25: Relationship Between Academic and Blog Writing

Blogs? 

Term papers? 

Whats more effective for students? 

In my opinion, blog writing gives students the ability to write much more freely. Students are able to write posts without over thinking every word that gets written on the page. From my personal experience, when writing a blog I feel like I am able to express myself much more creatively and freely. When writing an academic paper there are so many more components that I am worried about as the words are hitting the paper. I feel as if every single thing I put down has to be looked at multiple times before I can feel confident about it. Blogs are just more of a way for students to be able to express themselves about many different things. Also blogs can be written in many shapes and forms and with many different voices. Where as academic writing is a very specific way of writing and teachers are looking for an specific thing. As mentioned in the New York Times Article “Blogs vs Term Papers” students “feel as if they’re actually producing something personally rewarding and valuable, where as when they write a term paper, they feel as if they do so only to produce a grade.” I believe that both of these types of writing should be given to students because they are so different and teach very different ways of thinking. Sometimes, I would agree that I feel like I am writing papers only to receive a grade, but other times when I feel strong about my argument and am passionate about my topic I don’t necessarily feel like its only for the grade. In that case, I truly do want to write the paper to prove that my point is correct. The more and more students blog, the more confident they can become as writers and may feel better when sitting down to write an academic paper.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/muscling-in-on-the-term-paper-tradition.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&sq=term%20paper%20or%20blog&st=cse&scp=1