BLOG POST SERIES
Blog Post Series
Number of Posts: 3
Length: 500-800 words each
Number of Original Photos Required Per Post: 1-3
Point Value: 20 points
What should be the purpose of the blog posts?
The blog posts should have one of the following three aims when dealing with a topic of your choice:
1. To inform: You want to tell us about a topic that people don’t know enough about. It can be something you are an expert in or something you want to learn more about and research for this project. The choices are endless. Possible examples include a historical event, a scientific discovery, an activist movement, the work or life of an artist or political figure, an analysis of a show/film/album/play/art movement, the history of a particular technology/food/cultural norm/group, and so on.
2. To persuade: You want to convince us of something. You can change our mind or get us to more deeply agree with you about a particular issue. You can also get us to take an action by showing us why it is important, if not urgent, to do so. For changing our minds, you can look at issues that are contested in the national conversation, such as gun control, women’s and queer people’s rights, the effects of racism and classism, immigration, etc. For actions to be taken, you want to choose the action you have in mind and then figure out what you need to argue in order to invite others to take it. Examples of possible actions are voting, recycling, cutting down on screen time, donating money or time to a particular cause, etc.
3. To emotionally move the audience: For this option, you want to get the audience to feel something. You may want to make their eyes water or get them to laugh or to feel angry at a particular injustice you are describing. Stories are usually the surest way to get at someone’s emotions. Because this is not a creative writing course, I ask that you do not write something that is solely fiction or poetry for this assignment. You can, however, use memoir/creative non-fiction to move your audience or present a topic of your choice in a way that gets people to laugh/cry/feel angry as they engage with your posts.
All three of your posts should work around the same topic and aim to fulfill the same purpose.
What should the blog posts be about?
You’ll want to pick one topic that you feel you can write three pieces about. It should also be a topic that you can create original photography around. That means that unless you can get very creative in your photography, topics like how the Great Wall of China was built or melting glaciers will be difficult to cover. You can instead look at a local landmark, like the Broad Museum, or explore the local effects of climate change, for example.
Your three pieces should complement each other and be cohesive but not repetitive. Let’s say, for example, that you decide to write a piece that is meant to make people laugh at the complicated love that sisters feel for each other. You can take three humorous memories you have with your sister and write three blog posts about them. In order for the stories to complement each other, you’ll want to pick stories from different periods in your lives and stories that show different aspects of your personalities. By the time we read all three, we should have a sense of the breadth of relationships between these two sisters over the years and how much those complications can make one laugh as we examine human nature and its nuances.
Similarly, if you decide to persuade readers that they should vote for the upcoming school levy, you may want to write pieces that look at how the levy will improve three aspects of the education schools provide or feature three different activists who are rallying for the levy to pass and tell their stories while you quote their reasons for supporting the levy. When we read your three pieces, we should feel that we have a solid number of reasons to vote for the levy because you have provided a number of perspectives on the situation.
Keep the following in mind as you select your topic:
1. You need to have a sense of how you can make these arguments visually as well as through writing.
2. It has to be a topic you can research, write about, and photograph during the few weeks we’ll be working on this assignment.
3. It is a topic narrow enough that you can say something meaningful about it in three short blog posts.
What do the blog posts need to do in order to follow the genre’s conventions?
We will study the blog genre in class and read and analyze successful examples together. Some things to keep in mind:
1. Blog posts are short and the writers know that they are battling to keep readers’ attentions inside a space that is brimming with competing open tabs, ads, and countless distractions. As a result, blog writers try to hook the audience in the first couple sentences and tend to be direct about what their post is covering.
2. Blog post sentences and paragraphs tend to be fairly short and to use hyperlinking.
3. Blogs expand their readership by being shared on social media. As a result, writers try to make sure that there are a number of short, citable quotes that can be used as the piece is shared on various platforms.
4. Images are key in digital spaces and bloggers use them to attract attention when something is shared, but also to invite visitors to stay once they’ve clicked on the piece. You’ll want to make sure your images fit well with the tone and topic you have selected.
Do I need to cite outside sources?
If you choose to inform or to persuade as your purpose for your blog post series, outside sources will be key to your argument. Depending on what you select when it comes to moving your audience, you may be fine without them. As you cite your sources, remember to hyperlink to the original source if it is an online source. If it is a print source, you may consider linking to the website where the source can be printed. You don’t need to use page numbers but you must use quotation marks for direct quotes and you should introduce your sources before you use them and give us the author’s full name, if there is one.
Length: 500-800 words each
Number of Original Photos Required Per Post: 1-3
Point Value: 20 points
What should be the purpose of the blog posts?
The blog posts should have one of the following three aims when dealing with a topic of your choice:
1. To inform: You want to tell us about a topic that people don’t know enough about. It can be something you are an expert in or something you want to learn more about and research for this project. The choices are endless. Possible examples include a historical event, a scientific discovery, an activist movement, the work or life of an artist or political figure, an analysis of a show/film/album/play/art movement, the history of a particular technology/food/cultural norm/group, and so on.
2. To persuade: You want to convince us of something. You can change our mind or get us to more deeply agree with you about a particular issue. You can also get us to take an action by showing us why it is important, if not urgent, to do so. For changing our minds, you can look at issues that are contested in the national conversation, such as gun control, women’s and queer people’s rights, the effects of racism and classism, immigration, etc. For actions to be taken, you want to choose the action you have in mind and then figure out what you need to argue in order to invite others to take it. Examples of possible actions are voting, recycling, cutting down on screen time, donating money or time to a particular cause, etc.
3. To emotionally move the audience: For this option, you want to get the audience to feel something. You may want to make their eyes water or get them to laugh or to feel angry at a particular injustice you are describing. Stories are usually the surest way to get at someone’s emotions. Because this is not a creative writing course, I ask that you do not write something that is solely fiction or poetry for this assignment. You can, however, use memoir/creative non-fiction to move your audience or present a topic of your choice in a way that gets people to laugh/cry/feel angry as they engage with your posts.
All three of your posts should work around the same topic and aim to fulfill the same purpose.
What should the blog posts be about?
You’ll want to pick one topic that you feel you can write three pieces about. It should also be a topic that you can create original photography around. That means that unless you can get very creative in your photography, topics like how the Great Wall of China was built or melting glaciers will be difficult to cover. You can instead look at a local landmark, like the Broad Museum, or explore the local effects of climate change, for example.
Your three pieces should complement each other and be cohesive but not repetitive. Let’s say, for example, that you decide to write a piece that is meant to make people laugh at the complicated love that sisters feel for each other. You can take three humorous memories you have with your sister and write three blog posts about them. In order for the stories to complement each other, you’ll want to pick stories from different periods in your lives and stories that show different aspects of your personalities. By the time we read all three, we should have a sense of the breadth of relationships between these two sisters over the years and how much those complications can make one laugh as we examine human nature and its nuances.
Similarly, if you decide to persuade readers that they should vote for the upcoming school levy, you may want to write pieces that look at how the levy will improve three aspects of the education schools provide or feature three different activists who are rallying for the levy to pass and tell their stories while you quote their reasons for supporting the levy. When we read your three pieces, we should feel that we have a solid number of reasons to vote for the levy because you have provided a number of perspectives on the situation.
Keep the following in mind as you select your topic:
1. You need to have a sense of how you can make these arguments visually as well as through writing.
2. It has to be a topic you can research, write about, and photograph during the few weeks we’ll be working on this assignment.
3. It is a topic narrow enough that you can say something meaningful about it in three short blog posts.
What do the blog posts need to do in order to follow the genre’s conventions?
We will study the blog genre in class and read and analyze successful examples together. Some things to keep in mind:
1. Blog posts are short and the writers know that they are battling to keep readers’ attentions inside a space that is brimming with competing open tabs, ads, and countless distractions. As a result, blog writers try to hook the audience in the first couple sentences and tend to be direct about what their post is covering.
2. Blog post sentences and paragraphs tend to be fairly short and to use hyperlinking.
3. Blogs expand their readership by being shared on social media. As a result, writers try to make sure that there are a number of short, citable quotes that can be used as the piece is shared on various platforms.
4. Images are key in digital spaces and bloggers use them to attract attention when something is shared, but also to invite visitors to stay once they’ve clicked on the piece. You’ll want to make sure your images fit well with the tone and topic you have selected.
Do I need to cite outside sources?
If you choose to inform or to persuade as your purpose for your blog post series, outside sources will be key to your argument. Depending on what you select when it comes to moving your audience, you may be fine without them. As you cite your sources, remember to hyperlink to the original source if it is an online source. If it is a print source, you may consider linking to the website where the source can be printed. You don’t need to use page numbers but you must use quotation marks for direct quotes and you should introduce your sources before you use them and give us the author’s full name, if there is one.
Photography
What is its purpose?
Online writing relies heavily on images because digital spaces have so much distraction and competition that they need to catch audience members right away and the right images are an ideal way to achieve that goal. When used appropriately, images also deepen the emotional and intellectual impact of a piece, helping strengthen its arguments and resonance.
Will we learn how to take good photographs in this class?
You will learn to take adequate photographs. We don’t have a lot of time to cover photography but we will work through the basics of photography and help you refine your technique and the personality/mood/style of the images you shoot.
Will we have access to professional cameras?
You are not expected to use professional equipment for this assignment. If you want to use some, you can request and pick up cameras from the Film Lab on the sixth floor of Wells. You can fill your request to loan a camera here. You can also use your personal camera or borrow a camera from friends. If you have a smart phone that was released in the last few years, it will probably take high-quality photos as long as you don’t zoom the image too much and as long as you shoot in good light.
What criteria will be used to evaluate the photographs used in the blog posts?
I am not expecting professional quality photography, but I want you to take the following rules into account as you take your photos and select the ones you’ll use:
1. You want to follow the basic rules of photography (which we’ll study). Framing, lighting, and focus should be proficiently done.
2. Your images’ mood and style should complement that of your blog posts’ writing. If you’re featuring a punk rock band, you should probably shoot images that look a little dark and edgy, and that use non-traditional framing and perspectives. If you’re writing about a new educational system for toddlers, your images should probably feature a lot of light and bright colors and bring the happiness of childhood learning to life for us. You’ll likely have more traditional framing and perspectives but you could also be playful with them if you think such playfulness captures the children’s moods or the program’s philosophy.
3. Your subjects and settings should work well together. If you are doing an informational piece on a graffiti artist, you should consider featuring images that show the artist at work, as well as in front of a finished piece. If you’re looking at a littering problem in a neighborhood, having closeups of particular debris, as well as a shot of a street lined with various kinds of trash would give us a nuanced sense of the problem.
4. As we read your piece, it should become clear to us why you’ve selected the photos you selected to include.
5. Captions are an effective way to bring photographs to life in a piece. Make sure to give us a sense of who is featured in the photograph, as well as other relevant information, such as where it was taken and how what we see relates to your topic.
6. You will ask your subjects to sign releases—you can find samples in our course Google Drive—to allow you to photograph them, which you’ll turn in with the assignment. This is not necessary for crowds you photograph in public spaces. You need them only for those you take portraits of or feature at work for your piece. For minors, you will need one of their parents/guardians to sign the release.
7. This is more of a tip than an evaluation criteria, but the secret to good photography when one is a beginner is taking lots and lots of photos. I, for example, have been exploring photography for two decades and I’m a pretty good shot. However, I know that in order to get one usable photo, I will take at least ten unusable ones. Keep that ratio in mind as you visit your locations and spend time with your subjects.
How do I decide how many images to include?
Every post needs to include between 1-3 images. The decision will be made depending on how much more depth you feel the images add to the post’s impact. If a post features the story of two people or places, for example, you’ll want to have a photo of each in order to introduce your readers to both.
Online writing relies heavily on images because digital spaces have so much distraction and competition that they need to catch audience members right away and the right images are an ideal way to achieve that goal. When used appropriately, images also deepen the emotional and intellectual impact of a piece, helping strengthen its arguments and resonance.
Will we learn how to take good photographs in this class?
You will learn to take adequate photographs. We don’t have a lot of time to cover photography but we will work through the basics of photography and help you refine your technique and the personality/mood/style of the images you shoot.
Will we have access to professional cameras?
You are not expected to use professional equipment for this assignment. If you want to use some, you can request and pick up cameras from the Film Lab on the sixth floor of Wells. You can fill your request to loan a camera here. You can also use your personal camera or borrow a camera from friends. If you have a smart phone that was released in the last few years, it will probably take high-quality photos as long as you don’t zoom the image too much and as long as you shoot in good light.
What criteria will be used to evaluate the photographs used in the blog posts?
I am not expecting professional quality photography, but I want you to take the following rules into account as you take your photos and select the ones you’ll use:
1. You want to follow the basic rules of photography (which we’ll study). Framing, lighting, and focus should be proficiently done.
2. Your images’ mood and style should complement that of your blog posts’ writing. If you’re featuring a punk rock band, you should probably shoot images that look a little dark and edgy, and that use non-traditional framing and perspectives. If you’re writing about a new educational system for toddlers, your images should probably feature a lot of light and bright colors and bring the happiness of childhood learning to life for us. You’ll likely have more traditional framing and perspectives but you could also be playful with them if you think such playfulness captures the children’s moods or the program’s philosophy.
3. Your subjects and settings should work well together. If you are doing an informational piece on a graffiti artist, you should consider featuring images that show the artist at work, as well as in front of a finished piece. If you’re looking at a littering problem in a neighborhood, having closeups of particular debris, as well as a shot of a street lined with various kinds of trash would give us a nuanced sense of the problem.
4. As we read your piece, it should become clear to us why you’ve selected the photos you selected to include.
5. Captions are an effective way to bring photographs to life in a piece. Make sure to give us a sense of who is featured in the photograph, as well as other relevant information, such as where it was taken and how what we see relates to your topic.
6. You will ask your subjects to sign releases—you can find samples in our course Google Drive—to allow you to photograph them, which you’ll turn in with the assignment. This is not necessary for crowds you photograph in public spaces. You need them only for those you take portraits of or feature at work for your piece. For minors, you will need one of their parents/guardians to sign the release.
7. This is more of a tip than an evaluation criteria, but the secret to good photography when one is a beginner is taking lots and lots of photos. I, for example, have been exploring photography for two decades and I’m a pretty good shot. However, I know that in order to get one usable photo, I will take at least ten unusable ones. Keep that ratio in mind as you visit your locations and spend time with your subjects.
How do I decide how many images to include?
Every post needs to include between 1-3 images. The decision will be made depending on how much more depth you feel the images add to the post’s impact. If a post features the story of two people or places, for example, you’ll want to have a photo of each in order to introduce your readers to both.
Hosting Space
Where should I host the blog posts?
While I will evaluate you on the writing and the photography featured on the blog posts, I will not grade you on where they are hosted. Having said that, you do need to post them somewhere online. Here are a your options:
1. If you have a blog already, you should post them there.
2. If you have a portfolio/professional/personal website, you could add a blog section to it and feature them there.
3. If you write for a particular blog already, you could ask them if they would allow you to write three posts for it. This option will be fine as long as they abide by the deadline, word count, and allow you to feature images that you have taken yourself.
4. You could create your own blog space for these pieces. You can use Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr, Wix, and so on. If you are creating this blog simply for the purpose of this assignment, don’t spend too much time on the design but rather focus your efforts on the content and the photography, which is what I will evaluate you on.
5. If you and some of your classmates want to get together and use the same blog to feature your posts, that works as well.
While I will evaluate you on the writing and the photography featured on the blog posts, I will not grade you on where they are hosted. Having said that, you do need to post them somewhere online. Here are a your options:
1. If you have a blog already, you should post them there.
2. If you have a portfolio/professional/personal website, you could add a blog section to it and feature them there.
3. If you write for a particular blog already, you could ask them if they would allow you to write three posts for it. This option will be fine as long as they abide by the deadline, word count, and allow you to feature images that you have taken yourself.
4. You could create your own blog space for these pieces. You can use Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr, Wix, and so on. If you are creating this blog simply for the purpose of this assignment, don’t spend too much time on the design but rather focus your efforts on the content and the photography, which is what I will evaluate you on.
5. If you and some of your classmates want to get together and use the same blog to feature your posts, that works as well.
Blog Post Series Planning Presentation
What will the presentations entail?
You will give a five-minute presentation in class during which you will answer the following questions for us:
What platform should I use for the presentation?
Photoshop, Google Slides or a Prezi.
When will the presentations take place?
Over two class periods on 9/16 and 9/18.
You will give a five-minute presentation in class during which you will answer the following questions for us:
- What topic(s) are you thinking about?
- Is your purpose to inform, to persuade, or to emotionally move the audience?
- If you have more than one topic in mind, what are the pros and cons of each?
- Why have you selected the topic(s) you’re envisioning?
- What images do you hope to capture to complement the work?
- What are the difficulties that worry you about this topic?
- Where are you planning to host your blog series (ie. Your portfolio or a website you plan to create)?
What platform should I use for the presentation?
Photoshop, Google Slides or a Prezi.
When will the presentations take place?
Over two class periods on 9/16 and 9/18.
Drafts for Peer Review
How complete do the drafts need to be for peer-review?
You need to show up with full drafts (including photos) of your three blog posts for your peer-review day. You will post the links to your three articles on our course Google drive.
You need to show up with full drafts (including photos) of your three blog posts for your peer-review day. You will post the links to your three articles on our course Google drive.
Assignment Delivery
Paste the links to your final version of the blog posts to an email you send to [email protected]. The subject of your email should be Blog Post Series, followed by your last name, i.e. Blog Post Series Huffington. You should also attach your releases if your photographs feature people.
Assignment Deadlines
9/16 and 9/18: Blog Post Series Planning Presentation.
10/02: Blog Post Series Draft due for Peer Review.
10/04 by 11:59pm: Blog Post Series Final Draft due.
10/02: Blog Post Series Draft due for Peer Review.
10/04 by 11:59pm: Blog Post Series Final Draft due.
Questions
If you have questions about the blog post series assignment, feel free to email me, stop by my office hours, or make an appointment.