Writing in the Middle

When we discussed the relationship between gender and tattoos in class last week, I had you practice a form of note taking that is the basis of the "double-entry journal."  (This is explained more fully in Curious Researcher).  The idea behind the approach is that we can use writing when we come in contact with information to helps us both understand what it seems to be saying, and explore our our thinking about it.  This is a "dialogic" approach to note taking that is in sharp contrast to more conventional note taking encouraged by notecards, which is pretty much a one-way conversation--source to you--and not dialogic--source to you, then you to source, then source to you, then you to source.  I can't overstate how important I think it is to take notes as you collect information.  While this seems inconvenient (and to some extent it is), it can ultimately be more efficient because you're actually writing your draft before you write the draft.

Since class, I thought a lot about opening moves in this kind of note taking.  The two that strike me as most helpful are

1. What I understand you to be saying... This would lead to an initial summary of the reading. Always super helpful in any conversation to listen for understanding.
2. What I find most interesting here is...This move builds from the start on our own particular intellectual interests and concerns, which seems like a logical starting point.

In class, a number of you mentioned that you started expressing agreement or disagreement, and this makes some sense, too, though I wonder if it moves us too quickly to judgment without providing sufficient time to explore a little.

The third chapter of Curious Researcher offers a range of options for how to do this kind of note taking.  You should take a look if you're interested.  I'll also ask you in conference how you're approaching note taking for this project.