It Says-

Academic Journals are can benefit students in a wide variety of ways. There are multiple forms of these types of journals, such as response journals, double entry journals, and learning logs, but they all serve the student the same purpose which is to help students informally write about ideas or concepts from "informational contexts". Teachers should encourage this writing to be informal so that students do not feel judged on their formal writing capabilities such as correct grammar, good vocabulary, and neat handwriting. This allows students to get their thoughts across with no stress, and enables them to put their thoughts on a subject where they will not be judged by peers as well. These are also good for teachers because they do not have to put any emphasis on grading the essays for accuracy. Instead, teachers can use these as a tool to make sure that students are doing the appropriate amount critical thinking with the text. 

I Say-

I do not find anything more beneficial to students than informal responses journals. I personally love to write, and I think that it is important for students to do. These journals can be used across all content areas, and I have found them to be grade savers in some subjects I have not been too strong in. For example the textbook gives examples of math response journals. I had to keep one of those when I was in middle school as well as my junior year and high school and I can say I owe passing those classes to the points I was able to earn in the journal. I was able to show the teacher that I understood some of the concepts, and I was able to write down specific questions I had about the material. As a future history teacher, I think these can come in handy. In my history class right now I have an informal writing assignment due each week, one of them being a learning log as described in the textbook.

And so-

I want to find a way for my students to use response journals. I think that these journals can also help with formal writing assignments especially research assignments by allowing the students to write informally on a topic. After thoughts about the topic have been expressed I would ask students to expand on the topic more by providing details and research to back the details up. With more practice in informal writing, formal writing will come easier to students because the main ideas will already be there, and more time can be spent practicing the technical stuff like grammar and spelling.