Compose at least one well-written blog a week (a total of 13 blog posts) starting the second week. You are encouraged to write more, but you’ll need at least 13 for the course.
The blog must contain the following:
• Between 300 and 750 words
• An understandable, keyword-rich title
• At least two links to external resources
• At least one image
• Lists are suggested on occasion…but not for every post.
Blog topics
Topics will often be assigned throughout the course.
Examples:
• Introduction
• Interview
• List
• Feature story
• Review
• Citizen journalism
• Site comparison & contrast
Whenever topics are not assigned, however, blogs may be on any topic that is relevant to the class.
For example:
• The future of journalism
• Anything related to the use of modern technology for journalistic purposes (such as social media tools, blogging in general, WordPress, etc.).
• Citizen journalism
• Web development
• Web design
• Multimedia on the Web
• Photography
Originality
Although you may write a blog in review or rebuttal of something you’ve read or found, your own content should be unique and original. Always give attribution to anything that isn’t exclusively your own (often with a link back to the source) and use quotes whenever necessary.
Timing
In order to receive credit, each weekly post must be written before the beginning of the following week. In other words, you can’t write fourteen posts on the last day of class. They must be spaced out evenly, one per week. It is possible, however, to write several posts in advance (as a draft) and release each one publicly throughout the semester.
Due date
Although individual blogs are due weekly, the blog posting project itself will be completed the week before the last week of the course.
Rubric
| Category | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Topic | There is one clear, well-focused, relevant idea. Main idea stands out and is supported by detailed information. | Main idea is clear but is somewhat irrelevent or the supporting information is general. | Main idea is somewhat clear but very irrelevent to the assignment or there is a need for more supporting information. | The main idea is not clear or the topic is completely irrelevent. There is a seemingly random collection of information. |
| Mechanics | Writer makes no errors in grammar, punctuation or spelling that distract the reader from the content. | Writer makes 1-2 errors in grammar, punctuation or spelling that distract the reader from the content. | Writer makes 3-4 errors in grammar, punctuation or spelling that distract the reader from the content. | Writer makes more than 4 errors in grammar, punctuation or spelling that distract the reader from the content. |
| Appropriate Length | The length of the blog post is appropriate for the assignment (depending on the subject). | The blog post length is slightly too short or too long to fully answer the assignment. | The blog post is the bare minimum necessary to respond to the topic. | The blog post is entirely too short or too long (less than 300 words or more than 750 words). |
| Title | The title is understandable, brief, descriptive and keyword-rich. | The title is understandable, but too long or has too few keywords. | The title is vague or has no keywords. | The title makes no sense, is irrelevent to the topic of the post, or much too short or too long. |
|
Originality |
The writer creates all original content. |
The writer has a small amount of non-original content or only sometimes gives citation to external sources. |
The writer has a medium amount of non-original content and rarely gives citation to external sources. |
The blog post has contains large amounts of non-original content and does not cite sources. |
|
Links |
The post contains at least two relevant links to additional resources or to supporting sources. |
The post contains two functional links, but one is not relevant or functional. |
The post contains only one functional link to additional resources or supporting sources. |
The post contains no functional links to additional resources or supporting sources. |
|
Media |
At least one relevent, properly-sized image or video has been added to the blog post. |
An image or video has been added to the blog post, but is only somewhat relevant. |
An image or video has been added to the blog post, but is not relevant or is not sized properly. |
No relevant images or video have been added to the post. |
Resources
- Writing Good Content
- Post Length – How Long Should a Blog Post Be?
- Blogging Tips for Beginners
- Twenty Usability Tips for Your Blog
- Ten Tips for writing a blog post
- Top 10 Blog Writing Tips
- Blog Writing Tips & Tricks
- Top 10 Blog Writing Tips
- How to write a movie review
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