Writing Assignments II: Blog Contributions

I’ve had some questions about what’s expected from the Blog Essay and Blog Comment writing assignments. In addition to what’s written here (which I certainly hope you take the time to read through), I’ll add some extra points to assist you in your composition.

Blog Essay

The first group is scheduled to submit their Blog Essay this Sunday at 7pm. When a Blog Essay is published, the author is expected to email me a Word version of the essay by the same deadline so that I can edit and grade it. The essay must be between 400 and 500 words long. This word count is strict; do not exceed or fall below it. The ability to write according to strict parameters is very much a part of this assignment, so adherence to the word count is an important criterion on which your grade will be assessed.

The essay must be clearly presented, grammatically accurate, and well organized. While this will be published on the course blog, please approach the assignment as you would a formal course paper. Read through your work before hitting the 'Publish' button to ensure that there are no typos, hanging sentences, etc. Remember that clarity of expression is intrinsic, rather than secondary, to persuasive argumentation.Please include a few 'Labels' for your essay, so that by the end of the course we can accumulate some keywords that refer to themes emerging from your collective contributions.

You must write about one of the readings from the week in which the essay has been assigned. Feel free to draw from other materials – past readings, or something you read in other classes – but the emphasis of your essay must be one of the readings from that week. The essay must provide analysis, rather than opinion. I will assess your efforts based on your ability to argue something, but the conclusion you reach is less important to me than the manner in which you reached it. State your arguments, and support them rigorously.

Write something interesting, and be ambitious! You’d be surprised at how much critique you can fit into 500 words. I guarantee it.

You will be expected to take a few minutes (typically about two to three minutes, and no more than five) to explain to the class what your argument was in the following section. Don’t tell us something new; instead, tell us about what you’ve written.

Blog Comments

All the essays will have been posted by 7pm on Sunday. If you didn’t write an essay that week, you will have 48 hours (i.e., until 7pm the following Tuesday) to respond to one of that week's essays of your choosing with one to two paragraphs of your own commentary. This should amount to about 100 to 200 words. Engage with the essay, and point out something that you think the author left out, or that you thought the author argued especially well. Alternatively, explain to us an insight that the essay helped you reach.

Be constructive, please.