Tips for submitting a successful blog post

Formatting: Your blog posts should be approximately 1500-1800 words. We are not expecting essay format, but please break your argument up into topical paragraphs. We are not fussy about font, font size, or spacing, unless things are difficult to read - err on the side of clean and clear. Steer clear of coloured font and lots of font size and colour changes. Focus on simplicity and a format that is easy to read. It must include embedded images or GIFs, videos, and hyperlinks that are relevant to your argument. You must include bracketed in-text citations and an alphabetized source list in Chicago style OR end notes and an alphabetized bibliography in Chicago style. Treat the blog as one page. Submission Options: The questions are designed for a text-entry blog submission in Canvas. Note that Safari does not work well with Canvas - you should be using an alternative browser such as Firefox or Chrome. BIG THING: you CANNOT save your work and return to edit it in the Canvas text editing (blog) area. It truly, truly sucks. You have a few options, if that is too frustrating: 1. If you have a PC, you can create a fully multi-media Word doc. But keep in mind this will look like a Word doc unless you dress it up a lot. This does not work on Macs. 2. If you have a Microsoft account, Microsoft Sway is free online and had blog templates! This is really easy and intuitive, and you can create a very sharp looking blog (and continually edit it). 3. You can create a free WordPress blog. Again, these look great, though you will be somewhat limited in available templates if you do not pay. That's okay for us - we don't expect miracles, truly. Okay, if you choose options 2 or 3, please be sure to: - lock your work down with a password, so your classmates and future students cannot "borrow" your work. - provide the link in the blogging text edit area. If you need to specify an email address, use [email protected] - provide the password in the comments when you submit your blog. It's really important that you submit your blog via the proper blogging area/text editing area so that we can access the grading rubric for your assignment. The most important things are to ensure that we have access to read your post and that something is posted in the assignment area to open up the grading rubric. Research Sources: Popular music is a tricky area where sources are concerned, because quite often major developments occur in the world of popular music too quickly for academia to keep up. Compare classical music, or another discipline like Geography, and you will understand the issue. For this reason, we encourage you to seek out reputable journalism (online or in print) when researching more current music. Newspapers (Globe & Mail, New York Times, Washington Post, etc), music magazines (Rolling Stone, Q, Mojo, Spin, etc), and online music journalism sites like Pitchfork, NME, etc, are solid sources when discussing music. Gossip magazines or online sources like People, Hollywood Reporter, or TMZ should be avoided, as their purpose is not analysis or objective reporting. Biography.com is okay for background on the artist, but will not be useful when discussing their actual music. Avoid using sites such as Wikipedia, AllMusic, SongFacts, and similar sources that do not have an author. Use of these sources may result in marks deducted. The sources in a Wikipedia article can often be really useful - it's sometimes a good place to start. More on Citations: We are looking for clarity and consistency, and we need to see both in-text citations AND a source list. Include in-text (note or bracketed citations) as well as a bibliography (alphabetical, at the end). You can choose the bracketed citations + source list format or the end notes + bibliography format in Chicago Style. Sometimes it's easiest to build it all in Word and cut and paste but sometimes this messes up your formatting. Give yourself lots of extra time to fix formatting, e.g. do not start cutting and pasting 10 minutes before the deadline. Click on any of the available blog assignments in the Assignments tab to see our grading rubric. This rubric is designed to provide feedback for most posts; it is possible you will not receive personalized feedback. Please know that a human being is on the other end of your post, reading and enjoying your work. :) Below are a few brief videos to help you with your digital items. The Embedding a video clip also talks a bit about the Blogging Assignment in general. this link is