How to write a blog essay

With the blog essay assignment, you get to share with the online public what you learned and thought about a particular field site —  a place, activity, event or landscape — in the Hudson Valley's amenity economy.

You'll post at least two essays to our course blog for this course. With 1-2 other students, you'll be assigned to write about one of our five course fieldtrips. By yourself, you'll write about a trip you make outside of course time.

 

Conducting research

For suggestions and guidelines to selecting a field site for your independent expedition, click here.

Each field site will have a different relevance to the underlying issues of an "amenity economy." It's up to you as to how you choose to think about these, but here are some general questions to think about.

1. How does your field site fit into the Hudson Valley's geography? Is it close/far to population centers, accessible by mass transit or car only?

2. Who uses your field site: residents, tourists, specific groups (schools, ethnic populations, etc.)? Do they have to pay something to do so? How many people seem to use it at any one time?

3. How is your field site connected to the local economy? Is it a profit-based venture? Does it serve people's daily needs (food, household goods, etc.), or is it primarily for leisure and recreation? Does it provide a destination or generate publicity that might support other local businesses and industries?

4. How does it contribute to the local landscape? Is it particularly scenic or attractive, and if so, from what perspective? Does it fit in with other features of the landscape? Does it visually convey an activity or cultural value (open-space preservation, environmental sustainability, local charm and idiosyncracy, etc.) associated with a sense of place?

When you go to your field site, be sure to bring with you a notebook or clipboard for note-taking and a digital camera for photography. Dress appropriately for the weather and the activity.

Don't be shy! Ask questions of people "in charge" of your fieldsite about what to do there, how this place came to be, and what kinds of people does it draw. Strike up conversations with other visitors and ask them how they heard about this place and what they think of it.

When you return to campus, don't forget to share your photos with the rest of the class, especially if you went on a solo expedition. Another student might find your images useful in another assignment.

 

Writing blog essays

The format of your essay is entirely up to you. So is the division of labor on co-written essays about the course fieldtrip. As a rule, we'll strive to write in an accessible style for a general (non-academic) audience, while at the same time conveys trying to explain useful questions and ideas from the class.

Each post should be a minimum of 500 words and include around 3-5 photos.

If your fieldsite has an official website, be sure to hyperlink it somewhere in your essay — for instance, a concluding sentence: "To learn more about [fieldsite], click here." If other students' blog posts are relevant, then hyperlink those somewhere as well. Take advantage of the interactive nature of blog posts.

Tag your blog posts with appropriate classifications, including the name of the county and the general category of activity ("art," "agriculture," etc.).

When you've published your essay on the blog, publicize it on Facebook (public setting), Twitter, and other social media you use that can circulate your writing and images on the internet. Use the two hashtags #HudsonValley #es291, and whenever possible embed the relevant Twitter/Instagram accounts or Facebook pages so that relevant groups or organizations will be notified about your essay. For an example of what this might look like (including a separate photo attachment), see this tweet.

All blog posts, whether individually or co-written, are due within one week of the fieldwork date.