Blogging Across the Curriculum

Writing for Weblogs

There are as many styles and voices as there are webloggers. The trick is to find your own and make the most of it. You go about this in the same way that you do for any sort of writing. You read a lot of good writing and you read closely. Meaning, of course, that you pay attention to and reflect on the details. Who are you drawn to? What is it about their writing that you like or that keeps you coming back?

Then when it comes to writing your posts, be sure to rewrite, edit, read it to yourself out loud, and proofread carefully. Now you can press the “Publish” button.

 

 

Writing Sites

Creative Nonfiction

Advice on Academic Writing

Yahoo! Directory Literature > Creative Writing

Bartleby.com

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

Poets & Writers, Inc.  

Visual Journal Lounge

Conversations Within

Leaving A Trace

Writing The Journey

diarist.net  

Center for Digital Storytelling 

 


Weblog Writing Links

A List Apart: How to Write a Better Weblog:
“After posting my own short list of things that ought to be banned from weblogs, I realized that a list of things to be encouraged would be more useful. Some people are new to weblogging. Others want to raise the bar. In the end, everybody wants better sites, and some of these suggestions might help.”
Dennis A. Mahoney

A List Apart: 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web
“Every revision requires new writing, new words that become the essence of the site. Living sites are only as good as today’s update. If the words are dull, nobody will read them, and nobody will come back. If the words are wrong, people will be misled, disappointed, infuriated. If the words aren’t there, people will shake their heads and lament your untimely demise.”
Mark Bernstein

The Weblog Handbook: Weblog Ethics
“Weblogs are the mavericks of the online world. Two of their greatest strengths are their ability to filter and disseminate information to a widely dispersed audience, and their position outside the mainstream of mass media. Beholden to no one, weblogs point to, comment on, and spread information according to their own, quirky criteria.”
Rebecca Blood

Writing about Design

Concrete
“Yet, while designers use drawings and images to portray our ideas, it is difficult to deny that we also use words. Oftentimes, the precision of our words becomes more important than drawing as we attempt to explain our ideas to others as well as to ourselves. Because language is so very important in all phases of the design process, and because language is often and most importantly transmitted via the written word, it is surprising that in our design education, writing is not a seminal part of the curriculum.”
Student Publication at UC Berkeley

Writing about Art

How to Write About Art
“Students often think that they are writing for the teacher, but this is a misconception; when you write, you are the teacher. An essay on art is an attempt to help someone to see the work as you see it.”
(Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing About Art)
From Patricia Kieft's Art History Site