Be sure you are logged in to your PSU account. You should then be able to navigate to the blog, if the link available on Canvas did not work (look under ‘My Sites’ on the menu bar).

Compose: Go to “+ New” in the menu bar and click on “Post” to create a new post. A new screen will open, titled “Add New Post”. Enter a title and write your post.

• When you post, please make sure that your post title includes the assignment name (e.g., ‘Student Introduction’) and your last or full name. For example: ‘Student Introduction: John Smith’.

Add images: Move the cursor to the point where you want to insert an image and click “Add Media”. You may add an image by pointing to a specific URL or you may add a file that is saved locally on your computer. Change the formatting so that the text wrapping is as you want it (pop up menu once image is added).

Add URL/hyperlink: Highlight the text that you want to serve as your link and click on the “Insert/Edit Link” button on the text editor menu bar (looks like a chain). Paste in the URL and press the arrow to complete the task. Be sure that all links that you enter are live and accurate.

Cite and add references: In your post text, include in-text citations where you use facts from sources (Author, Year; e.g., Smith et al., 2018). Write out proper citations for each in-text citation in a ‘References’ section at the end of the post.

Publish: Check the box for the appropriate category for your post. Go to the publish panel, which is the topmost of the various small panels on the right-hand side of the screen, and click the “Publish” button. You may also “Save Draft” or “Preview” but the assignment will not be complete until you publish.

A note on copyright

Images that you find online may well be subject to copyright. It may be against the law to republish copyright images; however, there are exceptions, and it is likely that most classwork is covered under the exception called the “fair use doctrine”. The University of Minnesota provides a helpful online tool which you may want to use in reflecting about “fair use” in any specific case.

Irrespective of copyright issues, you should document the sources of images that you use and include this information in the “Sources Cited” section of your blog post.