Why blog in a COMP 1000 course?

Hi all,

You may be new to blogging, or you may be a veteran. Based on what you read online, you might already associate blogs with the partisan discourse of online politics, the narcissistic discourse of online diaries, or with the technical discourse of collaborative professional communities. Blogs are all these things and more. We are not blogging in this class because it is something brand new (it isn't); we are not blogging because you will need to be able to blog to get a job (in some cases, your blog may hurt your career); and we are not blogging because I want to get you to write more personally (this is besides the point).

We are blogging because, no matter how skilled the writer, maintaining a blog is an effective way to imrpove the author's ability to write effectively, and on the author's ability to engage critically with texts written by others. These are two qualities that any writing class should seek to improve. Writers in past centuries kept what were called"commonplace books"--collections of text drawn from many different sources. Basically, authors wrote down things they read or heard so they could remember them and reflect on them. These passages were copied down to be remembered for future use, to be used as evidence in future arguments, or as models for future writing.

Commonplace books were effective means of imrpoving one's writing because writing is not a skill one can improve by writing occasionally--you really have to make it a habit. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea" should be your motto if you want to improve your writing: "Not a day without a line." Besides encouraging you to write daily, our blogging will also be used to facilitate class discussion and to share resources you can use this semester and in the future. Along the way, we'll be able to explore first-hand the following:

• How to track your own writing process so you don't lose key insights or resources
• How to enable critical reflection
• How to produce and disseminate writing to the public sphere
• How to establish an appropriate ethos in your writing
• How to network (on the network) with peers

Dr. Mason will maintain this blog as a way to disseminate information and resources useful for this class. During the second week of class, we will discuss policies related to your own blogs, which is how you will keep your writing/thinking journal. Once you create your blogs, this site will link to all of them, so that you may easily find the blogs of your classmates.

See you in class.

~ Dr. Mason