How To: RSS Reader: Keeping Track of Your Colleague's Blogs and Other Websites, Too!

The best way for you to keep up with postings on the various blogs of your classmates would be to register and use Google Reader, which is an RSS feed reader. You don't need to know what the heck this means to use it though. I've typed "Google Reader" as a hyperlink to get you started. If you already have a Gmail account (not the VCCS watered down version), you'll already have a feed reader account. There are other readers available, such as one through Yahoo! mail.

Basically, an RSS feed reader allows users to feed updates from various web sources onto a single page. Let's say you enjoy skimming through six different blogs a week, but sometimes forget one or another. Now you'll be able to see all updates on a single page by using one of these readers.

How do you know when you can add a page to your RSS feed reader? Simply look for something like this and click on it:



Image um..."borrowed" from these folks.

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.

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.