Author Archives: atg5124

Blogspiration

First off, it’s awesome to see so many of you asking for advice on how to improve you blog performance. I really appreciated the the TAs’ advice when I was in your shoes, but I found that I got even more out of reading actual blogs that earned A’s and extra credit. That being said, here’s a little blogspiration (blog inspiration) to jump start your A+++ blogging.

Andrew picked out a few exceptional blogs to highlight during my semester and I think they’re still really helpful today. Oldies, but goodies.

Best of Fall 2013’s Blog Period 1

Best of Fall 2013’s Blog Period 2

Best of Fall 2013’s Blog Period 3

What makes a blog extra credit worthy

Another resource is a post a wrote earlier this semester where I lay out everything that made me a successful SC200 blogger.

Blogging 101

Hope this helps! As always, feel free to comment on this post or email me at atg5124@psu.edu with any questions or concerns. See ya in class!

Didn’t do so hot on Exam 1, huh?

So you bombed Exam 1 too? Same. I’m going to take a wild guess and say that, like me, you were not exactly pleased when you saw your 60%. I felt sad, annoyed, and, to be honest, pretty dumb. I don’t want this for you guys, so I’m hoping that what I have to say will ease your mind and give you hope and motivation for the rest of the semester. Let me give an example to illustrate what I want to say about the exams in this class.

Think about a high school swim team where you have a certain amount of meets to qualify for Regionals. If you’re new to the team, you have a few weeks of practice before you’re thrown in a pool for your first meet. There’s no way you beat the time required to move on. Once the second meet rolls around, another few weeks of practice has caused you to shave a second off of your time. By the third meet, you’re even closer to the time. Finally, at the last meet before Regionals, after months of training, you qualify.

That’s how this class usually works. Just how working to master the same strokes throughout the season helps you qualify, working to master the same concepts throughout the course helps you get an A. Non-science majors in what is probably their first college-level science course simply haven’t had the training necessary to get an A on the first exam or blogging period. But, with the rest of the opportunities this course offers you to practice, you will be equipped to “qualify.”

Please do not be discouraged by your low exam grade. Like Andrew, Brennan, and I have said before, Andrew structures his class to reward improvement. If you continue to focus during lectures, practice taking exams/writing blogs, and attend upcoming exam and blogging review sessions, I’m confident that you’ll end up with a grade that reflects your hard work. And remember, you get to drop two of the four exam scores? Hopefully you feel at least a little better after the terror that is Exam 1. Don’t hesitate to comment on this blog or email me at atg5124@psu.edu with any questions or concerns. Good luck with Exam 2!

Amanda

 

Blogging 101

Hi everyone! Amanda here. I’m sure you all understand how crucial your digital expression is to your final grade in this class, so, as your TA, I wanted to write a post to help guide you through your blogging.

Choosing your topic

If you’re as unsciencey as I was as a Science 200 student, choosing a science-related topic that you can write 500 words about seems like a daunting task. Below is a list of tips for picking your topic.

  1. Let topics find you. Personally, nothing that came up on my “science toipcs” Google searches ever really sparked my interest. Going through my days with a curious eye is what led me to write this blog chosen for Andrew’s own post about good blogging. An uncharacteristically low exam score after two weeks of homesickness led me to wonder whether or not there was a relationship between homesickness and academics, and, more importantly to me, whether or not a trip home would cause my grades to improve. Knocking out a blog post and planning my weekend? Win.
  2. Another way to kill two blogs with one stone is to write a blog series. If you check out another one of my blogs recommended by Andrew, you’ll see what I mean. Since I let my topic find me, I was far more interested in it. I saved the time it took me to research two topics and was able bang out two A+ posts in a lot less time.

Writing your blog

A lot of you have asked me how to proceed once you’ve chosen your topic. Here’s how I structured most of my best blogs.

  1. Explain what made you come up with the topic and raise the question that made you choose it.
  2. Give a little background info on the topic. Consider what is already known, what is still unknown, and people’s differing opinions about it. Add live links to sources of any information that is not obvious to the general public to avoid plagiarism issues and take care of the live link requirement.
  3. Choose a study that you would like to analyze and state how it was conducted. Apply concepts you learn in class such as direct and reverse causality, the possibility of chance, confounding variables, dependent and independent variables, retrospective or prospective studies, and other concepts to come. Side note: don’t be afraid to choose a study that is different from what you originally believe. It can make for a more interesting critique and it can also pay off to admit afterward that your initial opinion was not supported.
  4. Evaluate the methods by which the data were collected. Was it well-conducted, convincing study? How could the study be improved to make the findings more convincing? Think about what makes a good study: large sample size, double blind, no biases, timeline etc.
  5. Take the facts you found during research (remembering how reliable you just decided they were) and form your own opinion on the answer to the question. Since chance is always a possibility, I would stay away from 100% absolutely definite conclusions. It’s also okay to say that you’re still unsure what conclusions to draw given the available data!
  6. Remember that Andrew intends for the blogs to spark comments. A good blog leaves its readers with something to think about and respond to.

I really hope this clarifies some things for you guys. Please never hesitate to comment on this blog or email me at atg5124@psu.edu with any questions you might have. Happy blogging!