The academic world has long viewed with unease the use of journals as a learning tool at least in part because although they're written, they're not proper writing at all-often messy, digressive, mechanically flawed. Furthermore, they don't lend themselves to formal evaluation. In recent years, however, as researchers and teachers have focused on the power and purpose of expressive writing, journals and learning have become closely linked.

This book attests to the importance of journals in teaching and learning settings. Its 42 articles, most of them written especially for The Journal Book, explore the uses of student journals , detailing implications and applications, theory and practice.