Blog Reflection

            It's hard to believe that this year is coming to a close! I can fortunately say that I have enjoyed blogging and have learned a lot about the medium through my experiences. My favorite post for this quarter is entitled Arizona's Immigration Law. I picked this post because it demonstrates a better usage of the blogging style than some of my other posts. For example, I used bolding and included a source quote for my readers' convenience. I tried to focus on debating multiple sides so I can further analyze the issue and do not appear polemic. That post is 380 words long, so it is more compact than my favorite post of the first quarter, which was 434 words long. Instead of shortening my analysis, I tried to shorten my source summary in order to make my posts more interesting and reader friendly.
       An issue with my blogging in general is that I am afraid to post my own opinion. When reporting,  showing opinions in writing is unprofessional, but blogging is more personal. In the Arizona post, I made the decision to put out my own opinion on the issue itself. By posting my opinion, my goal was to let my readers see inside my mind a bit, and offer them the chance to disagree with me.
       Another thing I need to work on is putting voice into my blogs. Because blogs are more personal, I have the opportunity to be a little humorous and share personal anecdotes. At first I felt that my readers don't care about what I say about myself, but when reading my peers' blogs, I realized that posts with personal insight are far more interesting and entertaining. Although I haven't been entirely successful with this, I try to inject humor and personal stories into my blog posts whenever appropriate.
        Whether or not I will continue this blog is unclear, but I know that I wish to continue the blogging style in some shape or form. I like blogging because of it's conversational qualities- it's not a one way lecture or a serious paper, but a discussion about real-world issues with a general audience. This form of writing is more interactive than the other forms of writing we have done in class, and that is one of the reasons why I enjoyed doing it.
       Whether this is the final post or just the beginning, to all of my readers, thanks so much!
-Molly