Journal Entry Expansion Assignment Guide with Citation Tips

This post covers Journal Entry Expansion, as detailed below.

This week, you will choose one of your previous journal entries and develop it into a longer, more formal writing assignment.

If you choose to use one of your “Respond,” “Research,” or “Analyze” categories, your final draft should have a clear introduction with a thesis statement. Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence, evidence from the literature, and a connection to your thesis. Your conclusion should wrap up your idea and restate your main points. Make sure to follow the original prompt carefully.

You MUST cite from the poems/stories themselves in your essay and cite them properly in MLA or APA style.

If you choose to use one of your “Create” journals, your final draft should follow the prompt closely, developing your original idea further than your first 500 word journal. It should be carefully and correctly written and should meet the required word count. If you use this option for your Midterm Essay, you may NOT use a “Create” option for your Final Essay.

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Your final draft should be 1200-1500 words, written in formal, edited, Standard English, and proofread for spelling and grammar errors before it is submitted.

Any ideas or words that are not your own must be cited using either MLA or APA citation style (please see the CSP Library MLA Guide or the CSP Library APA Guide for help with citations and references).

Final Drafts are due by Monday at 11:59pm CT.

Maya Angelou's "Caged Bird,"

The first time I read Maya Angelou's "Caged Bird," I immediately noticed the main difference between the free bird and the caged bird. The free bird can go wherever it wants, while the caged bird lacks this freedom completely. The opening lines of this poem gave me some hope because the free bird dares to “claim the sky” (Angelou, line 7). This image present a picture of confidence and perpetual possibilities. The lines also made me think about how easy it is to forget that freedom is a blessing until someone no longer has it.

 The caged bird described in the poem gave me a completely different feeling.  The lines, "his wings are clipped and / his feet are tied / so he opens his throat to sing" (Angelou, lines 12-14), stayed with me the most. Although the bird has no chance to escape, it can still sing. That left me wondering why the bird sings instead of giving up. I believe that the song is not just a sound. It is a sign of hope. It reminds us that sometimes people continue to believe in a bright future, even when life can be unfair.

Reading this poem made me think about people in daily life. Not all people live behind actual bars, but most of them feel confined by issues that they cannot easily change. Other people struggle with poverty, sickness, family issues or discrimination. There are also those who feel confined by fear or anxiety. Similar to the caged bird, they might not be able to fully control their situations, yet they eventually find ways to keep moving forward. This is one of the reasons why this poem feels relevant today.

One of the questions that I kept asking myself is why the free bird never appears to notice the caged bird. The free bird is only mindful about “another breeze” and declares the sky as “his own” (Angelou, lines 23-26). I ask myself whether Angelou is implying that those who have freedom sometimes forget that there are others who do not have the same equal privileges. It reminded me of the value of listening to people whose lives are different from our own, rather than thinking that everyone has the same choices.

Something that also caught my attention is the repeated lines about the caged bird singing of things unknown / but longed for still" (Angelou, lines 17-18). I found those words both sad and inspiring. The bird has never completely had freedom, but it still keeps hoping for it. That reminds me that hope is not dependent on what we already possess. At times, hope grows simply because life can be better than it is now.

If I were discussing this poem with my classmates, I would ask them whether the caged bird ever stops singing. In my opinion, the answer is no since the song symbolizes bravery. Even when individuals are not able to transform their situations immediately, they can retain their dreams. Angelou's poem helped me remember that freedom is something valuable, empathy is important and even in the most difficult circumstances, hope can survive. This is why this poem stayed with me even after I finished reading it.

Works Cited

Angelou, Maya. "Caged Bird." Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48989/caged-bird Accessed 23 July 2026.v

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