Journals

[wasser...@osu.edu]

Maybe this has been covered already, but should our journals be
anything in particular? Analysis? Personal thoughts? Reflection? Any
combination?

I just want to get started and I'm not exactly sure what's expected,
aside from what the paragraphs should be based on. Thanks!

[Nicholaos Jones]

Analysis, personal thoughts, reflection, reports of conversations,
listings of confusions, notes on connections you've made with other
areas of life -- anything that demonstrates your engagement with the
material, your trying to understand it or lend support to it or refute
it. The entires need not be profound -- it is not worth skimming the
internet to find some awesome criticism to plagiarize. The journals
are not graded on profundity. They are graded on the basis of whether
they are complete, submitted on time, and show some effort to think
about the material outside of the classroom (whatever that effort might
amount to).

[Nathan Van Allen]

Do we have to write specifically on the topics provided, or can we do
others if we would prefer? For example, I would like to write about
the arguments made between the different Hindu schools, would this be
an ok topic to write on in place of one of the others?

[Nicholaos Jones]

That's fine too -- it would go under the "Upanishads" or "Bhagavad
Gita" category.