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Each student must write a weekly blog post averaging 500  words. It is all right if some weeks they are shorter, as long as other weeks they are longer. By the end you should have written about 7,000 words. Please don’t make us count them! (WordPress gives you a handy count right at the bottom of your screen.)

Your blog posts should provide updates on your research, web design, and progress, as well as discussions of the challenge case you are researching, your take on the readings and discussions in class and how they inform your research,

Though blog posts can be informal, they should not be casual. Draft and craft your blog posts as you would any other graded item in a class.  Spend time communicating your ideas and use appropriate images (with citations) and links to resources mentioned. Do read them over, revise them, and ask your teammate for feedback before posting them. Remember that these posts will be publicly available, not just to everyone in the class, but to the world.

Of the 14 posts:

  • At least five posts should provide progress reports, from your point of view, on how your work is going, how your ideas and theories are changing as more research is completed, and where your stumbling blocks seem to be. Progress reports can also discuss the adaptation of WordPress and other technological tools to your work.
  • One post should report on your Meeting and Archivist/Librarian/Expert. This post must be completed before the midpoint of the semester.
  • One post should report on your Survey of Technology.  This post must be completed before the midpoint of the semester.
  • Two posts should report on your Interview; one focusing on your preparation for the interview and selection of candidate, the other on how the interview progressed and what you learned from it.
  • Your last post will be a Defense of Your Contract. In it you will explain how you met (and hopefully exceeded) your goals as outlined in the contract, and will discuss any challenges and how you overcame them.
  • At least four posts will discuss readings, your ideas on censorship and its history, and reactions to discussions and cases presented in class.

For some ideas and models, see:

Student posts from  and about Century America:

From Blogging for Historians