1 Writing and Responding to Discussion Posts Matt Smith Writing Consultant.

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Writing and Responding to Discussion Posts

Matt Smith

Writing Consultant

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Agenda

• Why discussion posts matter• Writing a discussion post• Responding to a post written by someone else

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Why Discussion Posts Matter

• Help you develop discussion skills in an online environment

• Build critical writing and thinking skills• Challenge you to explore your ideas and learn

from your peers• Provide practice for academic writing

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Writing a Discussion Post

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The Writing Process: An Overview

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The Writing Process: Creating a Discussion Post

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Creating a Discussion Post: Prewriting

• First step: carefully read the assignment prompt

• Seek clarification if any part of it seems confusing

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Example Prompt: Undergraduate

Post by Day 3 200–300 words describing one best experience and one worst experience where you chose to communicate in an electronic/computer communication channel rather than a physical presence or written/printed channel. Be sure to include answers to the following questions:•Why did you choose to communicate electronically rather than in person?•Why was the experience positive or negative?•How do the components and processes of communication apply to the electronic/computer channel?•Be sure to support your ideas by connecting them to the week's Learning Resources and something you have read, heard, seen, or experienced.

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Example Prompt: MPA

Public administration has a variety of definitions encompassing occupational, managerial, political, and legal perspectives, among others. Essentially, public administration is the work performed by all levels of government. This work broadly includes the management of public services and the creation and implementation of public policy. Recognizing the connection between public administration and public policy is important to your understanding of the concept and context of public administration as well as what results from its policies and actions.In this Discussion, you will create your own definition of public administration and tell how it relates to public policy.

Post by Day 4 your own definition of public administration. Then, analyze the relationship between public administration and public policy. Justify your responses.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

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Example Prompt: DBA

Create a scholarly academic discussion post that addresses the following topics, using the criterion of an effective scholarly discussion posting as stated above in 500-700 words (25 points):•What decision points and questions led you to decide on pursuing a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree from Walden University?•Describe what specialization you have chosen within the DBA program and why.•Defend your decision to pursue this degree and what you hope to obtain from completing this program in terms of knowledge, skills, and professional opportunities.

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Example Prompt: EdD

To prepare for this Discussion, bring to mind the sources that you typically have referenced in the past for "truthful" information (e.g., newspapers, Web sites). How credible do those sources seem to you now? How will you read a newspaper, a magazine, or even a nonfiction text differently? What changes will there be in the way you watch the TV news or historical documentaries? In short, how will you approach evaluating information from this point forward? In what ways has your thinking been transformed in relation to evaluating the credibility of the information that you encounter or seek out?

Post your reaction to the Learning Resources in this module by responding to two questions:•How will you approach resources now that you have a foundation from which to evaluate credibility and legitimacy?•How will you, as a master teacher and teacher leader, help your learners critically examine the legitimacy of sources?

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Creating a Discussion Post: Prewriting

• Determine purpose and scope of the post– What are you trying to say? What are the

requirements of the assignment?• Consider the assigned topic along with

ideas from your reading– Establish a thesis– Consult your notes, identify evidence for your

ideas• Create an outline

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Example Prompt: PhD in Public Health

• Post by Day 3 the following in 2-3 paragraphs:• Your definitions of the following terms: philosophy of

science, paradigm, epistemology, and ontology. Note that defining philosophy of science is different from asking you about your personal philosophy of your discipline, such as your philosophy of education, or your philosophy of management.

• The distinction between and among these terms • An explanation of why these terms are important for

researchers to know• Be sure to support your postings and responses with

specific references to the reading(s) and/or media segment(s) and use APA format.

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Example: Prewriting

• Significance: these terms describe major aspects of research

• Purpose: define major terms for this week and relate their importance

• Thesis: “In this post, I will define some philosophical terms used in scholarly research.”

• Notes: information about these terms from this week’s readings

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Example: Prewriting

Sample Outline (hierarchical)• Introduction and topic information

– Significance– Brief definitions of these terms– Thesis statement

• Distinctions between these terms– How they are similar to each other– How they are different

• Why they matter to researchers

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Example: Prewriting

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Creating a Discussion Post: Drafting

• Using your outline, write your first draft

• Maintain a scholarly, respectful tone

• Cite sources and include references

• Use the MEAL plan as a guide for your paragraphs

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Example: Drafting

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Creating a Discussion Post: Finalizing

• Read through your post again– Ensure that it responds to the assignment prompt– Adjust for typos, grammatical errors, etc.

• Use software to reduce sentence-level issues– Microsoft Word’s spelling and grammar check– Grammarly

• Post it!

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Example: Finalizing

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Responding to a Discussion Post

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The Writing Process: Responding to a Post

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Responding to a Post: Prewriting

• Double-check the assignment– Number of posts to respond to, length, etc.

• Read your peers’ posts– Note ideas that you find interesting, challenging,

or surprising– Consider how these ideas relate to your reading

• Note any discrepancies you find

– Select one (or more) posts to respond to

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Responding to a Post: Prewriting

• Ask yourself questions to further determine why this post interests you– Do you agree or disagree?– Is the argument effective? – Does it have any logical flaws?– Does it present new information?– Does it need further clarification?

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Responding to a Post: Prewriting

• Establish a thesis for your response– Use your answers to the guiding questions– Frame your response in terms of your peer’s post

• Identify evidence that supports this thesis– Use information from your peer’s post, your

reading, etc.

• Optional: Create an outline

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Example: Prewriting

Answers to questions• The author does a great job of distinguishing

epistemology from ontology—the first refers to the creation of knowledge, the second refers to the reality being studied

• As a reader, I don’t quite understand how these terms relate to the author’s definition of paradigm– the connection isn’t clear, but it seems like ontology is

somehow related to paradigm

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Example: Prewriting

Thesis• I want to clarify the distinction between ontology

and paradigmEvidence from my reading• Ontology: a researcher’s understanding of the

nature of reality• Paradigm: a pattern of ideas that includes the

researcher’s assumptions and beliefs about knowledge– A researcher’s ontology is included in his or her

paradigm

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Responding to a Post: Drafting

• Using your thesis, notes, and outline, write a draft of your response– Keep assignment requirements in mind

• Cite sources and include references• Especially important: Maintain a scholarly and

collegial tone– Even if you disagree with your peer, engage that

person’s ideas rather than the person– Use respectful language

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Example: Drafting

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Responding to Posts: Finalizing

• Read through the post again– Make sure it addresses your peer(s) and meets

assignment requirements– Use grammar software to check for sentence-level

issues

• Post it!

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Reflection

How will you use this information? Will you adjust your process of writing discussion posts?

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Questions?

If you have questions after the webinar, feel free to email them to us at [email protected]

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Other Resources

• Writing a Discussion Post• Critical Reading• Thesis Development• Using the MEAL plan• Outlining• Scholarly Writing• Webinar Archive

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Don’t forget!