Unit 4 Assignment: Expressing Yourself Informally
For the Unit 4 Assignment, you will write a 1 – 1 and ½ page double spaced informal and personal blog post on
an issue that is in some way relevant to your field of study and that you have personal experience with.
According to The Social Psychology Network, a blog, “short for “web log,” is an online journal or record of
sequential postings with news, commentary, or other material” (2017). Like an essay, a blog post establishes
and develops a clear point about a topic or issue. Depending on the topic, audience, and purpose, a blog can
be formal or informal. A blog written by an individual, for example, tends to be about his or her experience with
the topic and is written in first person.
Imagine for this assignment that you have created your own blog site and that you are writing a post for your
blog site. This specific blog post should establish a clear main point about your chosen topic, use your
personal experience to develop that main point, and establish a connection with your audience through
showing them how your experience might be of value in helping them in some way.
Examples might include:
• If you are in the medical field and have experience with taking care of family members who are sick,
you might write a blog post to other caretakers who are tending to family members, perhaps showing
them a way they can avoid the stress that caretaking will create for them.
• If you are in the law enforcement field, though you may not have experience with being a police
officer, you might use your experience as a parent to write to other parents about what they might do
to help their children to not get involved in gangs, if you have any relevant experience with it or know
people who have.
•
Generating Ideas for Your Blog Post Topic: •
• Talk with others: classmates, friends and family, WC Tutors, your instructors.
• Review this document for links to blogs and articles in your field of study. Writers often identify
something they want to write about by responding to what others have written. You might read a blog
post about the causes of homelessness in the US and then write your own blog post to people in your
community suggesting a way they might help solve this problem in your community.
You will also be engaging in Discussion Board activities in Units 3 and 4 to help you in your writing process.
If you are in the field of education, you may not be an experienced teacher with a degree, but you no
doubt have experience either as a student or parent and could write a blog post to other first year
college students, offering them a suggestion for how to manage their time or avoid procrastination on
assignments.
Brainstorm your experiences-what personal experiences do you have with issues of ANY sort that are
in some way related to your field of study?
• In Unit 3 DB, you will post as many possible topic ideas as you want. Posting your possible topics,
audience and purpose allows you to get feedback from your instructor and classmates. This feedback
will help you make any necessary adjustments before you move to the drafting stage.
•
Be sure that your Unit 4 Assignment meets the following requirements:
• Focuses on one specific point about the issue being written about
• Uses personal experience to develop ideas, avoid research
• Connects with the audience and establishes relevance of the topic to them
• Demonstrates substantial revision of the Unit 4 DB post draft
• Uses appropriate informal language, depending upon topic, audience and purpose
• Is organized into 3-5 well developed paragraphs, 1 to 1 and ½ double spaced pages
• Utilizes transition devices to connect ideas
• Applies Standard American English and avoids distracting grammar and punctuation errors
• Demonstrates 6th Edition APA formatting, including title page •
APA FORMATTING VIDEO
Find out how your instructor will grade your Unit 4 Assignment by reviewing the rubric.
Review a sample student Assignment.
Submitting your Unit 4 Assignment:
Remember that you must use Microsoft Word for this and all projects submitted for this class. When you are
ready to submit the Assignment, go to the Unit 4 Assignment Dropbox and complete the steps below:
● Click the link that says Submit an Assignment.
● In the Submit to Basket menu, select Unit 4: Assignment Dropbox.
● In the Comments field, make sure to add at least the title of your paper.
● Click the Add Attachments button.
● Follow the steps listed to attach your Microsoft Word document.
● To view your graded work, come back to the Dropbox or go to the Gradebook after your instructor has
evaluated it.
In Unit 4 DB, you will post a draft of your blog post and a plan for revising this draft. The feedback you
receive from your instructor and classmates will help you to revise and strengthen your Blog Post and
prepare it for submission as your Unit 4 Assignment.
Cites any and all use of source information (quotes, ideas, paraphrases) both in the References page
and in-text where the source is used