How to blog here

The purpose of the Reader and Text blog is to share ideas and links related to the practice or theory of critical reading and writing. If you belong to the Reader and Text group at English @ SUNY Geneseo, you’re welcome to contribute.

A post can be a few words plus a link or embedded video, or it can be a couple of paragraphs. It should be of interest to the group as a whole. It can contain some personal reflection or indicate a particular point of view, but it shouldn’t read like an entry in a personal diary.

Consider your audience:  the whole community of folks at SUNY Geneseo (and perhaps beyond) who read, interpret, and seek significant connections among texts. Say something or point to something that you think the community will find interesting. The bar isn’t terribly high. Don’t worry whether what you have to say is “important” enough. Just be sure to keep it relevant to the community’s common interest.

If you’re in a section of the course “Reader and Text,” your post can engage the particular topic of your section, but it should do so in a way that looks outward from that topic to more general questions about texts, readers, and reading: the community’s common interest.

Blogging has become its own genre of writing. Typical blog style is informal, and that’s what’s in order here. If you write the way you would for an essay assignment, you’re likely to sound stiff. But informality is no excuse for sloppiness: be thoughtful about spelling, usage, punctuation, and the rhythm of your prose.

And take the time to follow the most important blogging conventions that have emerged in this new genre: for example, link by selecting text and entering the URL with the link button in the edit box’s toolbar (rather than dropping a long, ugly URL right into the middle of a paragraph); whenever possible, embed videos and images rather than simply linking to them; assign a category and some labels to your post.

Above all, though, have a good time writing.