Blog Expectations for the Class

• The blog will have an introductory post explaining the information that will be shared in the blog. This will be a minimum of 100 words, preferably longer though.  You can introduce yourself and the reasons you are interested in your topic. You can add a picture of yourself as long as it is school appropriate.  You can also add a picture of what your topic is about for clarification.
• The blog will contain at least 2 different blog posts that are a minimum of 250 words in length.  There is a good chance you will end up over 250 words just by the nature of the assignment.  One of the posts will be an informational post about your topic.  It will contain at least 1 link to the information you used to learn more about your topic.  You will also explain why that information is important. Don't just stick a link in and not give your readers a chance to understand why you did it. The second 250+ word post will be a persuasive/argumentative post about your topic.  It will be four paragraphs long and have at least one external link with explanations.  This post will be mostly about one side of the topic but will give at least one negative to the topic with an explanation about why it is important.
• The Blog will have a minimum of 2 videos that are explaining an aspect of your topic. You will record yourself explaining something for 2-5 mins each.  You need to be the one explaining the information.  Rather than you getting up in front of the class and giving speeches or debates, I am allowing you this opportunity to do it in a more private environment.  This needs to be done in a formal tone with appropriate clothing and words.  DO NOT have anything illegal in the video or going on around you.  I have to automatically turn that into the authorities if I see or hear it.  There are more suggestions and requirements on the blog post with my video.  
• You will have to include a minimum of 3 photos within your blog.  You need to credit the photographer and caption the photo to explain why it is important to the topic of the blog. You may take pictures yourself, but be sure to credit them to yourself. DO NOT use copyrighted photos.
• The blog must have a minimum of 3 external links to work or webpages you used to research your information presented within the blog.  I will be going to these links to be sure that you are not plagiarizing anything.  Remember to also put information that you are getting from sites into an annotation log for the research.  This will be part of your grade.
• You, the student, are required to comment with 3-5 sentences on other students blogs within our school.  You will put down on the comment log which blog you commented on, the date you did and a general statement of what you said.  I will then use that information and look at what you actually stated. You need to do this 5 times over the course of the project.
• You will fill out a self-reflection survey to show where you feel you are with various aspects you were to learn with this project.  This will be taken into account with your grade and we will conference about your answers before a final grade is given.

ALL WORK IS TO BE YOUR WORK. ANY PLAGIARIZATION WILL RESULT IN A ZERO FOR THE PROJECT. NO SECOND CHANCES OR OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO MAKE THIS UP.  A REFERRAL FOR A SUSPENSION WILL ALSO BE GIVEN. PLAGIARIZATION WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR ANYONE, DO YOUR OWN WORK AND CITE ALL SOURCES APPROPRIATELY!

Quotations must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must match the source document word for word and must be attributed to the original author.

Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. A paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly.

Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material. Purdue Owl on Citing Information