One of the most important things i used the journal for was building up an annotated bibliography. Some people take the research part of this unit really lightly but it is definitely to their detriment. Read as many relevant novels/ short stories/ poems/ video clips or whatever as you can, write a half page summary in your journal on each (try to comment on creative and litarary aspects not "in this film jane meets bob and they get married") and make sure you have cited them properly (use
citationcreation.com for that) so you can refer back to them in assessments.
The other thing i found helpful was research into different litaray styles, trends and genres. You are creating in a postmodern environment, research is about trying to understand what that means. This way rather then just writing a good story you are also able to fully appreciate the complexities of both your own and other authors works on a variety of levels. At the end of the day this is what ext 2 is all about.