Field note
Keeping an Annotation Journal in Ink
Pencil drafts belong in the warm-up; ink locks the count you are willing to defend at the next clinic.
We ask clinic students to draft in pencil during the session, then ink only the labels they can defend aloud. The journal that arrives for Chart Journal Review should show that sequence: ghosted drafts, inked finals, and a short sentence on why the alternate lost.
Ink creates accountability. Erasable final labels invite quiet revision after the market moves. A good journal preserves the wrong count beside the corrected one so patterns of haste become visible.
Date every page, note the instrument and timeframe, and leave a margin for invalidation. Those three habits turn a scrapbook into evidence we can score for consistency.
If your journal mixes languages, keep Elliott labels in English numerals and letters so review instructors can follow without translation delays.