Content Criteria for Blog Posts

Here are the content criteria for the blog posts my students are writing for this rhetoric and civilization course. Please, also see the general blogging guidelines; and these instructions on making one's post focused and engaging.

These are the three distinct components that I need to see my students using in their posts.

1. History Component

Make history clearly present; specifically evident; and beyond summary:

• "Clearly present" means 
• Make history a major factor in the post, even if one is talking about a current-day topic. History cannot be some vague or minimal reference.  
• Refer explicitly to one of the historical themes for the period in question.
• "Ad fontes" -- go back to sources. Ground references to history in primary texts, secondary texts, or direct personal experience (such as visiting an historical site). Quoting a text from or about history can increase your authority.
• "Specifically evident" means referring to a specific period, century, or date. It also means naming specific people, events, movements, texts, works of art, or other factual details. 
• An appropriate image can be helpful this way (but be sure that it is not a mystery either what the image is or how it ties in to your post's topic or the theme being investigated).
• Links to primary texts, Wikipedia entries, etc. can help give specificity to the historical component.
• "Beyond summary" means you do not simply report on or give a summary of secondary texts, assigned reading, or class lectures. Those are all appropriate to bring into your texts and can help demonstrate mastery of content. But you should show that you can add additional evidence or analysis, or make connections to other periods, cultures, etc. [see how Peter Cable makes connections across time periods in this post]

2. Rhetoric Component

Rhetoric is the lens through which we are viewing history, and it should be evident in posts in two distinct ways: the persuasiveness of the post and as an explicit part of the post content:

• A Persuasive Claim
  A thesis statement should organize the content and give unity to the post. 

In addition, posts should touch on rhetoric, either in the more narrow and explicit sense, or in a broader way:

• Rhetorical theory or terms
  (Concepts and terms used to analyze or teach speaking and writing, such as those from Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric). Examples featuring decorum, kairos.
• Rhetorical history
  (People or texts put forward as contributing explicitly to rhetorical theory or practice, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam)
• Media
  (writing, print, electronic communication, mass media, etc.)
  A good example is how Stephen Rackleff investigated ancient vs. Renaissance media in this post.
• Communications practices
  (letter-writing, scholarly communication, art as communication, etc.) 
• Forms of communication
  (not just media, but genres: the lab report, the office memo, the scientific article, the OpEd editorial, the meme, etc. Forms of communication can also include languages, symbol systems, cryptography, computer code, and all the various forms for preserving or transmitting information: books, stories, electronic media, computers)
• Language
  (as a formative aspect of society, or at work in the development of knowledge disciplines, culture, art, politics. The revival of Latin or the evolution of scientific taxonomies or vocabularies are examples. Also, the cultural or intellectual consequences of having standard languages or language standards.)
• Art
  (insofar as art is considered a form of persuasion or communication, or is analyzed in terms of form.) 
• Education
  (insofar as it relates to language, literacy, reading, writing, etc.)

3. Personal Component

Blog posts are not to be summaries of course lectures or secondary sources. This medium and platform invites a personal approach. Making a blog post personal helps one to "own" history, and it helps readers of your post care about the past. It is easier to care about the past by being invited into it by way of a person in the present. So be personal.

Include a personal angle in each post

• Refer to your own life experience. Include enough detail to make it interesting. 
• Consider using images of yourself, or your own photos, illustrations or videos.
• Give an anecdote
• Relate the history to your prospective career or your major studies, or to something you studied previously.
• Refer to books or to people from your past.
• Use a personal tone. Don't sound like a Wikipedia article summary. Be a little bit informal. Let readers hear and feel your voice, just a bit.  Don't be as formal as standard academic writing.
• Don't overdo the personal. Your life should not dominate the post. This is not your diary, nor are you writing an opinion piece. Have an opinion and make a claim -- but back it up rationally, not just with the strength of your feelings. Avoid sarcasm.