Double-entry Reading Journal

What is it? A double-entry journal (also called a two-sided or dialectical journal) allows the writer-reader to record notes on one side of the page (left or right, top or bottom) and to use the other side to comment on those notes.

Rationale: We retain more and learn more deeply when we reflect on our own thoughts. The double-entry journal encourages this practice, called metacognition. Side one of the journal allows us to get our thoughts down quickly, just as they occur. Side two of the journal allows us to step back from the initial thoughts and consider implications, connections, and further questions. This process of recording first thoughts and reflecting on them also helps us to understand our strengths and challenges as readers, scholars, and writers.

Each of us approaches a piece of reading with our own experiences, and the double-entry reading journal encourages us to rely on that expertise, develop our voices, and exercise our intellect.

As you read… Listen to the questions and observations your mind makes as you read and capture those mind-noises on paper. Some things to note are places where you

  • are confused, puzzled, or surprised
  • are struck by the language, an image, an argument, or an example
  • relate the text to something in your life, or to another text, or to something happening locally or globally
  • predict what might happen
  • react strongly.

After you finish reading… Re-read your notes. On the second side, write down any thoughts, comments, or questions that jump into your mind as you re-read your initial notes. Follow your thoughts. Write down any answers you’ve found. Note things you might want to research or study further.

Example Double-entry Reading Journal – See the next page for my double-entry journal on William Carlos Williams’ short poem, “The Red Wheelbarrow.” Notice I haven’t come up with a lot of answers, but I have followed my own thoughts. I needed about twenty minutes to do the assignment.

The Red Wheelbarrow – William Carlos Williams

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens.

Side 1 - notes, observations. questions / Side 2 – reflections on first thoughts
is that it? wow, that’s a short poem
you can get well known for this kind of poem? William Carlos Williams is supposed to be a really great poet, but I’m not sure how. this sounds like a three-year-old wrote it. sorry, William!
ok, so first thing I notice is the pattern…three words, one word for each stanza. the single word is always 2 syllables but the first line of each stanza isn’t always the same number of syllables: line 1 – 4 syllables; line 3 – 3 syllables; line 5 – 3 syllables; line 7 – 4 syllables
there’s no capitalization, but there’s one period – no other punctuation
another thing that stands out is color: just red and white
wheelbarrow is one word, isn’t it?
what does this poem mean? / short, but really structured. maybe the shortness is like the subject of the poem: easy to overlook, not pay attention to
maybe I need to read some more Williams’ poetry. ask in class?
maybe I’m making too much of the pattern. but why would he break up his words like that? also, no rhyming.
the whole poem is just one sentence – and the subject is “much” NOT “wheelbarrow” – that is, the subject of the sentence is “much” while the subject of the poem is “wheelbarrow.” I think.
yup – one word. so he doesn’t hyphenate it
wheelbarrows are important? the rain is important? and what’s up with the chickens?