Blogging is a Form of Writing Too

By Ida Rosenthal

At the Writing Center, we see lots of research papers, but did you know blog posts can be as challenging to write as traditional essays?

Think about it. The web audience who reads a blog is totally different than the professor who grades a research paper. That means that the tone and content of your writing might be drastically different than a formal academic paper.

Web users don’t want to read lengthy articles, so it’s up to you to condense all the relevant information in as little space as possible. Think about it, how likely are you to finish reading an article if you have to keep scrolling to reach the bottom of the page?

Plus, citations work differently on blogs. In traditional research papers, formal citation styles like MPA and ALA reign supreme, but online, linking information between websites is standard. In other words, “in-text citations” have a whole new meaning when it comes to blogging.

But blogs and traditional papers also have a lot in common. In both forms of writing, clear sentence structure, word choice, and proper grammar are vital in communicating what you want to say. Nothing screams immaturity more than a blogger who WriTeZ lIKE THISSS.

Need help starting a blog or writing a blog post for a class assignment (or even as a personal project)? Call us at (202)-885-2991 to schedule a session and one of our lovely writing consultants will help you out!