How to Write Your Blog

How to Write Your Blog

-without stressing out every time you have to do it.

Hi, everyone! Now that it’s the second half of the semester and classes are starting to become more demanding, I thought I’d give a few tips on how to write a blog stress-free! I feel that this is important. Especially with finals fast-approaching, we can’t afford the time to quickly write a blog in the last week of April.

1. You don’t have to summarize.
1. It’s good to reference the chapter because you need to show that you’ve read and actually learned some of the material. However, not everyone has the time to rewrite the textbook and not everyone has to. It’s okay to just point out a few key ideas and use that as a jumping point to write some analysis, connecting it to previous works you’ve seen in our class or outside of class. What’s best is if you can connect it to your personal life experiences, because then you remember more :) Summarizing is a blogging style, not necessity.
2. Write about what's interesting to you.
1. A professor once told me, “If you don’t know what to write about, start with ‘I found it ____ to read that ___’”. What gets a reaction out of you? After reading the chapter, what left the biggest impact? These are things you should ask yourself so you can write effectively. Interesting means you’d actually like to have a conversation about it with someone because it affected you that much. What would you like to share with your friends about the reading? If you actually did share with someone, what was their reaction?
3. Don’t write it the same way every time.
1. You can also avoid writer’s block this way. The topic of each chapter is each different. One topic can be best blogged about in one way, and another topic best blogged about in another way. And by best, I mean what’s best for you. We all have different backgrounds, and maybe you have more background knowledge on some topics over others and can more easily connect it to what you learned previously.
4. Write to learn.
1. Don’t write for the points. The blogging exercise is meant to help you learn. If you practice this, you’ll realize that there is less pressure, and you might even have fun :) This leads to more creativity.
5. Read early.
1. Don’t read it the night before. I know we all have busy schedules and time management is very difficult, but we can’t to learn well if we don’t put in the effort. There are resources on campus for help on time management skills. Just ask Ms. Andrews or anyone working at the Student Success Center (http://www.ndnu.edu/academics/academic-success-center/). Reading early lets the information sink in and helps a ton. We can’t write if we don’t know the content well enough to write about it. If you read the chapter 3 hours before class, you’ll be too focused on rushing the reading to learn the material and write well. Also, reading early jut leads to less stress in general.

These are just a few quick tips. I didn’t mean for it to be so long so I apologize. Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!