Essay-turned-blog-post

Converting a literature essay into an academic blog for publication

One of three literature essays/critical reflections based on readings for the UCU level 3 course ‘Religion and (Post-)Secularism’ (max. 1500 words). After the course ended the essay has been adapted to conform to the requirements for a blog post. This was purely voluntary.

Aims

The object of these assignments is to motivate students to carefully read all the assigned texts, to bring the readings into critical conversation with one another and with the central themes of the course, and to develop a critical evaluation of the readings’ central arguments, and, finally, to practice academic writing skills, especially reproducing complex arguments in a comparative and reflexive yet concise manner.

Students ec’s for this assignment

1,5

Teacher effort (hours)

3-4 hours to assist the student adapting the essay for a blog post

Final product

The final product for the course was a literature essay. 

Assessment criteria

There were no assessment criteria for the blog post, as this was an extracurricular project. Editing mainly entailed removing references that were relevant to the course yet less necessary to include for a general audience, and changing the academic formulations into more colloquial language. 

Description of the example

A blog post on Religious Matters in an Entangled World called “Fantastic or just Plastic? A Critical Reading of an ‘Empowered’ Muslim Doll in American Society”.

More information / Contact

Dr. Pooyan Tamimi Arab (P.TamimiArab@uu.nl) and student Veerle Dijkstra (v.e.dijkstra@students.uu.nl)