of critical thought abilities undergraduates frequently lack.

They are asked to analyze what they have learned, the mechanism through which they learn, how

to synthesize the knowledge and control their academic careers through insightful journal

writing. This source connected with my question of how self-journaling can help build one’s
 Conde 2

literacy or not. This source is leaning towards more of a positive side with its claims of how it

indeed does have its benefits. With that being said I don't think this is my final answer, I want to

know the cons of self-journaling as well. I do believe this is a credible source, since it is under

scholarly articles on google. Author of the source, Claudia McGivney, is Head of Academic

Engagement, Stony Brook University. The article has plenty of other articles under their

references that support their argument and might help build my answer. 

McGivney, Claudia. " Reflective journaling in information literacy courses." Qualitative and

Quantitative Methods in Libraries [Online], 6.4 (2017): 599-607. Web. 22 Sep. 2020

Link for article:

 http://www.qqml-journal.net/index.php/qqml/article/view/443

A second source I found was a TEDx video called, how to declutter your mind-

keep a journal. I loved the idea that the speaker, Ryder Carroll, was implying of how anyone has

the ability to control their thoughts with the use of a journal. Carroll breaks down his process of

journaling as reflect, ideate, dedicate. Reflect, step that is crucial as it is a moment to stop and

declutter your mind of unnecessary stuff to create space for new ideas/thoughts. Ideate, to focus

on the important things or small tasks. Lastly dedicate, putting in time to this habit of indulging

curiosity. I think it went with my question because this process meant to just help control a busy

person has served others in different areas of their lives. This bullet journal can help with

writing, as it helps to breakdown thoughts and access a curious mentality with no disturbances.

Carroll mentions it is good to unleash one’s curiosity, to reflect on it. This source is credible

since they strive to use science that is entertaining yet credible. Speakers have to have ideas

worthy of sharing and be nominated to speak on stage. TEDx videos are used for any aspect in

life and are very informative/ inspiring.

 Conde 3

TEDxTalks. “How to Declutter Your Mind—Keep a Journal | Ryder Carroll | TEDxYale.”

Youtube, uploaded by TEDxTalks, 20 Jan. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v+ym6OYelD5fA.

Link for video:

https://youtu.be/ym6OYelD5fA

As for my popular source I found a website called, Psychology Today: Why is Everyone

Talking About Journaling? This source goes into detail of some of the benefits journaling has,

such as a tracker for growth, memories, lessons, etc. What stood out to me though is how they

claim “Journals help you write…writers swear by journaling as a way to push through writers

block and get back in the flow. (Howes)” The author goes into detail how journaling helped him

as he grew, journaling basically was his way of expressing thoughts. This source is credible since

they have Psychologists posting their articles. This article in particular is a psychologist who has

been featured on Buzzfeed, Shape, Beliefnet, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, PsychCentral,

Maclean's, the APA Website, Everyday Health, The Humanist, Psychology Today and in a

cartoonist's strips about therapy. Howes is also the author of Mental Health Journal for Men:

Creative Prompts, Practices, & Exercises to Bolster Wellness (2020).

Link to post:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/experts/ryan-howes-phd-abpp

My next steps in this project might trying to look up correlation between journaling and

peoples scores on essays. I might look more into psychology websites since journaling is mostly

used for brain dumping ideas, stress, issues, etc. Many psychologists recommend it to their

patients. I am considering looking for scholarly articles with using keywords literacy, IQ’s,

journaling, and intelligence. I feel like my answer may not be as straight forward but am

interested to see how my question can be answered.

Conde 4
 Conde 5

Works Cited

Howes, Ryan. “Why Is Everyone Talking about Journaling.” Psychology Today, 15 July 2020,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-therapy/202007/why-is-everyone-talking-about-

journaling.

McGivney, Claudia. " Reflective journaling in information literacy courses." Qualitative and

Quantitative Methods in Libraries [Online], 6.4 (2017): 599-607. Web. 22 Sep. 2020

TEDxTalks. “How to Declutter Your Mind—Keep a Journal | Ryder Carroll | TEDxYale.”

Youtube, uploaded by TEDxTalks, 20 Jan. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v+ym6OYelD5fA.