This study determined the effects of journal-keeping instructional strategies on secondary school students’ performance in essay writing in Ondo State, Nigeria. The quasi-experimental research design involving pretest-posttest control group was adopted for the study. The stratified random sampling technique was used to select six secondary schools from Ondo North Senatorial District, Nigeria. The instruments for the study were Essay Writing Achievement Test and instructional guides. Findings revealed that treatment (x = 39.27) had main significant effect to students’ achievement in essay writing. Similarly, there was also a significant effect of feedback (x = 62.79) on students’ achievement in essay writing. However, there was no interaction effect of age and treatment on students’ essay writing achievement. Consequently, the study recommended among others, that Journal-Keeping strategy should be integrated as a component of essay writing instruction.