Some people create blogs to publish opinions and stir discussion on hot-button issues. Readers of such blogs find posts shocking. At times, these types of blogs can even cause trouble for the writers. I created a blog as an assignment for a college course. Since this blog has an educational purpose, my goal is to foster constructive discussion rather than to shock readers. Because of this, I have constructed a list (yes, it is part of an assignment) of four general guidelines for blog posts by myself and my classmates.
1. Think about who will read a post before publishing. Since this is an educational blog, this includes classmates, professors, and potential employers. Essentially, I am publishing my homework assignments for everyone to read. I would not swear or make inappropriate comments on a regular class assignment. The same should hold true for blog posts.
2. Try to avoid generalizations about large groups. I read this suggestion on guidelines from Arapahoe High School, and it makes quite a bit of sense to me. In the particular situation of this blog, I will discuss middle schools and middle school students. Each school and each student is unique, meaning that I should never assign a particular characteristic to all members of the groups.
3. Cite Sources! Why is this in bold? Because I think it is critically important to blogging and writing in general. I hope that someone who uses my writing in their own work acknowledges my efforts. I should do the same for other writers and bloggers. Besides, as the website I already mentioned suggests, citing sources gives credibility to an argument. It shows that I made an informed statement and that wiser individuals agree.
4. When posting or commenting on a post, respect other people. Respect their ideas and value as human beings. In other words, be civil. If I do disagree with a person's opinion, I should phrase it as disagreement with the opinion (not the person) and provide logical evidence for my opinion.
As I am not an expert by any means, I leave you with one final link. I think that the International School of Bangkok provides an excellent and succinct list of guidelines for posts on educational blogs. There's no trick. From what I can tell, simple maturity and common sense go a long way.
I agree completely with your emphasis on citing sources. Recently, there was an uncomfortable situation on my PLN when a blogger's work was copied and pasted without attribution. The blogger posted numerous tweets about her frustration and her response (including a link to the site that included her work). Eventually, the copied post was appropriately credited but I'm sure the person who copied and pasted the content was embarrassed by publicity.
ReplyDeleteI like how you explained that we are basically publishing our homework, which we always complete with maturity and common sense. Blogs aren't any different. Good job citing your sources, and I'm glad you included the rule about avoiding generalizations. Generalizations easily slip out, but it's important to monitor them and realize that all people (generalization?) are individuals.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I don't think about quotes in blogs. I don't think I like quotes in blogs, either, because then it makes the writing seem much more formal and "institutional." Blogs should be professional, I believe, but should also be informal enough that the reader doesn't feel like he/she is reading a paper. Does this make sense? But, of course, we must always cite when we quote!
ReplyDeleteRachel: I agree with what you say regarding a need to balance informal and professional aspects of blogs. However, I think that quotes do not necessarily make writing too formal. Have you ever had a conversation and felt that what you wanted to say could best be said by quoting a book or movie? For that matter, I know that I have begun casual conversations based on a quote from an article that intrigued me. Quoting can certainly sound formal when used formally, but it can just as easily help when we otherwise just can't figure out the right words to say.
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