Blog Assignment

Political Science 286: Political Philosophy of Nature and the Environment

Rhodes College, Spring 2013

Blog Assignment

To promote thoughtful engagement in and outside of class, a blog has been set up for this course. The URL is: http://fieldnaturepoliticsspring2013.blogspot.com/.  The blog assignment is designed to provide you with a simple way of sharing and reflecting on interesting passages that you will encounter over the course of the semester. The blog will serve as a way of preparing for class, and as a way of continuing on with discussion after class. You are welcomed and encouraged to do more than the required minimum, and if you would like to say something on the blog that falls outside of the assignment guidelines, please feel free to do so. Frequent and quality blog activity will be rewarded in the final grade.

I will always read the blog. I will generally not participate , however, since I see this as a forum for your thoughts, not mine. The best evidence that you have mastered material is when you can explain it to your peers, generate insightful questions, engage in intelligent conversation about it, and settle disputes about it on your own.

As a blogger, you have two main responsibilities: to author posts, and to discuss others’ posts.

Role of Authors

Over the course of the semester, semester, each student will be responsible for authoring four blog posts, according to the schedule provided on the blog. Authors’ entries must be posted at least 12 hours BEFORE the start of the assigned class (so by 9:00pm on Sunday, Tuesday, or Thursday night). 

Authors are responsible for identifying passages that merit further discussion in class, online, and, possibly, on an exam. Your task, then, is to find an especially interesting or complex passage from the reading for a given class, and to articulate the reasons for which you think it deserves special attention. Is it a particularly dense or difficult passage? Is it an especially misleading one? Are the implications of the passage surprising? Does it relate in an interesting way to something that we have read before, or to a reading question for the assignment in question?

A typical blog entry will take the following form:

1)      Title – name your blog entry.

2)      Quotation of text and source citation. The passages you select should be short enough to type up easily, so anywhere from a few lines to a short paragraph is fine. Passages that are four lines or less should be in quotation marks, while longer passages should not be.

3)      A 300 word statement summarizing the context of the passage, and articulating why you found this particular passage interesting or controversial. How does the passage illuminates the author’s understanding of the relationship between human life and nature? How does the text in question relate to other perspectives and themes discussed in the course to date? This is not very much space within which to articulate a complex idea. The blog format will require you to distill and refine your thoughts.

4)      A discussion question to pose to the class in order to engage discussion. These questions should be interpretive in nature, rather than factual. Avoid questions that are overly vague, and be prepared to discuss your question in class. 

Role of Discussants

The task of discussants is to further the discussions initiated by authors. This could involve any number of things, but it necessarily involves looking up the passage in context and thinking through its meaning for yourself. You might then choose to offer your own alternative interpretation of the passage in question, or to respond to the discussion question posed by an author. If the passage is one that came up in class, you may wish to comment on something that was mentioned there. You may have your own questions to raise about the text, or you may wish to bring our attention to another passage that resonates with the one highlighted by the author.

DEADLINE: Each student is responsible for one discussion entry per week, each of which should be at least 100 words in length. Entries are due by 9pm the Sunday following a given week of class.

Final Notes on Blogging

Avoid overly informal or conversational language on the blog, and be sure to edit each entry carefully.

There are a lot of possibilities here for interesting conversation. The one thing that is non-negotiable is that all participants must treat one another with respect and consideration. See A Blogger's Code of Ethics and Weblog Ethics, both of which offer valuable insights on how to monitor your participation in blog conversations.