Laboratory Journal Description
The laboratory journal is a potential breeding ground for characters, clues and story lines for use in your writing throughout the program. In the role of reporter your job is to observe, collect notes and compile sentences and paragraphs to address the four targets found below. These four targets need not be observed or written up in the order shown.
Dialog...Record verbatim a dialog that takes place during the designated lab time.
Person...Select a person in the room and describe that person. Be sure to include as many facets to this person as possible -- physical attributes, facial expressions and body language, behaviors, displayed/expressed emotions, etc.
Event...Describe an event. This could be a quick occurrence or a lengthy one. The event could be complicated or simplistic; it could involve a single person, two or more people or remain person-free. Potential questions to consider include: what was leading up to the event? what was the result of the event? what are the emotions? what are the consequences? how have dynamics changed? was the event predictable or preventable? was it random? was it purposeful?
Location or Object...Provide intense descriptions of a location or an inanimate object. Try to incorporate as many senses as possible in your description. Your subject could be a large area, such as the room itself, or a single object, such as a pair of scissors.
Specific Requirements
Number all pages of the lab journal, do not number the back of each page, and include a table of contents in the front. While you are playing the role of the reporter, the lab journal is the ONLY place you should be writing anything down. Write only on the right-hand side of each page. You may want to leave several pages in the front of the journal for the table of contents. A detailed table of contents will be very useful.
All reporters must be present at the start of lab time and have their journals.
All reporters must take rough notes for a minimum of ninety minutes before compiling complete sentences to address the targets. The exception to this is the dialog target.
As you begin each session writing in your lab journal, use the following outline as your guide:
NAME
NAME OF THE LAB BEING OBSERVED
OBSERVATIONAL START TIME
PERSON...This section should contain your rough notes, consist of single words or phrases, about the person under observation.
DIALOG...This section should contain your observed dialog verbatim. For this target, your first draft is the final draft. Use a pen to highlight the DIALOG heading so it can be easily identified in your journal.
LOCATION/OBJECT...This section should contain your rough notes, consist of single words or phrases, about the location or object under observation.
EVENT...This section should contain your rough notes, consist of single words or phrases, about the event under observation.
OBSERVATIONAL END TIME
REVISED PERSON...Provide a well structured character description based on your observational notes about a person. Write in sentence and paragraph format. While we would like you to stay close to your observations, you may augment your descriptions to form fictional characters. You may wish to delve into their psychological make up, their inhibitions, fears, passion, etc. Be creative but build a coherent and realistic character. The title of this section should be highlighted with a marker so it can be easily identified in your journal.
REVISED EVENT...Provide a well structured event description based on your observations about an event. Write in sentence and paragraph format. In addition to capture the event, you may need to enhance certain aspects so that the event takes on significance. Remember, even the mundane, when framed and focused upon, can become meaningful. The title of this section should be highlighted with a marker so it can be easily identified in your journal.
REVISED LOCATION/OBJECT...Provide a well structured location or object description based on your observational notes about a location or an object. Write in sentence and paragraph format. As with the event description, how does your location/object description take on a purpose and/or meaning? Remember that these descriptions could easily be translated into clues for a mystery. The title of this section should be highlighted with a marker so it can be easily identified in your journal.
Created by Rebecca Sunderman (sundermr@evergreen.edu) .....Last Updated on 9-20-04
