Students, especially first-year students, often have not developed the organizational skills necessary to keep track of all of their papers, exams, and grades in the same way that instructors, through their gradebooks, can immediately recite any information about a student's performance in the course. About five years ago, the author created a form, a log, on which students track all major papers and quizzes so that they know their standing in the course at all times. They are responsible for maintaining the information on their logs, and this, in a sense, empowers them. They feel in control of knowing due dates, upcoming quizzes, or tests. Moreover, they have a visual picture of their performance in the course--an overall view. Instead of rifling through their binders to look at papers or revisions of papers to view their progress, they can look at one paper, their log, and see their progress over the course of the entire semester. The author says that logs work especially well at the first-year level because they encourage students to become more organized and responsible, two qualities that greatly contribute to their success in the course. (Contains 1 figure.)