Author Archives: klm5866

Take 3: The Last Blog Period

Leave a reply

So you’ve made it to the final blog period. You can finally breathe that sigh of relief. If you’re happy with one of the grades you received in a previous blog period, the good news is that you don’t have to frantically post any last minute blogs (which you shouldn’t be doing anyway, but I understand it’s a stressful time). For those of you that haven’t gotten satisfactory blog grades, you have this entire period to change that. Many of you are concerned with posting more blogs, but that’s only a small portion of what makes up your grade. You also want to make your final shot at blogging good.

So how, during that final stretch, do you write an A-worthy blog?

Andrew has posted plenty of examples of well-written, well-thought blogs that you can model your posts after. But it’s also essential to look back at the comments you received alongside your previous blog grades. Maybe your comments say you need to cite more sources. Or that you need a question at the end of your post. Putting those suggestions into action can highly affect your grade.

You may also want to look at your previous blogs and compare them to the grading rubric on ANGEL. Go through each category and try to look at your posts objectively. Your strengths could lie in the quantity section of the rubric, but if you’re lacking in the content section of the rubric, your whole grade will suffer. Look at your blogs from a professor’s eyes: Does this show that I put time and effort into my research, that I care about the topic?

As always, feel free to ask me or Ethan questions. I’m happy to look at drafts (if sent well in advance before the blog period ends) and send you back some feedback.

Good luck, and happy blogging! 😀

Ask Questions

Leave a reply

Looking at your blogs, it seems that half of you are asking open questions at the end of your posts. Make sure that you ask in depth questions–a large portion of your blog grade comes from comments, so give your classmates a chance to respond to something concrete. Something other than a “yes” or “no” question is preferable.

In addition, while you guys are looking up very interesting articles and doing great research, try not to just present the facts. I mean, it’s easy enough to google the difference between organic and non-organic food, but your job is to take a certain angle on it. I’ve found that writing blogs from an “either/or” standpoint works best. So there may be a food that is good for our bodies, but has negative effects on the environment.

I know I’ve stressed human behavior blogs, but for those interested in psychology, those posts work great because we cannot reach a definitive decision about what motivates each individual. We can make close estimations, but there is a constant grey area. For instance, being in college, I’m sure many of you have thought about what it means to be successful and how we can motivate ourselves to keep pushing? This triggers the question: are we more likely to be successful from fear of failing (i.e. not being able to find a job/house/marriage) or from passion for a certain activity/the need to follow that career?

Food for thought. Maybe some of you can blog about it. It’s a question that has been bugging me for weeks.

Happy blogging! 🙂

A Source of Inspiration

Leave a reply

As you guys begin the first blogging period, you may be wondering what sources, or how many you need to include in your post. While you don’t want to bog down the class with tons of information, it is actually easier to write a good blog post when using more than one source–you may find yourself summarizing an article if that’s your only source.

I’ve found that two sources per post often work best. And these sources do not have to agree with each other. In fact, I encourage you to find two competing articles, then to draw your own conclusions about which side provided the strongest evidence. You don’t have to be 100% sure that this side is flawless (remember, this class often deals more with questions than concrete answers).

Many news articles and science journals are okay to use, but do try to stay away from sources like Wikipedia–that’s a great starting point, but it’s safer to include more reputable sources. Which yes, you must cite (doesn’t have to be MLA format…just make sure you include links to the articles you’ve mentioned).

And just to get you guys thinking about science, here is one of my favorite YouTubers–Charlieissocoollike–talking about parallel universes:

Easy A–How to Get One

Leave a reply

A+.jpegWelcome to Science 200! I’m Kira, one of your TA’s. I took this class last fall–Like some of you, I was nervous about taking on a subject that was not my strong suit, but I found myself excited to blog because the posts were exercises in strong writing and critical thinking in addition to science.

I know. Seeing as this is a GenEd, you want to ask, “is this class easy?” The answer is no. You will have to do outside research. You will have to make connections that are not always visible at first glance. But  I can assure you, while this class requires much thought and effort, Andrew’s lectures are fascinating enough to make up for the hours of squinting at your computer. No, seriously. Sometimes you even get to watch videos of bugs eating each other. It’s fun stuff.

As non-science majors, it’s likely that you weren’t exactly fans of science in high school. And I cannot stress enough how much enjoying chemistry is not necessary to enjoy this class. Yes, you are in a science class. However, science isn’t limited to lab coats and words that are hard to spell. There is an infinite number of topics that you could relate back to problem solving, critical thinking and realizing how much we don’t know. That’s all relevant to professional scientists, and it’s relevant to you as a human.

So, the real question, how do you get an A on the blogs?

–Start off by going to class and listening to the lectures. While you may still want to use outside sources to get started on your blog, connecting them back to class material is both interesting and impressive. Look for general concepts in both the article and the lecture. Maybe in class, if you’re learning about if prayer heals, you could find articles on meditation and tie them together in a blog about biological effects of spiritual practice.

–Write about topics that interest you
It can be difficult to find inspiration for the blogs. I’ve found that discussions from classes for my major often relate back to science. If you’re reading about a particular experiment in a novel, search for similar experiments that have been done in real life. Your major doesn’t even have to be science-y for this to work. I’m an English major, and I took concepts from writing/reading courses as inspiration for my blogs. Philosophical topics often fit well into the theme of this course. The topic does not have to scream “hey look at me! I’m science!” in order to be relevant.

–Discuss challenging concepts
A good blog post should not be easily answered with “yes” or “no.” Try to find questions that even professional scientists are still pondering. We all know that soda is bad for you, but how much of our behavior can we attribute to nature/nurture? (Human behavior blogs are often well received). Don’t be afraid to take on controversy. Challenge and be challenged.

–Offer a differing perspective/source on comments
Your comments should go deeper than “I really liked this post!” or “interesting idea!” Your comments should reflect that you’ve read and thought about the post, and that you’ve thought farther about the concept. I’d suggest posting links to a separate article on the comment, and then explain how it fits into the original blog post. Or discuss a class you’ve had that also discovered the topic at hand, and how the material differed from the blog post.

–Ask a question at the end of your post
This is absolutely essential. One major point of these blogs is to open up conversation. Invite people to comment with differing perspectives.

-Try to blog at least once a week
Quality beats quantity, but do try to keep up with your number of blogs. Two well thought out blogs per week isn’t an outrageous amount of work, but it shows that you’re keeping up with the course.

-Don’t wait until the last blogging period!
Yes, only one blog period counts towards your grade. But it is very unlikely that you well get the grade you want on the first try (which also means don’t get discouraged–I got a C on my first blogging period). Use the comments on your first blog grade to improve on your second. But if you wait until you have no chance of improving based on feedback, it’s WAY more likely your blogs will be a bit of a train wreck. And nobody likes train wrecks.

If you have any questions/concerns, feel free to email me at klm5866@psu.edu.

Happy blogging!