Blogging in Higher Education

Writing Center info on Academic blogs. The purpose of blog writing is to present ideas in an accessible and more informal way than in formal academic papers.

Now that you know why it’s important to comment on other teacher’s blogs, you must understand how to write great blog comments. In short, you don’t want to end up getting banned from blogs for being a spammer, or spend all your time commenting without providing any value to your own blogging efforts. So where is the happy medium? Professional blogger Darren Rowse has written an article on his site ProBlogger.net called The Ultimate Guide To Leaving Comments On Blogs. I strongly recommend you read it here.

A proper guide to the nuances of Academic Blogging. Have a look at the factors that would definitely help you in creating your academic blog.

Explorations of Style offers readers an ongoing discussion of the challenges of academic writing. The ability to formulate and clarify our thoughts is central to the academic enterprise; this blog discusses strategies to improve the process of expressing our research in writing. My key principles and strategies are used to ground discussions of more specific writing issues.

Blogging, or writing short entries on a website, can allow you to offer opinions, share ideas, or do independent reporting, but most importantly blogging can help writers have conversations with readers. What makes blogs so different from journalism, as the authors of The Elements of Blogging: Expanding the Conversation of Journalism suggest, is the discussion between writer and reader. Blogs can be a forum for writers to get feedback on half–formed ideas and emerging stances, and through comments, readers can talk with and back to writers and build communities. But what draws readers in? Read through the material below to learn how paying attention to a range of blog elements (including clear headlines, engaging pictures, and distinctive ledes) will help you build an audience.

Blogs provide an excellent forum, when used well, for informal writing and feedback from peers and faculty. Increasing numbers of professionals use blogs to share specialized news and test ideas. On the other hand, blogs can be little more than scattershot musings of a narcissistic mind. What, then, makes a great blog that provides academic content for an academic audience? Though I blog for both non-academic and academic audiences, I offer this advice based on posts from my blogs that have garnered the most positive comments.

The number of scholarly blogs on the Web is increasing. In this article, a group of researchers are asked to describe the functions that their blogs serve for them as researchers. The results show that their blogging is motivated by the possibility to share knowledge, that the blog aids creativity, and that it provides a feeling of being connected in their work as researchers. In particular, the blog serves as a creative catalyst in the work of the researchers, where writing forms a large part, which is not as prominent as a motivation in other professional blogs. In addition, the analysis brings out the blog’s combination of functions and the possibility it offers to reach multiple audiences as a motivating factor that makes the blog different from other kinds of communication in scholarly contexts.

Abbey Ryan is making a full-time income selling her art online. This is a case history of how she did it and who she is. Ryan became interested in art during high school. Despite having a natural aptitude, she entered college as a science major and it wasn’t until a few years later that she…

So you’re a graduate with a shiny new diploma in hand. Or, better yet, you’re in the middle of your studies. Either way, you’re probably wondering how you’re going to catch employers’ attention and land that first job. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of students in the same boat as you. Whether your passion is design, branding, advertising, or marketing, an industry-related blog helps you stand out by demonstrating your interests and skills to potential employers. Here are the advantages of starting a blog.

Discussions about scholarly blogging most often centre on the need for we academics to write in ways that attract new audiences. If we write blogs, we are told, we can communicate our research more effectively. Blogs enhance impact; they are a medium for public engagement. The advocacy goes on… Blogs (and other social media) can point readers to our (real) academic publications, particularly if they are held on open repositories. Blogging, it seems, is a kind of essential add-on to the usual academic writing and academic publication that we do.

As a dynamic space, a group blog can be particularly suited to the rapidly changing context of researcher development. Claire Aitchison, Susan Carter and Cally Guerin share their experiences developing a doctoral support blog, a global space for personal and professional development and for building community. Individuals and their institutions stand to benefit from blogging, they argue, but if it were to be mainstreamed, would the practice be able to retain the unique elements that account for its success?

What does a great blog comment look like, and how do you write one? Here's a simple four-part formula that works every time.

It used to be said that everyone has a book in them. These days, it might be more appropriate to argue everyone has infinite tweets, snarky Facebook updates, and semi-random comments in them. But plenty of people retain a thirst for more thoughtful writing, and also a desire to share it as widely as possible – and these are the best blogging platforms to go about doing that.

In this round-up, we explore 10 of the best blogging platforms for newcomers who want to get a free blog up and running.

“To talk in public, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar” (from Johnson (1759)). 250 years after, anyone might think that the business has not changed: academics remain in their ivory tower, but from time to time, they have to leave it, to communicate. ... With Internet (emails, blogs, forums, etc), academics now have new mediums to communicate, either within their own community (and launch participative projects), or outside their community. Academic blogs are one medium, among many others. As explained in Gregg (2006), “blogs have made scholarly work accessible and accountable to a readership outside the academy“.

With the rapid convergence of traditional journalism and newer online technologies, many people argue that bloggers should be bound by a Code of Ethics. Matt de Neef provides ten tips for ethical b…

In terms of blogging practice, the author identifies a new writing genre described as “connective writing”, a form that forces those who do it to read carefully and critically, that demands clarity and cogency in its construction, that is done for a wide audience, and that links to the sources of ideas expressed. Blogging as an academic exercise is different from simply posting. The author differentiates between posting, simple blogging, real blogging and complex blogging. These categories might be useful when we review our marking grid.

As the blogging phenomenon expands, copyright concerns become quite important. Technology makes it really easy to copy, modify and share information, whether we talk about text, images, audio or video. The problem is that the vast majority of people do not have a clear understanding of the Copyright Law, which might result in illegal and costly mistakes. Below you will find 12 Do’s and Dont’s that will clarify what you can and what you can not do as an online publisher.

Posting or publishing written work online, whether on your personal or artist website, on  social media (including Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest) or via a blog can create a number of legal issues including copyright, defamation or trade practices. This information sheet discusses some of these issues and should be read with our information sheet entitled Writers & authors: useful resources.

Bloggers have to start somewhere! Check out this list of platforms and their features to help you choose one that suits your style.

There are many reasons that college students should get blogging and here are 5 of them you don't want to miss!

From promoting club nights to blogging, being proactive outside of your degree could be the key to a winning job interview

What does it mean to write with energy? That's a question Patter addresses on her blog this morning, reflecting on the notion of 'writing without a parachute'. As she summarises t...

Blogging is fantastic! It's quick, easy and free. In minutes you can share your amazing brainwaves with countless people all over the UK and indeed the entire world. Whether you're doing a Masters or a PhD, blogging can help you refine the skills needed for your dream career and for you to shine at any interview.

Calvin Ho (@calvinhyj) is a PhD student in Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He researches skilled labour immigration policies in Western countries. Through the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program at UCLA, he also mentors minority students planning to pursue doctorates in the humanities and social sciences.

Gary is a Google certified teacher and holds a certificate of educational technology and information literacy (COETAIL). He teaches middle school science at Saigon South International School and his interests are exploring web 2.0 tools, connected classrooms and authentic assessment. "Gary, so much of what students blog about is crap and not worth reading.