** My Intellectual Flakes **

I have been thinking about the pros and cons of private journals and blogs for a while. In my doctoral study, I focused on how blogs could help students’ reflection and social interaction. What I have is a group of students who had the habit of writing journals and/or personal blogs to document their experience. As part of assessment, they also wrote formal reflective essays shared only with the tutor. What I am aiming in my study is to reveal what unique benefit academic blogs can afford. Academic blogs are meant to be the middle space between formal reflective essays and informal/personal journals.
I happened to come across an article on the virtues of private journal today.

… a well kept journal provokes introspection. It is a liberating and productive outlet for random ideas, thoughts and feelings.

Make this journal private: This stops you from censoring yourself unnecessarily.

The key point to note is not the therapeutic effects of writing in a journal but rather the fact that regular journal keeping will influence the way you think or feel about an specific topic.

One thing is for sure, private journal meant to be read only the the author is easier to write. No worry about grammar, spelling and how the readers might react.