Blogging guidelines

One of the primary goals of this course is to get you to think more critically about the sexual socialization messages in the media content you regularly consume.  I believe this competency is best gained through regular practice.  Consequently, you are expected to write weekly(ish) blog posts (guidelines below).  You must also write responses to others’ blog posts a minimum of 6 weeks over the course of the semester (also explained below).

Your blogging throughout the semester accounts for 30% of your final grade. 

The weeks will run Tuesday-Monday, as indicated below:

•    Week 1: September 9-15

•    Week 2: September 16-22

•    Week 3: September 23-29

•    Week 4: September 30-October 6

•    Week 5: October 7-October 13

•    Week 6: October 14-October 20

•    Week 7: October 21-October 27

•    Week 8: October 28-November 3

•    Week 9: November 4-November 10

•    Week 10: November 11-November 17

•    Week 11: November 18-November 24

•    Week 12: November 25-December 1

Guidelines for blog posts

• Introduce media content.  You may take one of two approaches to introduce your media content.    

1.     Embed or link to the content you discuss.  Provide a brief description of the content before beginning your analysis.

2.     It isn’t always possible to access media content.  If you are unable to embed or link to the content you wish to analyze, you may describe that content instead.  If you take this approach, you will need to write a lengthier description of the content than you would if you took Approach 1, because your readers will be relying solely on your description to understand your analysis.

• Reference at least one of the readings from class. Does this content exemplify one of the codes identified in one of our readings?  Can you make predictions, grounded in scholarly work, about what sort of impact this content might have?  Is there a trend you’ve noticed in the media (e.g., increasing levels of condom use, decreasing amounts male homophobia) that suggests that one or more of the findings in a reading from class no longer hold? 

• Length is flexible. Top-level posts should be a minimum of two-three paragraphs, but you are welcome to write more if you wish.

•  Snark is allowed. But only well-informed snark.  Snark is not required, but if you think your blogging voice is snarky, go for it!

• Need a break?  Sometimes life gets unusually busy, or you find that you don’t have anything you want to say.  There are a total of twelve weeks outlined above; you are only required to blog for ten of them.  (You can choose which ones.) Of course, if you would like to blog all twelve weeks, or more than once in a given week, you should feel free!

   

      Guidelines for responses

•    Provide an introduction to the topic of your response.  You may also want to think of this as your thesis.  For example, you might write something like, “Although I agree with Lila’s claim that ________, I think that Aubrey and Taylor’s (2009) findings suggest that it might also be useful to think about ______”; “I’d never really thought about _____ [topic of post] before, and it led me to realize that this is indeed a common theme in media content.  After reading this, I noticed that this occurred in this week’s episode of ________” or “I think Thomas raised an interesting issue.  However, I disagree with his argument, because it doesn’t seem to account for _______ as discussed in ___________ [reading].”   In short, you are welcome to agree with some, all, or none of the initial post, as long as you do so in a way that is both respectful and informed.


•    Use outside source(s). Your responses should be informed by at least one outside source, but in this context “outside source” can mean anything from a class reading to other media content you may have seen to a popular article you read on a related topic.

•    Length is flexible. For responses, flexible does not mean “a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs”; flexible means “any length you think allows you to effectively respond to the top-level post.”

•    Snark is not allowed. Please do not write snarky responses to others’ posts, since what you believe is good-natured snark may be interpreted as an attack by the original author.




Citations: For both types of post, be sure to cite your work using APA style.  As a reminder, there are resources to assist you with APA style posted on the CTools site.  You do not need to include a citation for any source to which you provide a link.

How I will evaluate you: I am looking for evidence of thoughtful, critically informed engagement with the media, the course readings, and your peers that conforms to the guidelines listed above.  I will not be evaluating individual posts or comments; instead, I will consider your contributions throughout the semester holistically.