Three Ways to Impress Me With Your Final Project (COM 130)

First, let me say how excited I am about your final project ideas! I cannot wait to read your blogs! They will actually make grading fun, to say the least. Since we only have one more day together, :( I wanted to write a post that gives you a little more advice and information about your project, in particular, what will impress me.

Use Your Voice - the YOU Factor

The hardest part for any media creators like you is to find your own voice. There is no shortage of information available to you online about your given topic, but what do YOU have to say? What can YOU contribute? What knowledge do YOU have to give your classmates? And don't say, "none", because we all are experts on something! Don't sell yourself short.

Many of you wanted to do a fan-type blog, and that is fine too, tons of people have chosen that route in the blogosphere today. I'd like to reiterate that if you do make a fan site, be sure to add a disclaimer somewhere, and be very careful about using copyrighted content. But most importantly, what can YOU add to the conversation? What about YOU makes you the right person to provide commentary on the television show or musician you have chosen?

Using Lists in Your Posts

One way to jazz up a blog entry is to include a list. For example, "Seven Ways to Impress Professor Falk" could be a title of a post, followed by numbered examples and information in your blog. This does two things for you. First, it makes your content easy for your readers to quickly digest. Second, it helps you organize and hone in on your blog topic for that day. Of course, while this is a great idea for some posts, be careful not to overdo it. Your readers may get annoyed. Here are a few other examples off the top of my head:

"Ten Ways to Avoid the Freshman 15"

"Five Things I Learned My First Semester in College"

"Six Ways to Help You Wake Up for 8:00 Classes"

You get the idea...

Multimedia Elements

You've heard me rant about these all semester...audio, photographs and video!  Anytime  you can incorporate these elements and add to your discussion, it only enhances what you are trying to say.  It shows me you have done research on your topic to see what else is out there.  I can always tell who is going to earn an "A" on a blog post--I typically end up spending forever checking out their links!

Just a reminder, on Friday (our last class day), I will explain how to add a LinkedIn badge to your page, as well as how to use Google Analytics.  There will also be some time to work on any technical issues you may be having.  See you then!