Aaron Fellows (ENVS/Economics ’16), with minor edits by Jim Proctor
For many students using the DS multisite, the most common thing they do is a post. In WordPress land, a post is time-based content, as opposed to a page, which is understood as static content. There are many ways to incorporate time-based digital content into scholarship: three summarized below include an update (recent course or project summary), reflection (in-progress thinking via writing), and synthesis (forming a coherent whole out of many pieces). These three approaches, while not entirely separable, will be considered in turn below.
(See also an excellent student rumination titled “Why Blog?” discussing several motivations for posting.)
Update
During a project, researchers may find it helpful to periodically report on their most recent work. This helps personal organization, tracks progress, and cumulatively forms a record of the process which may be a valuable supplement to the final product. See, for example, Kara Scherer’s first update post on her group project, Generational Perceptions of Wilderness, and a later update from Rebecca Kidder on her thesis, Knowing Your Place: The Role of Environment in the Transition to College (see also image at right). Updates (e.g., weekly posts) are also useful ingredients in courses, where they may similarly assist students in tracking where they have come during a semester, and demonstrate their cumulative growth to others.
Reflection
Reflection may happen at any time during the scholarly process; as contrasted with an update, it is less a recounting of what happened, and more an opportunity to pause and go into depth with a particular idea, reading, data result, etc. To many people, reflection sounds like just sitting and thinking, but writing is an excellent way to think in a clearer, more deliberate manner. As one example, see this post written by Hannah Smay (also image at right) as part of a collaboration with the Environmental Action Living-Learning Community. Sometimes reflection is neglected at the end of a scholarly project, but it can be helpful even then: for instance, see this post by Laurel Garrett written at the conclusion of her ENVS thesis process. As with updates, reflection posts are also valuable as part of the course process, as students encounter new and often unfamiliar ideas.
Synthesis
Synthesis posts are an effort, however incomplete at the moment they are produced, to draw together pieces of the scholarly process into a more coherent whole. Synthesis posts may be seen as a kind of reflection post, but here the emphasis is on drawing connections across a breadth of phenomena, vs. going into depth on one item in particular. Perhaps the synthesis involves drawing together multiple publications, as in Julia Benford’s synthesis post on Utopia (also image at right) written as part of the Environment Across Boundaries initiative, which showcases ENVS student work and the threads that run between them. Or, a synthesis of multiple sources and points of view may be necessary to address an important scholarly question, as in Michaela Koke’s post on the EU, which uses documents and articles to consider how the EU has managed to uniquely form a composite economy. The synthesis post is an especially relevant activity in courses, where typically students encounter a wide range of readings, arguments, and data, even in any given week.
Summary: Effective posts
A good post includes, of course, a clear and compelling title, well-written content, links to related resources, appropriate categories/tags/geotags, a featured image, and so forth; see here (and related subitems) for the technical details. But the most effective posts are written by students who know their intent. Is it a summary of the last week of a course? Is it a reflection on a controversial idea they read in a research publication? Is it a synthesis of a wide range of ideas they’ve encountered, perhaps across multiple courses or facets of their curricular/co-curricular/extra-curricular lives? Or is it a combination of these three types of posts? Being clear on your intent, and not just going through the motions of doing a digital writing assignment, will make your post of most value to you and the reader.
As a closing thought, then, do keep in mind your reader: after all, you are writing for someone! How will they grasp (and get excited by the progress evidenced in) your update post? How can you walk them through your reflection in a manner they will understand? And how will you communicate your synthesis of multiple items in a convincing manner? Keep your audience in mind as you proceed.
As with any post, make sure to ask your instructor for clarification and guidance as needed.