Blog Writing Guidelines




  • Why are we doing this? 
    • To develop fluency in your writing
    • To increase idea generation
    • To develop the use of specific examples in your writing
    • To explore fully the concepts that are dealt with in our units and readings
  • The prompt questions are a place to START--they are not where you end.  EXPLORE the topics in full, letting one idea take you to the next.  Speculate, consider, and reconsider--do not offer brief answers to the questions and think you're done--it's not a question-and-answer interrogation session.  It is thinking around a topic, but doing so in writing.
  • Don't stop and edit your thoughts--just keep going and allow one train of thought to connect to another; you may be surprised at the genius that emerges...
  • JUST WRITE!  This is informal writing, so sentence structure, organization, and surface errors are not of concern.
  • This journal is an extension of you, so feel free to design it with your own special touches; you have full creative license (limited only by what your school's leadership would not deem off limits...)

  • This process is meant to be highly interactive, so commenting on other journals is something we will do frequently throughout the year.  However, make sure you do so appropriately:
    • Be professional and scholarly at all times--even if you are commenting on your best friend's work, you should maintain an academic tone and focus.  It is all right to keep your language informal, but never forget that you are writing commentary for a class that other people will read.
    • Don't be insulting--disagreement is absolutely fine; nastiness is not.  Again, maintain that academic tone.
    • What should you say when you comment?  
      • Center in on specific ideas presented by each author
      • Elaborate on ideas presented in the blog post, adding other thoughts that you have about it
      • Connect what is written to other things we've read or discussed in class
      • Connect what is written to events and experiences in your own life
      • Ask questions; demand clarification of ideas.
      • Propose theories

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