A submission to the class blog should contain the following elements
- Wesleyan-related Content
Only Wesleyan-related content will be posted to the blog.
- Substantive title
Titles matter. A substantive, well-written title will invite the reader to click through and read your post.
- Copy-edited post
Don’t just send an email stating: “I’m holding a workshop on Sunday. Spread the word!” Instead, please provide copy-edited text, written for a general audience, describing your event. Do not expect your blog post to be written for you.
- Contact information
Make sure that you identify yourself and your office in your submission and provide the reader with contact information.
- Links
If your office or the event you are promoting has a webpage, provide the URL.
- An image
While an image is not required, it will make your submission more attractive. It is also possible embed YouTube videos, audio files, Google maps, and PowerPoint slideshows into a post.If you submit an image, do not simply cut-and-paste it into the body of your text. This requires the image to be manually extracted from your document and then converted into “blog friendly” format. Instead, send your image as a separate file with a distinct name (i.e. “workshop.jpg” not “IMG_2386.JPG”). Also, be aware that blog images can be no wider than 600 pixels, so make sure your image will still be legible when shrunk down to this size.
Dos and Don’ts
- Keep it simple
Send your submission in plain text without fancy formatting. The use of boldface is acceptable, but do not use italics, do not use ALL CAPs, do not use fancy font faces, do not use multiple font sizes, do not use colored text and do not use underlined text. These typographical conventions work well on paper, but they do not work on a blog and should be avoided.
- Do not submit a .pdf or .jpeg of a poster
The fancy poster you had professionally designed may look great when printed on an 11×14 inch sheet of paper, but the text will become illegible when your poster is shrunk to fit on the blog. Moreover, because the information about your event is represented through an image rather than through text, your poster (i.e. your event) will be invisible to search engines.
- Do not send your submission at the last minute
For all the obvious reasons, this is not an effective way to communicate. Keep in mind, however, that if you send your submission early, it can be postdated and automatically published on a later date.