An inquiry log is a thoughtful, pursposeful (but unpolished) space for cultivating connections between what you’re learning and your interests. The goal is to accumulate useful persepctives on various topics and steadily incubate ideas and possibilities for further investigation. The inquiry log can also be a place to document goals and progress toward projects. As I write this, I’m hoping to add at least one entry a week, even if it’s just a quick list with a brief reflection. Others uses include:
- clarify a key idea from theoretical readings
- synthesize points
- describe something irritating about a text
- leave yourself a note on what to watch for in the next text
- note perspectives or approaches to research further
- post photos of notes
- do a “brain dump”
- note how thinking about a previous text has changed in light of a new one
- evaluate progress
- document work sessions
- post anything that is useful for in tracking learning