EXAMPLE BLOG POST

This post serves as an example blog post.  Use it to help create your own blog posts.

THE LAYOUT

Remember that online audiences are impatient when it comes to reading material.  They need things like short paragraphs and headings to make their reading experiences more enjoyable.  Here are some ideas for formatting your posts:

• Use short paragraphs.  This isn't an essay.  Therefore, it should not have long, uninterrupted chunks of text.  The cool thing about blogging is you can get super crazy and make one sentence paragraphs if your heart desires.  Really.  You can.  So don't be afraid to experiment with paragraph sizes.
• Use visual clues, like headings, subheadings, bulleted and numbered lists, and italics.  Not all blog posts lend themselves to the use of these, but if your post has multiple topics (like this one) or points in need of emphasis, using visual clues makes scanning content and seeing main ideas easy for your audience.  And audiences like it when things are easy for them.
• Add images and other media.  If you can find images and videos, for example, that are related to the content of your post, add them (provided they're labeled for reuse, of course).  They make online content more attractive to audiences.  (Pssst...Don't forget to provide a photo credit in the caption of every image you use.)  

Photo Credit: depositphotos.com
See how awesome this photo looks in here?! It's SUPER AWESOME!

• Proofread!  Consider the rhetorical situation of blog writing.  It's not quite as formal as an essay but not quite as informal as a forum discussion.  It is a published piece of writing on the Web, though, and as such, it must be reflective of your best work.  Like it or not, people judge you based on the quality of your work.

THE CONTENT

You have several options for the content of your posts in this assignment.  See the assignment page on this blog for details.  Whatever you choose to write about each time,make sure it's reflective of your best thinking about the content.

We don't want to see summary.  Summary = bad.  We want to see higher order thinking.  We want to see things like your analysis of author's purpose and your ideas about the importance of certain characters to the story.

We want to be wowed by your smarty smart pants.

CREDITING YOUR SOURCES

You are required to provide at least one reference to the play (with parenthetical citation) in each post, but we'd also like to see you referencing external content.  This can be content from other classes, from other texts you've read on your own, and from the Internet.  Whatever you choose to include, make sure you cite it properly:

• For references to the play, you simply need in-text/parenthetical citation including the author's name and page numbers.
• For references to content from another class (or other content not available on the Web), you must provide in-text/parenthetical citation as well as a full MLA entry at the bottom of the post.
• For references to content on the Web, you simply need a hyperlink to the content (no MLA entry necessary).  Watch the hyperlink video on my website if you need a refresher.
• For images, provide a photo credit in the caption of the image itself (a link to the original source is a bonus and will make us all excited and impressed and stuff.)

FINDING IMAGES AND MEDIA LABELED FOR REUSE

Contrary to popular opinion, the Internet isn't simply a dumping ground for visitors to leave, take, and use material as they please.  Copyright law still applies to content on the Web.

To be certain you are using only images and other media (like sound) labeled for reuse, please search for these through Creative Commons.  (<-- Hey! Lookey there! That's a hyperlink!)  Once you open the site in a new tab, scroll down and click on "Explore".  

For things like YouTube videos and online articles, providing a hyperlink to the original (or embedding the videos if that option exists on the original site) is OK.  You won't be violating any copyright laws if you do this.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In the blogosphere, it is considered really, really, REALLY bad practice to simply copy an image from a website and paste it into your post (something about slowing down servers or disrupting networks or...erm...I don't know -- technical stuff I don't quite understand.)

So whatever you do, DON'T DO THIS.

Instead, right click on an image (make sure it's copyright labeled for reuse) and save it to your computer first.  Then, upload it into the post.

And there you have it -- some tidbits for putting together a solid blog post.  Now get on out there and blog away, you!