Hypomnemata

Here is the piece I mentioned in relation to our reading-writing practices for this course, entitled Self-Writing. In looking at the practices of these Greek and Roman philosophers (thank you Kyle) that Foucault discusses, I came across an interview on foucault.info where there is a clearly relevant sense to which this notion of Hypomnemata coheres with the collection of assignments you'll be responsible for. Note in particular this excerpt from the excerpt:

In the technical sense, the hypomnemata could be account books, public registers, individual notebooks serving as memoranda. Their use as books of life, guides for conduct, seems to have become a current thing among a whole cultivated public. Into them one entered quotations, fragments of works, examples, and actions to which one had been witness or of which one had read the account, reflections or reasonings which one had heard or which had come to mind. They constituted a material memory of things read, heard, or thought, thus offering these as an accumulated treasure for rereading and later meditation. They also formed a raw material for the writing of more systematic treatises...

So it is in this light I'll point you back to this mode of writing as a way for you to consider for yourself the relationship between your journaling, your critical responses, your examinations and your essay. If you are looking for a free tool for writing that is not word-processing centric, I'd suggest Evernote.