Double Entry Journals: Writer-Based Prose in the Intermediate Accounting Curriculum.

Informal student writing, also called writer-based prose, is a means of fostering both accounting and communication skills. This article reviews composition theory literature and the accounting education literature on writer-based prose to define the need for this writing technique and presents the Double Entry Journal as a way to meet that need. A description of the use of a Double Entry Journal in an Intermediate Accounting class follows. This writing technique has students respond to readings from newspapers and periodicals as preparation for class discussion and then use the journal itself as a source for subsequent writing. In addition, this assignment provides a vehicle to integrate accounting theory, ethics, and international accounting throughout the Intermediate Accounting curriculum.