The paper describes a professor's use of student "research journals" as a means to encourage students to follow proper research methodology in developing a term paper. Students were required to make a dated entry whenever research work was done including topic selection and narrowing, preliminary background reading, aids consulted, online searches, and use of interlibrary loans. Instructor feedback on journal entries provided for individualized advice and guidance. Since implementation of the research journals, the average level of research has greatly improved with students putting in more time on research, pursuing it more systematically, and enjoying more satisfying results. Students overwhelmingly agreed with the statement, "Overall, keeping the journal was worth the time I put into it." Appended is a list of 13 steps in a thorough research project, a summary of the project requirements, and the final evaluation form which assessed student reaction to the research journal requirement. (DB)