How to do a great blog post.

The blog is not just an account of what you have done, it is a reflection on what you have learnt and a focus forward.

Evidence shows that students & professionals who maintain a journal gain a number of really important benefits.


A blog posts is never just a recap of what you have done or a summary of what you have posted…  

…it is instead, a mulling over, a stop to consider, a genuine reflection on your learning

Some ways to get into that good quality reflection is to say to yourself….

  • …so what…? or …and…?
    • What do I know that I did not know before? And, more importantly, how is that now impacting on my ideas, projects, creative process

The purpose of completing reflections is two fold:

  1. It helps you focus on where you are in your learning journey – what you have learnt, how you are applying it and where your journey is taking you? FOCUS FORWARD!
  2. It also means that you will already have reflected on your research, planning, production, post-production and evaluation so the Creative Critical Reflection in the blog will be much easier too.

Example reflections:

Not good (what is wrong with this?)

  • ‘In this task we looked at magazine conventions for a front cover We found out that there is always a masthead, captions for articles inside and other visual graphics called pugs, calls outs etc.  I will now include these in my front page cover.  we looked at genre, repertoire of elements, blueprint and audience expectations and the ideas of lacey and altman.  I learnt what these terms mean.’

This is better:

  • ‘Having a front cover for a magazine is all about engaging the target audience – the potential consumer. Everything from the font used for the magazine title (the masthead) to the language used for the captions and call-outs, colour of the font and the images on the cover are all integral to how that magazine conveys its brand messages & identity.  I am determined to find a really unusual and eye catching typeface and use typography to create a front cover that sells my brand. It should be  conventional and yet innovative and different.  Whilst a conventional blueprint for a heavy rock music magazine has a certain repertoire of elements (dark MES, intense and energetic poses, authentic and aggressive facial expression etc) which are ideas put forward by Altman,  I hope to make the expected ingredients for my front cover and other pages appropriate for the genre but different too so that my audience won’t reject the text but instead be intrigued, excited and inspired by it – enough to buy the magazine and read on.’

Here are some tips for a TIP TOP BLOG.

  1. Include TECHNICAL TERMS and THEORY – always read our blog posts and include the key terms at the top of each of our posts.
  2. All evidence should be attached as PDFs, JPEGS or Public / Published Slideshows embedded and access checked.
  3. Never just insert something as a link – looks messy & no one is going to click on it…ever!
  4. All evidence should be available to be seen by the examiner so don’t include google docs ever!
  5. Make sure you keep the posts in order with the blog league – the journey makes chronological sense then.
  6. Do not be tempted to COPY anyone else’s blogs.  If you have worked on evidence, documents, presentations as a group then you can upload them.
    • NEVER just copy other people’s reflections.
  7. Focus forward. How does the post now help you with your own production decisions, ideas and progress?  Look back and look forward to where you want to get to next.
  8. Get someone to proof your work – as a media student you should be keen to communicate and communication is about correct spelling, grammar and punctuation:
    • Common mistakes:
      • ‘I’ not i
      • capital letters for names, places, titles (proper nouns)
      • do not use slang such as ‘geezer’.
      • avoid saying that your work looks ‘more professional’, is ‘nice’, is ‘more interesting’
        • WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Be precise.
    • spellings of media words such as connotation, equilibrium etc
  9. Don’t write essays. Always present your reflections and analysis with bullet points, paragraphs and sub-headings to make it easy on the eye.
  10. Remember – A BLOG POST A DAY IS THE WAY TO AN ‘A’ it will also keep MRS C or MISS H AWAY!

LINK TO AN EXCELLENT BLOG POST