What's a blog?

A blog is where you truly Learn Out Loud. One of my favourite quotes is:

If you're overthinking, write.

If you're underthinking, read.

Purpose

A blog is very different from an online article, educational material, or academic essay. Its purpose is to share the author's point of view on a topic or problem that's important to them.

How can you create a blog as part of your learning in our course? 

The best starting point is to think of a topic or problem that you really care about. Go back to your discussion forum "conversations" or annotations you made in Perusall and collect all of the great points you made. Then

• edit and shape that content - including citations - into a blog, and

• be sure to remove reference to course activities like "post", "last week", etc. 

Your blog audience is public - they won't know what you mean when you say "in Week 3...".

Writing a blog gives you a chance synthesize at least two course materials and concepts, of course. If you like, you can incorporate an infographic too (not required).

Must Haves

1. The title of this webpage in your e-portfolio will be Blog, and you’ll have a separate blog title for the blog that you write.

2. Orient your visitor to the page - tell them what's below.

3. First and foremost, the "body" or main contents of your blog must be a clear subject (topic) and point of view. The topic will be different from your online article.
   Remember, this is different from an online article, educational material, or academic essay. Your topic and point of view must be stated clearly to your audience, and then reinforced.

4. A meaningful, "punchy" and interesting blog title or headline, a subheading and bullet points within the body of the blog.

5. An engaging, attractive beginning such as a spark, a question, a personal anecdote, and even an interesting statistic. 

6. Content from two course resources - from a reading, video, podcast - you name it. Cite your sources following Credibility Tips (How to Cite).

7. Explanation of your connection to the topic.

Head to these two short and informative sources from Masterclass.com for further details about these "must haves":

• Blog Post Outline: 5 Tips for Creating a Blog Post Outline (2022)

• How to write a blog post in 10 steps (2021)

What to keep in mind

• Use the "voice" that matches your purpose and identity. For example, if your purpose for the e-portfolio is to find a job, use a semi-formal but friendly tone. 

• Don't overuse jargon, for example, especially without explaining it in plain English. 

• Make an effort to keep your audience in mind. This is not an academic paper. (Again, that means plain English, no jargon - unless you define it.)

• If possible (but not required) include visuals. Images, graphs, diagrams, and other word-diagrams - powerful tools for you to connect directly with your audience and make your point clear.

• For all content - images, text, video, etc. follow these tips to design your information with the audience in mind!