Blog Post Assignment Sheet

Blog Post Assignment (worth up to 75 points)

A blog is an online journal in which you respond to your life, the issues in the world today, or anything else that interests you. For the purposes of this class, you will be required to create a blog and share that address with the class. Writing is a skill that can be honed through practice, much like playing a sport or an instrument. The blog is meant to give you a chance to practice writing in a way that can be less formal than writing essays for class. The goal of blogging for this class is to give you practice writing and see that, per the public aspect of blogging, your written thoughts are important to others.

To help you achieve this goal, I have created types of posts you should include.  You should write at least one of each of these types of posts, but you may post them in any order that you like.  I suggest creating a checklist so you will receive proper credit not only for meeting the deadlines, but for writing each of the types of posts.  You must write a total of 6 posts of 150 words each.

Types of Posts

• Write a review.  This could be of a WSU event, book, concert, video game,  film, or product.  Create context by linking to information that will help the reader to understand the background of your subject.  This page, while focused on history, provides excellent information about how to write a strong review.  Here’s an example of an excellent book review post.
• Write a response to a current event.  Here is an excellent example of this.  Be sure to provide links to information that will contextualize the event for your reader.
• Create a tutorial post in which you explain how to do something to your readers.  This is a good one in which to integrate photos!  Here’s an example.  If you don’t have access to a digital camera, talk to me.  Please do not simply re-hash a tutorial from another blog.
• Share a creative piece.  Please be aware that if it is a piece you hope to publish in a journal, most editors will consider a blog post previous publication.  However, you may write a reflective essay, a poem, a song lyric, a short story.  If you are interested in photography, you may even post one of your photos and write about why you took it, how you composed it, and what it means to you.

Schedule

You must post at least ONE of each of the above posts.  The remaining two can be your choice from the above types of posts, although poems/song lyrics should be limited to one post.  In other words, if you enjoy writing reviews, post three of them over the course of the semester!

Blogs must be updated regularly.  To help you to do so, you must have a post up by midnight on the following dates: 9/30, 10/12, 10/28, 11/7, 11/17, 12/5. I may determine that you are not spreading out the posts regularly and ask you to do so.

Below are the outcomes that the blog post assignment  is designed to encompass:

1.Rhetorical Knowledge:

a.        Write with purpose, in varied rhetorical situations and for varied audiences.

b.       Understand how different kinds of writing (e.g. different genres or purposes) influence the choices writers make about content, structure, language, and style.

2. Critical Thinking, Reading, Writing, and Speaking:

a.        Use writing, reading, and speaking for inquiry, learning, and thinking.

b.       Integrate their own ideas with those of others.

c.        Explore the relationships between language, knowledge, and power.

3. Processes:

a.        Experience writing as a social and public process.

b.       Become effective and rigorous critics of their own writing.

4.  Knowledge of Conventions:

a.        Learn common organizational strategies appropriate for different kinds of essays or texts.

b.       Gain competence in controlling such features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Please be aware that how you represent yourself online may be viewed by teachers, bosses, and the general public. As such, you want to make sure that you will not be embarrassed by anything you write on your blog.

You must email me your blog’s URL (don’t send me the URL of the sign-page; go to Visit Site and copy the link from that page) by noon on Wednesday, September 14.  I will create a list in the sidebar of our class blogs, which I encourage you to visit and comment on actively. To motivate you to join conversations with each other, I will assign each of you three peer blogs to read and comment on, but don’t feel you must limit yourself to three. Your thoughtful comments will be worth up to 15 points for this project.