Sample post

Students unsure about what to blog might check out the blog posts on the Spring 2007 class at http://mtsac1cspring2007.blogspot.com/. Some students were particularly effective bloggers:

1. Farzeneh read broadly in current events abroad, and brought up many issues that the rest of us had not noticed. Her posts were notable for thorough research and nuanced, intelligent commentary.


2. Sharkyspy was a counterpuncher. A lot of what he dealt with had come up on the Net or in class, but he brought fresh experience to a wide range of discussions, and his sharp, incisive logic helped clarify many issues.

There were others who deserve mention, but since my end here is to give current students a few examples by which to proceed, I'll limit myself to these for now. They were solid and obvious A performances.

Content and grading of Posts

So, what kind of things get credit on blog posts?

Most things.

First off, WRITE. Just about anything gets more credit than nothing, and one can always write another post.

Like the previous paragraph, posts can relate to issues of class administration.

Posts can relate to critical thinking issues do not directly relate to the specific readings of the class. For instance, students in the instructor's Spring 2007 class blog posted extensively about fallacies (since I shamelessly coerced them into doing so). A lot of the earlier fallacy entries have comments about fallacies by other students and by the instructor.

Advertisements are rich sources of fallacy, as are most political speeches and statements that actually do take a stand, and most corporate position statements.

Just about any kind of comment on class readings has to be relevant. You can comment on previous readings, future readings, or current readings; the credit will be equal in any case. So, for instance, someone might point out Reznikoff's use of color in "Suburban River: Summer," with the gulls that are white twice and the water that's blue twice before the introduction of the sewers in the second stanza. If I'd found something interesting about Reznikoff or about poetry or about this poem or about pollution or about gulls or even about sewage, I could post that relevantly.

If I found some link somewhere that seemed useful, I could post that. For instance, I just now googled "Charles Reznikoff," and I got, among other things, the Electronic Poetry Center at SUNY Buffalo at http://epc.buffalo.edu/. That's a pretty useful link for people interested in modern and postmodern American poetry.

Even if you don't know the HTML to set up a link, you can give us the link, and your colleagues can copy and paste it into their browsers if they want to follow up on what you're saying. So, I googled "East River" and "water pollution," and I came up with an artistic presentation at http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/06/12/river-glow-water-pollution-monitor-urban-art-installation/. Comments on that would be welcome.

How to Comment

"Comments" are different than "posts" on blogspot.

A comment is new text that a user enters that will be specifically related to a specific post that already exists. A link below the post leads to the comments associated with it.

Students get equal credit for comments and posts, all else being equal.

So, here's how to comment:

1. Read the post.


2. click the link below the post that reads "# comments," where # = the number of comments already made.. You should see a screen with any previous comments on the left, and a field for your comment on the right.


3. Write in your comment


4. Choose PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT


5. Your comment should now be published. If you return to the blog, and click on the comments link again, you will see it.

Often it's easier and safer, especially when writing longer comments, to compose them in a text editor or word processor, and then copy and paste them into the writing field. This keepts text from being lost and stops other kinds of less painful errors.

Don't expect all your formatting to be retained, however!

How to post

In case someone remains uncertain about how to post on the blog, try this:

1. Go to the blog. (Ah! That's done! Notice the linked options in the lighter blue bar across the top of the browser's view field. One option, along the right-hand side, should say ""Sign In," unless you already have done so.)


2. Click Sign in.


3. Provide your username and password, then confirm.


4. Choose "View Blog"


5. Now the command links at the top will include something that says "New Post." Click that. You will get a screen with a small writing field, a big writing field, and another small writing field


6. Enter a title in the small writing field. It will eventually appear in larger, darker font above your post.


7. Write the body of what you wish to write in the larger field. That will be the post.


8. Write topics or keywords in the lower small writing field. This will help index your entry so you and other students will be able to find it more easily later.


9. Select the PUBLISH POST icon


10. Select "View blog." You should see your entry at the top center of the blog.