For each of the readings listed under "Text Readings" on your syllabus, you are required to keep a log.  This log will include an entry on each of the listed readings in Crossroads (22 entries).  Entries are to be in the order that they appear on the syllabus and follow this format:

1. Title of article (or book).
2. Date the reading was completed.
3. A brief summary of the major points of the reading. (Use your own words, quote sparingly.)
4. How does the article relate to the instructor presentations in this class? How does it relate to other readings? (These readings may include material outside of this class.)
5. What, if anything, is truly insightful about this article?
6. What, if anything, did you find especially weak?
7. Your overall evaluation of the reading.

You should bring your reading log to class each day.  I may ask you to read from it to stimulate class discussion.  I may also collect them to make sure you are keeping up.  

The Purpose:

The purpose of having a reading log is that it gives you the opportunity to reflect on and integrate the reading in this course. 

This is an intensive writing experience that requires you to work consistently throughout the course. (You can not do it at the end of the semester.)  I expect clear and polished prose. The premise of social science (and what distinguishes it from ideology and armchair philosophizing) is the authority of data and observation over ideology and intuition. 

Writing in the social sciences should reflect the relationship between theory and fact. Facts do not speak for themselves. As Marvin Harris (1979: p. 7) observed, "facts are always unreliable without theories that guide their collection and that distinguish between superficial and significant appearances." Or, as C. Wright Mills put it, "Social research is advanced by ideas; it is only disciplined by fact" (1959, p. 71). The main point is to be guided by an explicit perspective or point of view--take a position. Without a perspective you will be lost in a sea of "information" without a rudder (which is similar to being up the creek without a paddle).

The Grade:

Your grade for the reading log will be based on the following criteria:

1. Quality of writing
2. Intellectual reflection