Blogging Grading Rubric

*Please refer to the full guidelines below for more detailed guidelines about blogging expectations and guidelines.

3. Excellent (100/100):
The post meets or (or exceeds) the requirements, was submitted on time, and follows all guidelines/expectations (for blogging in general, and for that particular post, if there were additional instructions/prompts).The post shows a clear/competent understanding of the text(s)/issues, but moves beyond mere summary to critical engagement.  It extends class/online discussions by its excellent analysis, and offers compelling, insightful, and developed claims and evidence. The post is structured logically/coherently, with multiple paragraphs, each with one main idea (which is fully developed) and topic sentences that reflect that focus. While multiple ideas/points may be discussed, there is a unifying theme/argument to the post, showing how all the various points fit together.The post is virtually error free, at the sentence-level, having been carefully proofread/edited. Texts/ideas are cited completely/correctly (in MLA style).

2. Satisfactory (80/100):
The blog post is the required length and on-topic, but offers too little analysis. It has some good points and potential, but it does not push these ideas further to show why/how they are significant in the context of their overall response, and the the text.The blog post is structured relatively well, but has some ideas jumbled together, sentence-level errors, and/or incorrect (or missing) citations that interfere with its clarity/persuasiveness.

1. Unsatisfactory (60/100):
The blog post is submitted on time but is underdeveloped, either because it does not meet the minimum requirement and/or does not critically/completely engage with the text(s)/assignment. It presents a great deal of summary of the texts ideas and/or the professor/classmates’ ideas (either in class or on the blog), and/or only responds tangentially/superficially/generally. It is not structured effectively, with many ideas jumbled together, no clear argument/topic sentences, incorrect/ineffective use of evidence/summary/paraphrase/citation. There are many sentence-level errors.

0. No credit (0/100):
The blog post was either not submitted, submitted after the deadline, very short (just a few sentences), irrelevant/off-topic, and/or doesn’t follow the assignment instructions.

 

Blogging Expectations & Guidelines

We are using City Tech’s OpenLab (built on the blogging software WordPress) for our course site, and here you can find everything you need this semester.  However, this is not just a place where you will come to find information and read what I have already written.  Instead, you are expected to consistently and actively participate in creating content on our blog such as posting reading responses on the course texts, discussing ideas with me and your classmates, reading and commenting on what others have posted, and linking to interesting/relevant material you have found through everyday experience as well as outside research.

Blog Quantity & Deadlines
There may be multiple blog posts/comments due every week and these assignments ensure that you will be actively engaging with the materials and the ideas presented in the course on a regular basis. All blogs are due by the night before the class on the due date in order to give both me and your classmates adequate time to read/comment on your writing (we will use this writing as part of our in-class discussions and workshops). Late blogs will receive no credit.

Unless otherwise noted, all blog posts should be a minimum of 500 words (though I encourage you to write longer ones), though comments can (and should!) be shorter because often you are just dropping a quick response to someone else.

You are expected to read all blog posts/comments on our site (including those made by me and by your classmates) before class begins. This is a necessary/required component of your coming prepared to class ready to discuss the day’s texts. Anything written in a blog or comment is fair game for class discussion, quizzes (which could be unannounced), essays, and exams.

 

Blog Formality & Mechanics
Keep in mind that your entries are “informal” writing assignments (you can–and should!–use “I”) and you do not need to be revise them as meticulously as your formal essays. However, you should of course still proofread them for coherence/meaning as well as obvious spelling/grammar mistakes. Please use complete sentences and paragraph conventions.

Make sure to always categorize and tag your posts! For example, if you are writing a reading response to George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant,” you must tag your piece in that category. Please double check this by clicking that page under the “homework” tab.

 

Blog Purpose
Your blogs are meant to prepare you for our in-class discussions and your formal assignments, but they are also a place for you to reflect on your everyday experiences, current news/events, and personal thoughts/emotions that are related to our course content and to your progress as writers this semester.  You are not restricted to just blogging when you are assigned to do so … you should blog about things you are interested in and you feel would be of interest to others in the class.

Additionally, if you want to strengthen your writing skills or increase your English language proficiency, you’re in luck! Simply writing in such detail will aid you tremendously in reaching these goals. I encourage you to blog often!

Sometimes you are blogging an individual reflection or reading response (almost like a journal), sometimes you are posting a writing assignment (such as a research proposal), and other times you will be asked to participate in an on-going conversation with others in the class. The material you post on our course blog will become part of our class meetings. In addition, everyone in the course will be reading your writing, so you should spend as much effort as possible composing your writing there.

Please note that our blog is public, so anything you post (whether a post or comment) is visible to anyone on the web. Think about the type of content you would feel comfortable with your parents, employers, other professors, and friends seeing as representative of your work, and then post accordingly.

 

Blog Grading
I will be reading/assessing your blogs regularly, and you will receive a grade (& sometimes a brief comment) for each blog, after they are due. Grades will appear as a “private comment” on your post, which will be visible only to you and me (the other students in the course cannot see them). You can view the grade for all of your posts in your dashboard, under “Posts.” Please see the blogging grading rubric above for more detail about how your OpenLab compositions will be assessed.

Periodically, I will designate certain blogs, which are particularly strong/successfully in various aspects, as “Featured Posts” (you can view all of these “Featured Posts” from the course site main menu under the header). It is a big honor to have your writing chosen for a Featured Post (though you shouldn’t feel badly if yours isn’t chosen … everyone can’t be featured!), and you can use these excellent blogs as models for your own work.

Our in-class blog workshops (mentioned above) along with your grades will provide you with a good sense of where your writing stands, but I am always more than happy to discuss your writing in more detail with you. Please feel free to come see me at any point during the semester to get more detailed individualized feed back on your OpenLab Composing, and to discuss strategies for improvement.

Simply skimming a reading and jotting down a few words about it does not mean that you have satisfactorily fulfilled a blog post. Similarly, only using spelling/grammar check on your computer does not count as revision/proofreading. You will be graded on the quality of your engagement with the material and the effectiveness of your presentation of your ideas. Missing blogs and incredibly short, general, and/or sloppy blogs will be given no credit and will negatively affect your overall course grade.

Please be aware that all blogs are time-stamped automatically and late blogs will receive no credit. Blogs that are not properly categorized will receive no credit.

 

Blog Titles
Make sure to title each blog with a concise, relevant title that clearly reflects the content you post. The blogs automatically provide your name and the date/time you post, so there is no need to put that in the subject line. A reader should be able to quickly glance at your blog title and feel satisfied about what it contains (much like the tile of an essay or a book chapter).

 

Blog Content
Unless otherwise noted or provided with a specific prompt, your assigned blogs are a response to the course texts, which includes:

• 5-10 observations about the text.
• 2 moments or elements of the text that you find compelling, and why.
• At least one question you have about the text.
• The author’s purpose, in your own words. (Think about why the author wrote the  piece—what does he or she want to accomplish?)

If we have a number of readings for the day, you don’t need to blog on each one individually (no need to create four separate blogs!) or to simply list a few lines about each one in isolation. Instead you might try to synthesize the readings, or to focus on only one or two of them, making thematic connections among various texts.

Additionally, you can relate the texts to an outside source (another work of literature, a film, an image, a newspaper article). In this case, you should link to the material if possible (using the “link” button in the post editor … if you are unsure what an editing button does, just hover your cursor over it and then it will provide text that explain the function, and make sure to provide citation for it. Also, clearly explain how/why it is related to/significant for an understanding of the assigned material. This outside information is acceptable (and often even encouraged), but you should always make sure to ground your responses in the texts that we are reading (provide quotations and analysis of them), and to cite this outside information.

However, please don’t become dependent on secondary sources to understand the texts we are reading … unless specifically stated otherwise, I am interested primarily in your close reading of the texts. I want to see you work through the material, not simply report back what someone else has already written. When we get to the research component of our course, things will change, but we’ll discuss that change when it comes.

Finally, even though we meet for class frequently, you may not always get to discuss everything you want, or perhaps you have a new thought on something when we are not together. Therefore, you can continue this line of inquiry in your blog. Don’t merely repeat what has already been discussed … make sure to flesh the ideas out in some way and build on them. Feel free to ask questions that you think should be taken up during the next class meeting.

And of course, you should post whenever you want – if you see a relevant ad on the subway – snap a photo of it, post, and blog!  If you saw a TV show that made you think about some of the concepts/themes we’ve been discussing in the course, blog away!  If you believe something in another one of your classes at City Tech relates in some way (even tangentially) to what we have been discussing and you want to share with us, please do so!