By: H. Colleen Sinclair
The point of the blog is to demonstrate that you can think critically about the material reviewed in class and translate those thoughts into clear, concise, and publicly-accessible writing. There are different tools you can use to make your blog better! I have summarized a few here and provide links to further resources. Please read and make sure you follow the guidelines. Note, in grading, I borrow generally from the assessment provided by Dr. Sample via The Chronicle for Higher Education (see picture below). The grade categories he provides generally capture what differentiates an A from a B when it comes to evaluating blog effectiveness. However, my criteria are more rigourous and my expectations higher given you are graduate students (e.g., .10 points are deducted for grammatical errors/typos, .20 points for any errors that were listed on the writing tips sheet, whole points are deducted for factual errors). THE TIPS: 1) Basic: Spell-check and proofread. Avoid typos and grammatical errors. 2) Have a heading: Beyond just using headers to organize your blog - which is helpful - you need to have a clear outline for the entire blog. What is the ONE argument you are trying to make? Get to that point. Avoid tangents and make sure you tie everything together. 3) Terminology: To increase accessibility of the post to the lay person make sure that you define your terms. We tend to use a lot of psychologese without even realizing it. Given you have a word limit that you are not to surpass, you may not have time to define the key terms about which you are writing. This is an opportunity to use a hyperlink so that the reader, if in need of a definition or clarification, can easily find a resource. (Word of caution: Be sure your resource is reliable! Not thrilled with dictionary definitions of psychological terms - I really DO NOT want to see Merriam-Webster or Dictionary.com cited. Plus, most wiki entries have a lot of flaws.) 4) Keep it relevant: Try to tie it into a contemporary issue. The research you are reading is contemporary and social psychology is the study of everyday human beings, and so you can probably find a recent event that makes what you are going to discuss more salient. (Not always, but sometimes.) 5) "Just the facts:" Yes, it is a blog but it is a science blog. As such, I would like it to be heavier on fact than opinion. I want to see well-reasoned arguments backed by science. Plus, it should be absolutely clear how each paragraph included ties back to the central argument being made. Just because you read something, doesn't mean you have to include it (this goes for the assigned readings as well - only use those that BUILD your ARGUMENT). 6.) Make it yours: Only interested in your own voice here. Please don't use quotes. This does NOT mean excerpt text from the articles and neglect to put in "" - that is plagiarism. Which is an honor code violation and earns you negative points on your assignment. It means I would prefer if you did not include quotations of others' work. If you do feel some pressing need to include the work of others in your blog it must be correctly cited. | 7) Find the passion: Find something about the topic about which you are passionate. That usually helps you write, find materials, and makes for a more engaging read. You have a number of topics to choose from. Hopefully something engages you. Make it something YOU would want to read and share. 8) Avoid stretches: I understand the natural desire to connect things back to topics with which you are familiar but remember this is a social psychology class, so keep it on point. Social psychology is not the study of abnormal psychology, for example, and so citing clinical "exceptions" to the rule are not that compelling. 9) Keep an open mind: We need to maintain skepticism about our own work as much as we should be critical consumers of science, generally (which isn't the same as being a critic). Plus, we need to approach research we agree with and research we disagree with using the same level of objectivity. Be considerate of other perspectives. 10) Learn from others: See something you like in the work of others? Incorporate the themes into your work. (Note, this doesn't mean plagiarize. It means determine what made you have a positive reaction to the blog and adopt similar practices in your own work.) 11.) Make it pretty: Presentation matters. Engage the reader. You can include pictures, graphs, videos, etc. (cite/link source, if not one's own creation - graphs are especially appreciated). Just, again, make sure that they are explicitly tied in with the overarching argument. They shouldn't just be hanging out on the side making the reader wonder why they are there, especially if you are including a graph or video. Pictures are sometimes just there for flare but those should only be used sparingly if at all - please no clip art crazy pieces or extensive stock photos. Make sure the picture - like the whole blog - has a POINT. 12) Add resources: If you, in your research, find blogs or articles that are of relevance to the argument/point you are making or would be places for people to pursue follow-up points, then add links either embedded in the text or at the end of the blog. The strongest blogs are those, I find, that the author delved more deeply into than reading the bare minimum. Please be sure all works cited are in fact cited at the close in APA style. 13) Answers over questions: Remember the goal of the blog is to address the question or questions of the week, not to ask them (that is a different assignment). Please avoid asking questions in your blog. Search and destroy question marks that are not in the headers or title. 14) Start and end strong: Try to grab the reader at the outset - make it something people would want to read - and end with a take home point. Like a moral of the story or, nowadays, the 140-character "tweet" you would write about your blog. Your grade will reflect your effort, accuracy, and effectiveness at addressing the question of the week. THE RESOURCES:
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