[amended from Delia DeCourcy, Alan Jacobs, and Bill Wolff]
Blogging in this course should be concerned with the regular examination of ideas and provide concise arguments via unique viewpoint and voice. There should be substantive thought behind the ideas you present. Find new ways of saying what you think you want to say. Push yourself to explore the ways you can get at ideas through the use of different media. Have specific references, including text, hyperlinks, video, images and audio, as means of support. Be sure to explain these references, though; don't just stick them in a post and expect readers to understand why.
Your blog is a place to further explore the ideas we discuss in class and to write about related concepts of interest. Offer an interpretation of something we've read. Ask a question about something we've read. Link to, quote from, and respond to something we've read. Provide contextual information about the subjects we're reading and their cultural and intellectual contexts. Don't forget to comment on the posts of your fellow students. When creating, designing and writing in your blog, please complete the following:
- Choose a professional and meaningful title and subtitle.
- Compose a detailed and relevant About page discussing who you are and the focus of your blog.
- Choose an appropriate theme.
- For each blog post, compose a meaningful title written for an audience beyond our class.
- For each blog post, include 5-6 tags.
Experiment with the dashboard area, see how things work and what happens when you make changes. The more you engage with, customize and explore your blog, the more effective it will be and the more you will get out of the assignment. There is no set requirement for the length of a blog post. One of the features of the blogging medium and the characteristics of individual posts is that length is determined by content and goals. Each post you make, though, should be thorough in discussing the subject at hand. During the weeks regular blogging is required, be sure to post 1) an entry that extends the class discussion and 2) one that explores an area of interest particular to you. Posts that extend class discussion should take what we have discussed in class about a subject or text and continue the discussion. For example, a post might address one of the questions raised in a class discussion. Posts that explore an area of interest particular to you are just that. Ideally, these posts should serve as introductory writing toward larger, later assignments.