Blog Wisdom

Blog Writing Workshop #1:

Important things to remember before we get started:

1. A blog is a conversation, so try to write the way you speak. The goal is to get your writing to sound more like you and less like a formal academic essay.

2. Always think about your audience. You may need to link to certain websites or definitions of key terms to help your reader understand your post.

3. The best way to become a better blogger is to visit other blogs that are similar to the one you’re writing for class. Take a look at the images, format, and style of writing. We can do some searching during the workshop.

Workshop Agenda:

1. Read aloud: Read one of your posts from the first semester out loud to the group. As you’re reading, think about if the blog sounds like you or more like stiff formal writing.

2. Peer feedback: As you read, your group members will write down any terms that they would like defined (via a link) in your post and any questions they have for you regarding the content.

3. The Conversation: Explain your post in your own words by giving the group a brief summary of what you read in your post.

• As you explain your post, each group member will write down at least one sentence that they hear you say that sounds more like “you” (this is your personal voice) than what your wrote, or helps to clarify a point that should be included in your blog post. 
• Group members will then share the sentences they wrote down while listening to your summary.

4. Revise: Go back to your blog and add in personal voice or clarification sentences based on your group members’ feedback. Also, be sure to add in links to any terms that the group suggested your define in your post. 

Blog Writing Workshop #2:

Using Complete Sentences and Correcting Fragments

Important things to remember before we get started:

1. Your blog posts should use personal voice, but there are some basic grammatical rules you should always follow when writing. Following these simple rules will help you to be taken seriously as a writer and filmmaker.

2. A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with punctuation.
    ex. Hi!

3. A complete sentence must have a subject and a verb.
    ex. I wrote on the Medistorm blog today.

4. You can spot sentence fragments by asking the questions below. If you can’t answer “yes” to all three questions, the sentence is probably a fragment.
    -Does it have a verb?
    -Does it have a subject?
    -Does the phrase make sense standing alone?

Workshop Agenda:

1. Peer edit: Read your partner’s blog post and write down any sentence fragments your see. It might be helpful to read the post aloud to your partner. Also, keep an eye out for sentences that don’t begin with capital letters and end with punctuation.

2. Correcting a fragment:
Example: “Today we talked about what makes a sentence a sentence. Also the ways to correct fragments.”

There are two easy ways to correct a fragment:

1) Add a comma and connect the fragment to the sentence before it. 

• ex. “In class today we talked about what makes a sentence a sentence, as well as the ways to correct fragments."

2) If the sentence becomes too long or wordy, create a second sentence by adding the necessary subject or verb to the fragment. 

• ex. "In class today we talked about what makes a sentence a sentence. We also discussed the ways to correct fragments."