If you are a PSYCH 256 student you will need to get started by logging into the blog page by clicking “Log in” at the top of this page. Once you log in, you can start creating your blog entries and comments in the blog here.

The purpose of the blog is to allow students to write about the course concepts as they observe those concepts in real life. Sort of like a personal news story. The trick is to start thinking like a cognitive psychologist; seeing the theories and concepts in action.

While the blog is less formal than term papers or other similar assignments, remember that you are writing for an audience (classmates, instructor, visitors, etc.) so you will want to have strong logic, grammar, spelling, formatting, etc. in addition to strong ideas/content. You are highly encouraged to bring in graphics and outside links so that your readers can learn more about the ideas that you are presenting.

Again, while the blog is less formal, remember to properly cite, quote, paraphrase and reference. Here are a few good resources to make sure that you have the right tools to do so:

1. Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) APA website. It has a lot of good information on how to cite and reference properly in addition to general APA format. In particular click on the “Reference List” and “In-text Citations” links.
2. The Penn State Libraries Plagiarism and You website which offers a lot of great how-to-avoid plagiarism information as well as tips on how to paraphrase and cite properly. Remember, it is not enough to cite or reference alone – you also need to paraphrase or quote.
3. Another good resource is Grinnell College’s tutorial on The Importance of Citation regarding proper quoting, citing, paraphrasing, and referencing are important.
4. Indiana University’s Writing Tutorial Services pamphlet for creating a good thesis for written assignments.

Once you have your blog space and have reviewed the above information, you can start posting in the blog by hovering the mouse over ‘+ New’ at the top of the page. Select ‘Post’ and start editing your post. Don’t forget to choose a category when you post as that helps organize the blog for people who are interested in learning more about a topic (there are categories corresponding to each lesson – you can find them on the right side of the page – you might need to scroll down a bit). Also, don’t forget to add some tags and keywords (typically the theories or concepts you are discussing) to help people search on more specific topics (these can be added below the category).

Everyone is required to behave in a professional and friendly manner. The blog administrator reserves the right to remove spam and/or derogatory comments. Everyone is also encouraged to put social media buttons in their posts (such as a Twitter button) to help share your information.

If you have any questions, please contact: Daniel Elbich at dbe5007@psu.edu