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BLOG POSTS

SESSION 5

©Gonzalo Camina 2021

NOTE TO STUDENTS

Students from the below groups will receive PIN numbers via email weekly to access activities on my iDoceo Connect platform and submit their exercises for correction.

200, 202E, 209S, 215, 220B, 268, 269, 276

The solutions to exercises will be published when the above groups have submitted them.

STRUCTURE

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- Contents:

1. Emojis
1. Emoji news
2. Project Skills: How to write a good blog post
2. Ready for success quiz
3. Social media
3. Is social media replacing our 'real relationships' or adding to it?
4. Captions
4. Instagram captions
5. Project check

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DECIDE ON YOUR TOPIC!!

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- Email your teacher to say who you are working with, the title and topic of your blog.

- If you do not have a team, email your teacher and s/he will find you one.

I. EMOJIS

A. Emoji news

Look at the following emoji news stories. Can you guess what strange news story the emoji tell?

Check answers

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IN-CLASS

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In small groups, discuss your ideas, write your guesses in the boxes below, and then share them with the rest of the class.

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DISTANCE LEARNING

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Send your guesses to your teacher, using the dedicated iDoceo Connect platform (only for groups specified above).

II. PROJECT SKILLS

How to write a good blog post

1. Writing a blog post, like all other writing, is a skill. To keep your reader interested, you should think about the structure of your copy and write appealing texts. If people understand and like your text, they are much more inclined to share, like, tweet and link to your post.
2. Brainstorm the following questions with your group / the rest of the class:
• As a reader, what do you expect from a good blog?
• What tips would you give to someone who would like to start writing a blog?
3. Consider the examples of blogs displayed on the board. Do you think they are good or bad? Justify your answers.
4. Here is a recap of elementary writing tips on writing blog posts that are both readable and user-friendly.

GET READY!

1. Think before you write!

Think hard about the message of your text. What do you want to tell your readers or which central question do you want to ask? What’s the purpose of your text? And what do you want your readers to do at the end of the page? Write down the answers to these questions before you begin writing.

2. Write down the structure of your blog post

Start your post with creating a clear structure. Every post should have:

• some sort of introduction (in which you introduce your topic);
• a body (in which the main message is written);
• a conclusion (which should summarize the most important ideas or deduce some new idea).

Write down what you want to write in all these three sections. You now have a kind of summary of your post. The real writing can begin.

ORGANIZE your IDEAS

3. Use paragraphs

Everybody uses paragraphs, but make sure to use paragraphs that make sense. Do not start a new sentence on a new line, just because it looks nice. There should be a reason for making a new paragraph. Every paragraph should have a main idea or a main subject. Ask yourself what the main idea of each paragraph is. You should be able to grasp that main idea in only one sentence. If you need more sentences, you simply need more paragraphs.

4. Use headings

Headings structure the entire page, so you should use headings. They’re important for readability and user-friendliness. Headings help Google to grasp the main topics of a long post and therefore can help in your ranking. If you want people to find their way in your articles, you should use subheadings. Subheadings will lead people, help them scan your page, and clarify the structure of your articles. Make sure you use your keywords in some subheadings. Not in each and every one of them though, as it will make the text unreadable.

LINK your IDEAS

5. Use signal words

Signal words help people to scan through your text and help people to grasp the main idea. Let’s say, for instance, that there are three reasons for people to buy your product. You should use signal words like: ‘first of all’; ‘secondly’ and ‘finally’. Also, words like ‘nevertheless’, ‘surely’ and ‘indeed’ give a clear signal to your readers. Readers will instantly get that a conclusion will follow after words like ‘consequently’, ’so’ or ‘for this reason’. Signal words are therefore very important to structure your text.

BE USER-FRIENDLY

6. Let other people read your post

Before publishing your post, let someone else read your post first. Ask him/her whether he understands the main idea of your post. Correct typos and sentences that aren’t formulated correctly.

7. Optimize the length of your article

Make sure your articles have a minimum of 300 words. Google likes long articles, if your article is too long though, it might scare away users. So try to stop at around 700 words. And, as a general rule of thumb: try to put your search terms in about 1 to 2 percent of your text. So in an article of 300 words, you should mention your search terms 3 to 6 times

8. Link to previous content

If you already wrote some content about the topic of your current post, don’t forget to link to these posts. It will make your post stronger because you show some authority on the subject. Next to that, your link structure is important for your ranking in Google as well. And of course, your reader might be interested in these related posts too

Adapted from https://yoast.com/seo-friendly-blog-post/

Click here to see previous years' blogs for inspiration

QUIZ

B. Ready for success?

Answer the following questions based on the previous tips.

1. True or False? Inspiration strikes at the weirdest moments, so as soon as you get inspired you should down you post. Readers like it more this way.

a. True, genius artists are like this

b. False, everybody needs a plan

2. Right or Wrong? I'm very passionate about my blog and all my ideas are structured in my head, so I am ready to start writing.

a. Right, go ahead

b. Wrong, you're too cool for school

3. All posts should have...

a. A good introduction and a conclusion

b. An inspiring introduction, because otherwise readers will not finish reading the post

c. An introduction, main message and conclusion

4. There's no need to summarize posts at the end. It only makes the post longer and more boring.

a. True, who wants to read more about the same?

b. False, it recaps ideas

5. Everybody uses paragraphs, so...

a. I won't. I want to be original and different

b. I will use them in a structured way

c. I will use short paragraphs, so people won't get bored

6. If I need to add more ideas, I will add more ...

a. lines

b. posts

c. paragraphs

d. images

7. They are user friendly and increase clarity when reading.

a. headings

b. paragraphs

c. images

d. tabs

8. Which of the following are not signal words.

a. First of all, Secondly, Finally

b. On the one hand, On the other hand

c. I think, He says, They consider

d. For this reason, So, Consequently

9. Why should you let somebody read your post before publishing it?

a. Because you can see whether they understand or not what you wish to communicate

b. Because they will give you ideas for other posts

c. Because they will tell you whether your post is interesting or not

d. Because they may write their own post based on yours

10. A post should...

a. never be longer than 300 words

b. never be long

c. always be short

d. never be shorter than 300 words

Check answers

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IN-CLASS

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Take the quiz individually and then check your answers with your nearest classmate. Discuss differences.

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DISTANCE LEARNING

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Send your guesses to your teacher, using the dedicated iDoceo Connect platform (only for groups specified above).

III. SOCIAL MEDIA

C. Is social media replacing our 'real relationships' or adding to it?

Watch this talk with Daniel Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute.

Now answer the following questions.

1. What is the social organ of the body?

2. How does Daniel Siegel explain the success of social media?

3. Sum up the two-way interaction between brain and social media.

4. Sum up Daniel Siegel’s comparison of social media and face-to-face relationships using the chart below. Fill in each box using key words or ideas

5. Is Daniel Siegel pessimistic or optimistic about the future?

6. Conclusion: Do you agree with Daniel Siegel’s conclusion?

Check answers

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IN-CLASS

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In small groups, discuss your ideas, write your guesses in the boxes below, and then share them with the rest of the class.

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DISTANCE LEARNING

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Send your guesses to your teacher, using the dedicated iDoceo Connect platform (only for groups specified above).

IV. CAPTIONS

D. Instagram Captions

Choose ONLY ONE of the following pictures and write a caption for it.
Note: Captions on Instagram can be up to 2,200 characters long and include emojis and up to 30 hashtags.

#1

A lightning strike over the province of Batangas during the eruption of the Taal volcano in Philippines, January 2020
©Domcar C Lagto / Pacific Press via Alamy

#2

'The Laughing Dormouse'
©Andrea Zampatti / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards

#3

'Great white, False Bay, June 2012'
©Michael Muller / Taschen

#4

Coronavirus social distancing machine
https://globalnews.ca/news/6812047/coronavirus-toronto-social-distancing-machine/

#5

Ridiculous deaths
Darwin Awards

#6

The Instagram effect: Are pictures of food fuelling obesity?
@Niamh Michail 19-Oct-2015

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IN-CLASS

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In small groups, discuss your ideas, write your captions in the boxes below, and then share them with the rest of the class.

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DISTANCE LEARNING

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Send your caption to your teacher, using the dedicated iDoceo Connect platform (only for groups specified above).

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