Tips for Blogging Assignment

Each week, before 9am on Monday, you need to post a story to Medium about the week’s readings/watchings. The exact format of your story is up to you. You can even post a link to a video blog as your story. I use the terms story, blog post, and essay interchangeably. Your posts are the primary assignment in the course, and each one should be at least 500 words long. Or, you may submit multiple stories each week that together add up to about that much content. Your posts for the week will be graded together.

Your stories should be stand alone posts that you submit to the Org Comm publication. To do so, write your story on Medium as your normally would (e.g., using their site in your browser or writing in Word and then pasting to Medium, whatever). Then, once you’ve published the story, add it to the collection (see screenshot below). Remember, publish your story first before adding it to the publication.

Responding and Linking

For questions about Medium, see Medium’s own help site. They have a great post on writing, for instance, that covers topics like mentioning other users, commenting, formatting your posts. In Medium’s language, your comments on one another’s posts are “notes” or “responses,” and you leave them by highlighting what you want to comment on and then choosing the talk bubble icon. Technically, “notes” are private to the author of the post, and they can choose whether to publish them while “responses” are public. You should use responses nearly all the time.

One thing to notice is that responses and stories are treated the same. If you’re going to address one or more of the questions posed in the weekly notes, you can post your story by highlighting the question and writing your response. That way, your comments are linked to the question they address, and you can easily see what others have said about the questions.

How to Write Good Blog Posts

Dr. Dawn Gilpin gives some good advice to students in their first blog assignment about how to make your blog posts engaging so that others will comment on them (remember, you have to comment on each other’s posts):

• Linking meaningfully. Use link text that tells readers where you are sending them, and/or gives an indication of the content. “This post” is not a meaningful link.
• Identifying people & organizations named. This is both courteous, and can let others know you’re talking about them, which can encourage discussion.
• Expressing an opinion, or at least a strong angle. Give people something to talk about.
• Asking a question. Make it clear that you are open to interaction.
• Writing clearly and correctly

The Rubric

Here’s a rubric to keep in mind:

Rating and Characteristics

10

Exceptional. The essay is focused and coherently integrates examples with explanations or analysis. The essay demonstrates awareness of its own limitations or implications, and it considers multiple perspectives when appropriate. The essay reflects in-depth engagement with the topic and our readings.

8

Satisfactory. The essay is reasonably focused, and explanations or analysis are mostly based on examples or other evidence. Fewer connections are made between ideas, and though new insights are offered, they are not fully developed. The essay reflects moderate engagement with the topic and our readings.

6

Underdeveloped. The essay is mostly description or summary, without consideration of alternative perspectives, and few connections are made between ideas. The essay reflects passing engagement with the topic and our readings.

4

Limited. The essay is unfocused, or simply rehashes previous comments, and displays no evidence of student engagement with the topic and our readings.

2

Effort Credit. Essay consists of one or two disconnected sentences. Does not reference readings or does so superficially.

0

No credit. Essay is missing or late.