How to write a Journal?
One of the most informative piece of work, journals are the products of informal writing. They serve different purposes which may either be personal or creative or even informative. A journal is a piece of information that details things from your own experiences to official documents. It can even be used to record financial transactions. There are certain advantages of keeping a journal. Among them a few are:
- You can remember the minutest of details if you are in a habit of keeping a journal. For example, if you have visited a place and you write about it in your journal then you will be able to access the details even years thereafter. Usually our brain is so burdened with certain information that cannot able to remember each and every thing we do or we see. Therefore, if you want to reminisce about any beautiful memory of yours, your journal will help you to recall it and live the moment once more. They are not that tricky as your homework and as you need help with homework answers, you don’t need help with personal journals.
Official journals can help you keep track of the details and let you know about them as and when required. - It can establish connection between your social groups. If you are in a habit of mentioning in journal every person you meet and every place you visit then you maybe able to connect with some of older friends of yours. The present day alternative to this type of journal is social media.
- Journals can help you express yourself in a better manner. Some people are in a habit of writing more and speaking less. Thus they write down about almost every feeling they have and every idea that strikes there mind. Thus the journal act as the vent of their emotions.
- One of the most important functions of writing journals is that it preserves history. If you come across a journal written by a person long time back you will come to know each and every thing that the person has written about the era he is living in. this offers a great historical knowledge to people as well as knowledge of different social and political lives.
Now that you know about what the journal is and what are its benefits, let us discuss how we can write a good journal:
- Choose the kind of journal you want to write on. As we have already discussed earlier, journals are of many types. Therefore one should decide for oneself what sort of journal you want to write. Official journals are mandatory but personal ones are not.
- Try keeping a diary and pen with you always wherever you go because ideas see no time or place to strike your mind. If you don’t carry these two things you may miss out certain ideas that you may get in the spur of the moment. Also if you think that you will now store the idea in your brain and later put them in you words, you may not be able to do so. Because not every thing is stored in your brain in the right flow. Nowadays even mobile and other such electronic devices are used to keep a record of these points.
- Do not forget to date your entry whether you are writing an official journal, a scholarly journal or a personal one.
- Be truthful about the points you write. This holds true both for the official journal as well as for the personal one. If you try to meddle with the points trying to portray yourself as the perfectionist in front of the readers, you are lying to your ownself because the journal entry is a record of your own personal experience. Also later when you read the journal again, you won’t be able to clearly relate to them because the points are all made up rather than being original.
- Do not miss out any important detail while writing your journal because these details connect the dots in the event. If you omit any detail your leader may not get a clear picture of what you are trying to convey.
- Jot down your experience- what did you feel at that moment and what reaction did you have and state the reason for such feeling and reaction. With the help of this, the reader is able to connect to the writer.
- Whether you write a little or you write a lot, it doesn’t matter. The details you give should present the clear picture in the mind of the reader and paint the exact moment as he or she was present there. Make use of the reactions of your five sense organs while noting down the detail.
An example of a journal can be, it was a horrible night in the cave. Extreme darkness without any silver line. I could hear the rumbling sound, the voice of footsteps approaching me and the echo of the sound the bat was making. My heartbeat faster and faster and my body became sweaty all the while but the I could see a dim light as I moved forward and I found that I had reached the place that saved me from the terrific experience….
A journal writing is not the same as essay writing or research paper writing. People usually tend to confuse it with the research paper writings because certain journals are informative ones. It is a record of ones own personal experience or in an official environment, about the transactions of the company. You did not need any homework help while writing a journal because it does not follow any set pattern. Go with the flow and compile your journal.