The journal may begin as a series of random explorations which later on take on lines of development to be pursued further. It may be a diary, a notebook, a scrapbook, a collection of aphorisms, a series of commentaries or reflections, an assemblage of quotations or images.

One model for the journal is the scientist's day-book, such as Darwin's notes during his voyage on the Beagle. Or it might be a commonplace book for ordinary jottings about life (as was typical in the 16th and 17th centuries), and which took a philosophical form with George Berkeley and later in G.E. Moore's Commonplace Book.

The journal may be a sketchbook used by an artist or architect to set down passing ideas. Or perhaps an electronic archive of notes, sources, quotations, and links to other electronic sites.

The form for the journal is not predetermined and its construction is the task of students in conjunction with their tutors and the Director of Studies.

The journal as a work in progress is a place for beginnings, false starts, random forays, accidental connections. At some point the journal takes on the form of a more sustained set of reflections on a single idea or topic.