This is a sample with instructions for your blog posts.
Blog Entry 1
During the first two weeks of class, we will discuss the importance of observation in environmental research and conservation planning. You will each be expected to identify an organism or group of organisms to study for the semester, both through observation (aim to visit your site/species once per week for 1-2 hours) and independent readings. You will then be expected to write two blog entries (5% each) about your species, focusing on its natural history, biology, threats, and any changes you saw in its development or behavior throughout the semester.
These are the instructions for the first blog entry:
- Draw from your observations plus 2-3 outside sources (must be legit – see instructions from lecture #2 of class for how to find rigorous sources).
- Sources must be cited using APA style bibliography format.
- Entry should be between 600-1000 words, not including the bibliography.
- For the first entry, you will want to describe your site and background information about your species or group of species in a lot of detail. You should then focus on temporal patterns that you observed- either throughout the day (if you went at different times) or for the first 5-6 weeks of observation.
- Post at least 1 photo with a caption.
- Post your entry to the class website. This blog can only be viewed by our class, so it is pretty private. If you are comfortable posting location information, it was set up with the capacity to do so. See instructions below for posting. I think it will be cool to have a map of all the sites that people have been visiting!
When you are posting:
- Be sure that your name shows up somewhere!
- Be sure to add a featured image to your post so that your image shows up on the home page. You can add other images into the body of the post by choosing “add media”.
- You can add location information with the Google Map options at the bottom of the page.