Online Writing
Blogging for class
As you can see, our interactive class web site is designed so that each student’s blog entries will post to the front page to facilitate online interaction among class members. One of the class requirements is to read and comment on one another’s blogs. You can use your blog anytime you wish to comment on class topics or related issues. You are expected to post an average of three items each week: one new topic post and two comments on other students’ posts.
I have assigned blogging in this class to facilitate several educational purposes: one is to provide additional opportunity for interaction. Others are to help you improve your writing skills and to provide greater opportunity for reflective thinking about class materials in a large class. Therefore most of your blog writing should be about specific issues related to course topics, ideally sparked by assigned readings and class discussions. You should be as specific as possible in citing your examples – for instance, list the title of article and name of the author, rather than starting out with “The author says…” Identify the author and briefly summarize his or her position. This is equally true of commenting other things you find on the web, other media, or your classmates’ blog entries. A short sentence that says something like “Sarah writes that Paul is short-sighted in his vision of the future of peas,” along with a hyperlink to the referenced item, is enough to orient a reader who may not be closely following our reading schedule or the ongoing conversation.
It is also important that your blog entries and comments have a thesis. No matter how short your entry is, it should have a central argument that is stated fairly early on. I think this is a general rule for pretty much all writing, from a note on the refrigerator to a multi-volume book; it should have a clearly expressed thesis that is presented with evidence supporting the thesis. You should also use the subject line to give your blog entries and comments a title that reflects your thesis.
Be original and analytical. It is not enough to say, “CNN announced yesterday that new restrictions will apply to gay couples seeking to adopt – isn’t that interesting?” Why is it interesting? What does it mean? Make sure you are writing something that someone (besides your mother and me) would be interested in reading. In order to receive credit for your post, it must meet the following requirements: (1) it is clearly related to our course topics; (2) it is at least 150 words in length; and (3) it has a descriptive title. The best blog posts are thoughtful, original, and analytical — and timely. Don’t wait until the last minute.
Don’t be afraid to be controversial, either. While I don’t encourage you to pick a fight just for the sake of an argument, I do encourage you to stand up and voice your own opinion (with evidence supporting it, of course). One of the purposes of a college education is to learn to think for yourself.
Please proofread and spellcheck your work. If you use Firefox or Chrome, spell check is built in; WordPress also has a built-in spell checker. This is a university course, after all, and people will be reading your writing. Make it as easy as possible for readers to understand you.
