Some reading and blogging for next week

I hope you are all having fun tinkering with the look of your blogs.  Having technical issues?  Hopefully I can help you with some resources below.

But first, here is some reading to get you ready for next week when we will spend some time talking about the qualities of good science writing.  We will also be visited by Michael Randolph, journalism professor and advisor for AU's WRDL radio station.

• Don't Be Such a Scientist pages 49-80
• Pages 26-30 in Deborah Blum's A Field Guide for Science Writers (this was the handout you received in class today)
• A recent post on science writing by prominent science writer Carl Zimmer

And I have your first blogging assignment.  Start surfing some science blogs and pick your two favorites.  How do you find science blogs?  You can start by clicking on the links to blogs listed on the right side of this page.  Those blogs will themselves have links, and so on, and so on.  This way you will be moving through a vast network of blogs, and can discover some very popular sites and some hidden gems.  You can also check out the high-profile blogs mentioned in the article from The Scientist that you read this past week.

Once you have selected your two favorite blogs, your assignment is to write a short post to your own blog (with the awesome name that you came up with today) naming them and explaining what it is that you like about them.  The purpose for this assignment is to get you checking out the science blogosphere and to get some technical practice with using Blogger as a platform.  And try to make your post entertaining (something will talk more about next week).  This is an individual assignment, so each of you should add your own post to your group blog.

Now for the technical stuff:

• Here is a YouTube video on posting to Blogger.
• Be sure to proof your posts.  There is no reason for typos.
• Use hyperlinks to link directly to other webpages.  The video above will show you how.
• Got questions?  Leave them as a comment below to this post and I will answer them here.  Be sure to check back for the answers.

Good luck, and ask before you get too frustrated with anything.  People's grandmothers are blogging.  You can too.