ROUGH DRAFT:A majority of the work is needed…
Task: Create a blog journal using a CMS, including theme, title and URL. Adding blog posts incorporating text, images and multimedia. All steps are highly unique to your specific project, therefore problem-solving and critical thinking skills are necessary.

1. Please read the lecture notes, “Blogging,” and view LinkedIn Learning: “WordPress Essential Training” with Morten Rand-Hendriksen (Links to an external site.); before starting this project.
2. Decide on a title and thematic topic for your blog. It could be on anything! Possible blog topics include (but are not limited to): travel journal, international recipe collection, sports news, clubbing photo-journal, original poetry collection, original photography or art gallery, political commentary journal, movie review journal, celebrity gossip journal, or many, many other possibilities.
3. Aim your blog at a mass audience. This will be a great project for all the journalism and PR majors in this class. And if you’re not in journalism or PR, this project will enable you to get an idea of what those majors entail.
4. Visit WordPress.com and open a free account. Don’t like WordPress? No problem. Your blog can be created in any blog-hosting site.
5. Create the following:
   1. A blog title.
   2. One consistent thematic topic for your blog.
   3. Select a WordPress theme, including writing the About or Bio content.
   4. Select a URL (web address).
6. Create your first post:
   1. Must consist of 100 words (minimum) to 200 words (maximum) for each post.
   2. Incorporate relevant images. Select photographic images from Unsplash.com (Links to an external site.) or Pexels.com, (Links to an external site.) or from any other site, but be sure to properly credit the source (not Google, but rather Google’s link to the image’s original source website).
   3. Embed YouTube videos and/or other multimedia.
   4. Save and publish. VERY IMPORTANT: Be sure to make your blog public (or at least change privacy settings to allow the class and instructor to view your blog). Be sure to write down the blog’s PUBLIC URL, not the URL you as an admin use to log in.
7. Add at least four other postings that follow the same thematic topic before the due date.
8. Proper spelling, grammar and punctuation must be observed.
9. Cite referenced text by using hyperlinks to the original online articles. Long, complex URLs are not meant for us humans, but rather for computers, so don’t make them visible. Instead, link a section of visible text to your referenced URL, like this (Links to an external site.).
10. Quoted material must appear visually different from your original writing. Change font, size, color, indents, etc.
11. Online poetry, art or photography blogs, as well as recipe blogs, must include a 100 – 200 word commentary on the works or recipes presented.

Respecting Copyrights

You must not infringe upon someone else’s copyright. Anything you post must either be original, or it must fall under Fair Use guidelines:

• use of a short quote or paraphrase for review purposes,
• must be for journalistic, historical or academic purposes,
• must not impinge upon the profit-making potential of the copyright owner—that is, you must not give away free what is normally bought and paid for. 

Avoiding Plagiarism:

As far as academic rules are concerned, you must not, intentionally or UNINTENTIONALLY, represent the work of others as your own. To avoid plagiarism:

• All images must either be the student’s original photos (cited as “© <<year>>, <<student’s name>>”), or properly cited as, “image from <<name of web source>>”.
• Stories, such as news reports, accounts of sporting events, etc. are cited by hyperlinking to the original web source, such as, “According to ABC News, (Links to an external site.) …”
• Paraphrase in your own words a summary of the material,
• Inject your own opinion,
• If you quote a short passage, make it VISUALLY DIFFERENT (different fonts, sizes, colors or indents) from your original material, so the reader understands that it’s a quote.

1. Post your blog URL in the Module 7 Discussion Forum for reciprocal, constructive feedback from classmates and instructor. Be sure to post the blog’s PUBLIC URL, not the URL you as an admin use to log in.
2. Incorporate any changes suggested by your classmates if you feel it will improve your work, and post link to your updated blog in the Module 8 Discussion Forum, for more reciprocal, constructive feedback.
3. Incorporate any last-minute changes before posting a link to your final blog solution to the Assignment 4 submission button (click “Submit Assignment” above).

Criteria:

• Solution is a blog journal containing a specific topic or theme, including an About page. All blog posts follow a consistent thematic topic.
• Blog contains five (5) required posts (separate from the About page).
• Each blog post contains the student’s original written content, between 100 words (minimum) and 200 words (maximum) length—my rules for this assignment; not a web standard.
• Each blog post contains one or more images, embedded YouTube videos, and/or other multimedia content.
• All images are either the student’s original photos (cited as “© <<year>>, <<student’s name>>”), or properly cited (“image from <<name of web source>>”).
• Stories, such as news reports, accounts of sporting events, etc. are cited by hyperlinking to the original web source, such as, “According to ABC News, (Links to an external site.) …” Bury—don’t show—long, complex URLs in hyperlinks.
• Each blog post avoids plagiarism by paraphrasing and summarizing original content, making quotes visually different, and crediting sources.
• Student posts first- and revised-drafts in the Module 7 and 8 Discussions, respectively, and participates in a critique.