You’ve written comments on our site so far this semester, but you have not yet written a post. I’ve shown how to do this in class, but I wanted to share the instructions again. OpenLab Help provides these useful instructions for writing a post, and here are my specific additions:

  • When you’re logged in, click on the + in the grey bar at the top of the page. If you can’t find that, you can use this link to write a new post.
  • Add a title for your post
  • Below the title, put your work for Project 1. You can copy and paste it in from wherever you’ve been drafting (e.g. Google Docs, MS Word). Check to make sure it looks right when you do this–especially if you haven’t used formatting to make paragraphs.
  • The metadata for the post tells me what I need to know about who you are and what your work is, so no need to add a heading to your post as you might ordinarily do when submitting a formal project.
  • You can link out to the source of your quotation from one of our mentor texts–copy the link from our class agendas or our course schedule and paste it in your post. For example, if I wanted to talk about how I am part of a discourse community of writing professors, I might write something like:
    • In “How to Read like a Writer,” Mike Bunn makes the point that writers have shared experiences in what they notice when they read, which gives them insights into the text. He states “You are already an author, and that means you have a built-in advantage when reading like a writer. All of your previous writing experiences—inside the classroom and out—can contribute to your success with RLW” (75). Here, Bunn shows how the shared understanding, shared language, shared goals of people who are knowledgeable about writing all contribute to a shared ability to notice what matters in a piece of writing. This connects to my feeling of connection with other writing professionals because we have similar habits of noticing, and are able to derive meaning where other people might not notice anything significant.”
  • If you want to add images, you can add a new block by hitting Enter on your keyboard, and then type /i and choose an image block (or if you’re adding it from Flickr, you can type /f and choose a Flickr block). These options allow you to add an image by uploading it or by pasting in the URL.
  • You’ll need to choose a category. Here are instructions for adding categories and tags to your post. Please choose the category Project 1 Work. We haven’t talked about tags, but you’re welcome to add tags to your post as well.
  • If you need to stop working on your post before you publish it, be sure to click Save draft at the top right of the screen.
  • If you are uncomfortable posting your work publicly, you have several options to narrow down who can see your post. In the settings for Post (as opposed to Block), if you look at Visibility, you can keep your post public or make it private, so that only you and I can read it, not your classmates or anyone else who finds and reads our site. You could password-protect your site, but this isn’t the best option for you or me. If you look a little further down, you have More visibility options. This is where you can choose to make your post visible only to the members of our course or only the members of the OpenLab . In the Help instructions for writing a post, look at the section on Publishing your post to see how to set your post’s visibility. I encourage you to consider who you want to be able to see your work and what the value is in the choice you make.
  • Be sure to click the blue Publish button when you’re ready to publish. It should be on the top right of your screen, unless you’re on a phone. If you make your post private, that process publishes the post for you instead.
  • It might ask you to confirm that you want to publish. Please do by clicking Publish again
  • If you realize you need to make a correction after you’ve published your post, you can make changes and then be sure to click the blue Update button.
  • If you have any trouble, please reach out to me and I can help you.

I’m looking forward to reading what you’ve written about discourse communities and belonging! Remember, Project 1 is due on Friday, 3/1.