Learning Journal

Khalil Tamkeen A. Tanggol

Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan
IS 56 – Contemporary Europe
Sir Glefford N. Lagcao Jr.
April 20, 2020

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 Any good learner always has a beginning, meaning they didn’t start good at learning,
they started at a level where most people went through. As time passed, they would develop a
style where they find where are most comfortable in, others might follow an auditory type of
learning where they find it most effective in listening at a speaker; others might find it easy if
there are visuals e.g. pictures, maps, and the likes during lessons; and others might find it
easy if they are hands-on, where they would like to act out to understand a concept. Learners
must have growth mindset and should understand that they need to adapt to changes in their
learning style should a difficult situation arrived they would have the capability to overcome
the difficulties being presented to them. Learners should know what is their weaknesses and
should find ways on how to prevent or to alleviate their weakness.
This paper would tackle on how the author in his learning experience and how he
tackled on the workload, the style he followed and how he managed to handle the weaknesses
he had in learning. This paper would also tackle on what the author has learned over the
course of the semester, from Europe during the late 19th century up until the creation of the
EU- where they have served the European continent in preserving peace. In this paper, it
would divulge in a better understanding on the development of Europe and how it became the
continent it is today, this would reflect from the details on the journals that has been
discussed throughout the semester.
The first discussion in the semester was what Europe was, prior to World War I. It
was a continent not knowing that there would be a great war following the downfall of
Napoleon. Trade all over the world, which is now called as globalization, has risen
tremendously. Large industries were growing in major cities across Europe. With growing
industries, it also meant advancement in military technologies, from steel ships and railways
that could transport large mass number of troops within days as compared to horse-drawn
carriages. Then came theories from International Relations and how the theories could help
in understanding the causes that led up to World War I. Timing was everything (Lebow,
2000), From the growth of Russian, and Western Europe territories (1), which led to the loss
of influence of the Ottomans in the Balkans (2), the arms race in Europe (3), these are some
few actors that led up in sparking the Great War. A theory does not have to be complex for it
to work, as long as, the evidences supporting it does not change or revise the history behind
it. Leaders who made their choices was because of the policies, the people in their circle, and
their understanding of the situation made them picked those choices. From the choices made
in World War I and the succeeding wars that led to the 21st century only made Europe a
continent of peace, from a continent ravaged by war to a continent leading the world in
development in many ways. The creation of the European Union made the continent a
progressive one, leading in peace keeping activities along their border, helping their citizens
in every aspect of their lives, keeping the environment safe and habitual for years to come.
From World War I up until the present day, understanding the importance of
International Relations only grew. After the Cold War, Europeans understood that war
shouldn’t continue in the continent if it wanted to prosper. From their learnings of
International Relations, ideas on how to handle situations so that events in the past wouldn’t
be repeated. The journals given only gave the surface amount of needed information to fully
comprehend and understand the situation that made Europe today. To fully understand, one
must look into the finer details and understand the actors behind those actions that was made
by the people in the past. If only knowing the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as the
cause of the Great War, that is not enough to say one understood the Great War. There were
multiple factors behind those actions and behind those actions are other factors, combined
they made the reasons as to why World War I happened.

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 If one is to learn the causes behind the actors, what person can do is to simply read
and understand why they made those actions. It is a tedious process, but if one is to commit in
understanding the actors, reading studies after studies made by historians and researchers. At
the start of the course the author had believed in the reason the cause of World War I was
because of the alliances made during those times, the Triple Alliance against the Triple
Entente. As the number of journals being read so as the knowledge behind the subject. The
cause of World War I was beyond the alliances made, it was due because of the actions made
by each country leading to the war. Had it not been for those journals, the knowledge gained
in understanding World War I would still be limited. One can find journals in their respective
libraries and countless more in the internet, if one knows how to look for said journals.
In having a mastery in reading skills is to simply read more books or journals. By
simply reading in topics you’re interested in helps you keep track of your progress, as you
read more literature one can find more lessons within those literature. But before going
through a literature, one must skim the journal to get an idea on what it has to offer. The
author follows Keshavs approach in how to read a paper: The-Pass Approach. The first
approach comprehends what the paper has to offer through quickly skimming the paper
instead of going right at the start down to the beginning, through this first approach one can
comprehend what level of knowledge the journal has to offer. After the first approach, one
can answer the 5 C’s laid by Keshav: Category – what kind of journal is this; Context –
what other literatures related to this; Correctness – are the sections and sub-sections valid;
Contributions – how much the journal has to offer to your work; and Clarity – is the paper
easy to understand. In the second approach, one should take the main key points in every
section of the journal; make comments or questions along paragraph where you didn’t
understand, this can be answered during the third approach. In this approach, the reader
should have gained more knowledge compared during the first approach, as this could take a
while for a neophyte reader as this needs a higher level of concentration. To be able to fully
comprehend the content of the literature, for Keshav one must do the Third approach. One
must, in his head, re-implement and rise to the assumptions made by the author and
understand why he made that statement, by presenting, in your head, as if it was your own
idea. This process is much longer compared to the second approach as it needs more time for
the reader to fully understand the authors work. According to Keshav, after doing all of the
approaches one can understand structure of the paper and can notice where the authors strong
and weak points in the paper.
This approach has been helpful for readers as it can help them be mindful and be
efficient readers. For a neophyte reader, Mcleans literature review matrix can help readers
find the necessary things needed during the first and second approach. One can find other
related literature as they have gained sufficient knowledge to what to look for in academic
search engines such as Google Scholar.

How can I make this strategy more effective?

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2307/2657611
https://blog.efpsa.org/2013/02/28/how-to-read-and-get-the-most-out-of-a-journal-article/
http://blizzard.cs.uwaterloo.ca/keshav/home/Papers/data/07/paper-reading.pdf