Blog Instructions - Undergraduate Research

Creating a William and Mary Blog Account and Starting Your First Blog
signup.php
Go to: http://wmblogs.net/wp-signup.php
Enter your user name and email address. Be sure to leave the radio button checked for “Gimme a Blog”.
You will get an email to the address you use that has a password. You need to check your email before
you go any further. Once you have your account set up, you are ready to blog! When you login, you will
get to the “Dashboard” screen.
To start your blog, just go to “Write”, then “Write Post”.
Be sure to include a title for your post. When you’re done writing, you need to assign categories and
tags to your post.
Your blog can be about anything that you’d like, but in order for it to be part of the research blog, you
need to assign a category of research. Just type in research and click Add. After that, research will always
be on the list, and you can just check the box.
Tags help people search for different blog posts
posts- they’re like the search terms that you look things up
with at the library.. Enter as many descriptive words as you like, separated by commas.
When you are finished with your post, you can use on of the three options at the bottom, “Save and
Continuing Editing”, “Save”, and “Publish”. It will not be posted until you choose “Publish”.
A few notes on blogging…
Your blog will be pulled into the research blog, and is searchable by the public, so be sure to check over
your spelling/grammar and try to limit your use of abbreviations. Also remember that the focus is on the
process, try
ry to write about what you’re thinking and doing! Don’t be afraid to talk “scientific” about your
research- even if everyone doesn’tt understand the research, some of your audience will.
This is my blog, if you’d like to check it out for an example! http://amnova.wmblogs.net/
The Undergraduate Research Blog
What are we doing, anyway?
Thank you for participating in the Undergraduate Research Blog! This is work in progress website that
will be launched fully in the fall. The site was created to have a central repository of blogs about the
research process- what undergraduate researchers are doing, wh
whey
ey they’re doing it, and what the
process is like. The idea is that other students who are interested in research can look at the blog, and
use it as a jumping off point for exploring their own research agendas. It’s also a forum for you to talk
about your process, and for others to communicate with you, offering suggestions, praising your effort,
or asking questions about your work. Your audience may be prospective students and other
undergraduate researchers, but also faculty and outsiders who are interested in your research topics!
The main research blog is located at: http://research.wmblogs.net. In order for your blog to be complied
in this main blog, you need to mark the category as research. Please be sure to take some time and read
some of the blogs that are already in progress. Remember, you can comment on the other students’
blogs too! Just click on “Comments”
ents” and go from there!
Some of the blogs are longer than others, but only the first section will appear. To read the rest of the
blog, click on the link, “read the rest of this entry”. This will take you to the person’s blog, so you can
keep reading from there! You can also comment while on that blog page.
You can also add your own tags. The blogger will have listed several tags, but if you think there is
another word that
at would fit the blog and that would help readers find the blog in a search, you can add
it here.
Explore the site and have fun! We hope that it will be an interesting resource for you, as well as an
outlet for you to think about your research process!
Personalizing Your Blog
You can personalize your blog by picking a background and changing the widgets that appear on your
site. You can even add your own static pages that can tell the world about you!
When you sign in to your blog, you reach the Dashboard site. To change your theme, click on the
“Personalization” tab. It will default to the “Themes” tab. There are qu
quite
ite a few…just scroll through until
you find one to your liking!
On the left side of this page there are bits of information called widgets. You can adjust which of these
will appear on your blog.
On the “Presentation” tab, choose the second sub-tab,
tab, “Widgets”. You can adjust which widgets appear,
as well as in what order. When you’re done, make sure you press “Save Changes” so that your work is
saved.
The Static Page
What would be helpful for the research blog
On the left side of the Undergraduate Re
Research
search Blog site, there will be static pages (pages that you don’t
blog on) full of information about undergraduate research: how to get started, how to develop a
research question, etc.
Click on the title of the static page to read it. You cannot blog or comment on these pages.
We’d like your input about what would be helpful information on that page. We’ve started a wiki about
the static pages at:
http://amnova.wmwikis.wikispaces.net/Ideas+for+the+Static+Page+on+the+UGR+Website
Please
lease read over this page, and comment on the ideas or add your own. It’s a wiki, so anyone can edit!
To add your thoughts, just click on “Edit this page”.
A text editor will open at the top of the screen. All you need to do is type whatever you’d like to add. If
you want, you can change the color of your font, italicize, etc. using the text editor. Be sure to press save
when you are finished!
Thank you for your input!!