Saturday, May 2, 2009

How To: How do you know if you've received a comment on your blog?

To set up email notification to inform you that you've received a comment on your blog, you'll want to go to "settings" and then "comments" and scroll down until you see "Comment Notification Email", which is where you shall enter whatever email address you use frequently.

As I assess your work on your blogs I will likely leave some sort of comment for most of you, as time permits.

Still Blogging?

To my students past and present,

If you continue blogging past the end of the semester I encourage you to email me or post a comment on this post to let me know.

If you create any new blogs (not used for English 111 or 112) please let me know and I can include an additional links list for future students, as well as for myself, because even if you've finished my course, I'm still interested in your writing and how you express yourself.

How To: Adding Images, Adding Links, and Citing Images

I've recently had multiple students asking how to add images and links and how to cite images, so here is some quick "how to" information:

To add images: If you're not using an image you own, I suggest going to Google.com and click on "images." Once you've done this, type in some keyword(s) of what you want to search. Peruse the images and once you've found one you like, click on it, and then press "See full size image." Then copy that URL (web address).

Now you can go back to your post, put the cursor where you want the image and then click on the little blue picture frame in the toolbar and once that new window pops up, paste in the image URL into the white box that says...URL! Then read and accept Terms of Service, check it off, and click upload and your image should appear. Make sure to give credit to the author or source of the image. Plagiarism is not acceptable.

To add a (hyper) link: After you've written your post and saved it, you should highlight whichever word(s) you want to act as a doorway to your hyperlink. Then click on the little image of the chain link over the globe and paste in the URL (web address) of the site you want to link to, like I'm doing here for TCC's site.

To add links lists: From the dashboard you can click on "layout" and then click on "add gadget" and then click on "link list." Then you can title it something like, "Favorite Web Pages" and add those links.


To cite your images: When you have the post open, you click on that little chain over the globe image and then add the address of the image you are citing, unless you are the author of the image, then you can simply cite yourself with a parenthetical citation crediting yourself. The same idea of an MLA parenthetical citation applies to any images you do not have the actual web address for. Please note that the link to the image source does not comply with MLA standards, but is acceptable for this assignment.


Additionally, you can do a Google search for this same information in case mine does not make enough sense (which my lessons don't from time to time...) or you can try Dummy's Guide to Blogger.


Students should email me with any further questions. Do not post any comments with questions in them as you will probably not receive an answer until the semester is long over. Questions are what email is for.