What is a dialectical journal?

The purpose of a dialectical journal is for the reader to write down interesting, memorable or important passages in a text as he reads literature. By writing about literature, the reader is able to make personal connections and interpretations.

The word "dialectic" is a method of intellectual investigation. When the reader writes down his thoughts about a text, something that is also known as annotating, he makes the text his own with his own way of understanding the meaning. There are no right or wrong answers in a dialectical journal. In essence, the reader is having a conversation, or dialogue, with the text.