Mrs. Wright 2020 English IV Blog

For the next blog you will have complete freedom to explore any aspect of your topic that you find interesting. Ideas: Focus on one of the key players in your issue.  A researcher, famous person, victim, etc.   Define a key term for your topic. Explore a historical event that led to a current situation. Do a pro/con analysis of one aspect of your issue. Deeply research one aspect of your topic. Read an essay and/or editorial and reflect on the author’s ideas. As always, the blog needs to be 300-500 words and have two correctly cited sources. Remember, you are working towards a research paper, so as you pick a topic think about the big question that you want to explore for your research paper and select something for this blog that helps you answer that question.

A personal story makes your history, statistics and analysis come alive - this is why they are an important element in a research report. For this blog I want you to find a personal story to help illustrate your topic.  This can be a victim, a historical anecdote, someone who is doing the research or even someone who make previous breakthroughs.  Tell their story. As always, the post needs to be 300-500 words and include two citations, however, I am going to live the academic research requirement for this blog. How to Share Your Story

Understanding your issue is one of the first steps to writing any type of research paper. Remember that each post must include:  Two properly cited academic sources (Cite within the text and also in the Works Cited section at the bottom of your blog. Include the url.) 300-500 words An image (In this blog that will probably be a chart.) You are being graded on: The depth of your research (the reader should learn from your blog) Level of professionalism (grammar and spelling, word choice, etc.) This blog from a few years ago has a post that talks about the dropout rate for black and Latino youth that can serve as an example.  http://juanenglishivblog.blogspot.com/

One of the most important aspects of research is to understand different sides of an issue. For this blog, you will be reading two essays or articles about your topic and evaluating the ideas presented.  Both of the articles/essays should be from reliable and/or academic sources and should be long enough to fully develop an idea. This blog post will need to be 300-400 words. Be sure to cite your two articles within the text as well as in a Works Cited section at the bottom of your blog (include the URL in your citation).   Ideas for this blog include: research one conflict related to your topic and choose a pro and a con article (http://www.procon.org is a resource) choose one recent article and another from a few years ago and compare how the two authors discuss the issue as it relates to their time/place compare how two authors from different countries/cultures discuss an issue compare how a liberal and a conservative publication cover an event Look at L...

Follow up from last week 1) Make sure your URL is under the comments section of my first blog post. 2) Make sure that you have a background post published that includes a general overview of your topic and three BIG questions that you hope to answer or use to guide your research.  Click on "view blog" to see if your post was published correctly.  Wikileaks This week we will start researching our topics and for that you will need to visit the library website. Research Your Topic How to get a library card: Go to: https://www.gcpld.org/about-us/branches/glenwood-springs-branch-library If you have a card, put your number in here. If you don’t have a card (or don’t have it with you), click on “get a card” and complete the form. Save the number!  You will need it for all the blog assignments. How to find an academic article: What is an academic article?  Academic (or scholarly) articles are articles that have been peer-reviewed befor...

"Blog" comes from two words: web log. Get it?   The purpose of your blog is to inform each other. This is important: your audience is the other students in this class. You need to carefully select information and present it in interesting ways that will help other students to understand and make decisions about their world-- don't waste their time! So, what should you write in your first blog? An introduction! Not about you, but about your topic-- tell us: the background information you know about this topic, your reasons for choosing this topic, and then give 3-5 BIG questions you hope to explore and maybe answer during your research this semester. Remember that a BIG question does not have an easy yes or no or factual answer. A BIG questions makes you think and really have to dig in to figure it out. When you're done with your 1st blog post create your user profile, play with your settings and layout, view your blog, help your friends, leave a comment on ...