COMM 310 - Project Sheet: Blogging (Weeks 2-7)

Introduction

Blogging is the most consistent assignment throughout the course because frequent writing is the best way to practiceyour writing skills. Beginning in Week 2, you will write and publish five blog posts on your website each week. In cases where a website isn’t being used, you can post your blogs on your Google drive.

Instruction

● To receive full credit, you must...

○ Post one entry five days of every week from Week 2 through Week 7. If you post two entries on one day, you will only receive credit for one post.

○ Write to the required prompts. Most weeks have 1-3 specific writing prompts which will ask you toreflect upon and apply spiritual or professional topics or concepts. This means you’ll write on a topic of your choice for the remaining 2-4 posts. This will help you write to required specifications and also create your own content.

○ Write at your best ability, respond to the prompt, and be creative. There is no required word countfor these entries. The more you put into them, the better you will become. Remember, these posts may be seen by future employers or clients.

○ Use correct grammar.

● Student’s Choice Writing Prompts: If you need help coming up with topics for blog posts that are your own choice, read 1000 Writing Prompts for Students by the New York Times.

● Due Dates: The majority of the time, all blogs for the given week are due Saturday by midnight.

● Point Value: Each daily post is worth 2 points for a total of 10 points per week and 60 points in the semester. Although this does not reflect a massive percentage of your grade, it is the activity that will yield themost significant results if you take it seriously and give it your best effort on a consistent, frequent basis.

● Deep Dive: If you want to become proficient writers, you need to practice! Writing every single day will accelerate your progress. You won’t receive extra credit points for writing more than five times per week, but your skill and ability will improve.

Writing Prompts

● Student’s Choice Writing Prompts: If students need help coming up with topics for blog posts that are their own choice, they can read 1000 Writing Prompts for Students by the New York Times.

● Required Writing Prompts:

○ Spiritual prompts give you an opportunity to reflect on spiritual principles and apply them to your personal and/or professional life. After the semester ends and the final website project is graded, you mayremove any posts from the blog that you do not want to share with prospective employers or clients.

○ Professional prompts give you an opportunity to make connections between concepts you’re learningand your professional life, or to reflect on topics that will affect you as a professional writer in a communication career.

Writing Prompt Topics

Following is a comprehensive list of writing prompts for the semester. Feel free to think about the upcoming topics so youhave plenty of time to formulate your posts; however, remember that you must post at least one post five days each week.

● Week 2 (Assignment 2.7)

○ Spiritual prompt: D&C 1:24 - God speaks to us in our own language so we can understand. Goodcommunication requires us to know who we are speaking to and how to speak in a way they can understand.

○ Professional prompt: How does knowing your audience affect your writing?

○ Professional prompt: Why is professional writing important? Looking through the syllabus, what do you anticipate gaining from this class?

○ Student’s choice

● Week 3 (Assignment 3.5)

○ Spiritual prompt: Article of Faith 13 - Discussion: How do we use this article of faith to guide our decisions in what we create and consume?

○ Professional prompt: What did you learn writing your video script that you didn’t know before?

○ Professional prompt: How would you explain the significance of having a video script/storyboard to an employer who doesn’t know what it is?

○ Student’s choice

● Week 4 (Assignment 4.8)

○ Spiritual prompt: D&C 4:1-3 - What ways have you seen social media be used as a marvelous work? What role do you want to play in using it for the service of God?

○ Professional prompt: Which social media platform do you consider most powerful and why?

○ Professional prompt: What did you learn in your social media posts that you’d do differently if you could go back?

○ Student’s choice

● Week 5 (Assignment 5.9)

○ Spiritual prompt: Quote by Gordon B. Hinckley: “Each of us can do a little better than we have been doing. We can be a little more kind. We can be a little more merciful. We can be a little more forgiving. Wecan put behind us our weaknesses of the past, and go forth with new energy and increased resolution to improve the world about us, in our homes, in our places of employment, in our social activities.”

■ How can we apply editing principles to living the gospel?

○ Professional prompt: In your opinion, what strengths does feature writing have over news writing? What weaknesses?

○ Professional prompt: What impact has frequent blog writing had on you so far?

○ Student’s choice

● Week 6 (Assignment 6.9)

○ Spiritual prompt: Quote by Joseph Smith: “When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what pow’r it has over my mind. … The nearer we get to our heavenly Father, the more are we dispos’d to look with compassion on perishing souls—[we feel that we want] to take them upon our shoulders and cast their sins behind our back… if you would have God have mercy on you, have mercy on one another.”

■ How do you think the quote above relates to news writing?

○ Professional prompt: In your opinion, what makes something newsworthy vs. only sensational?

○ Professional prompt: What impact has interviewing had on you?

○ Student’s choice

● Week 7 (Assignment 7.7)

○ Professional prompt: What major takeaways did you learn from your newsletter assignments?

○ Professional prompt: Which project has been your favorite this semester? Have any of them affected your plans for your career?

○ Student’s choice