Blog Posts

Blog Posts 1-9 (15%)

This semester, you will publish nine blog posts to Canvas, which this class website. These posts will appear on the site’s front page and serve for a short time as the “face” of our class to the outside world. Professional writers find composing blog posts a helpful exercise because it puts them in direct touch with their readers and gives them practice fleshing out new and sometimes risky ideas. I am primarily interested in keeping you thinking about “wild” things/cultural productions outside of the classroom and giving you additional opportunities writing using digital methods.

General Guidelines

  • Posts should be 250-350 words in length.
  • All blog posts, descriptions and instructions are found on Canvas.
  • Submitting your post: This process is two-folds. You will first submit your relevant/due blog posts to Canvas. Once you do that/right after, you will submit the same post to this website. To begin a post, log into this website you are currently on and then click the + button at the top of the main page. When you have finished your post, click “Save Draft.” Ipek will schedule your post to be published within a few days after you submit it.
  • Write titles, sentences, and paragraphs that are short and easy to read. For specific suggestions, see Michael Reid Roberts on writing clickbait articles.
  • Keep readers interested by embedding images or videos. Place smaller images along the left margin and wrap the text so that readers’ eyes can keep moving through the post without having to do unnecessary scrolling.
  • Use hyperlinks to give credit to other writers on the class site and elsewhere when you borrow or respond to their ideas. Note that “using a hyperlink” does not mean copying the URL into the text of your post. To add a hyperlink, highlight a small chunk of text that you want to turn into the link and then click the button in the toolbar that looks like a chain link.
  • Be nice. Encourage readers to leave you a comment.

Blog Comments 1-20 (5%)

Since the point of blogging is starting conversations, you will also contribute at least 20 comments to posts that have been written by other students. Comments earning course credit will be thoughtful and at least 100 words in length.

  • You may respond to the original post or another person’s comment.
  • You may also write responses to comments that other students have left on your own posts.
  • To receive credit, your comment must contribute meaningfully to the conversation. That is, it must do more than simply agree or disagree with what has already been written.

Due date: Blog comments are due here, on this website, every Tuesday at 9:00 am. Although you will have 20 opportunities to leave comments, you are only required to leave 16. Your 4 lowest scores will be dropped.