The thing that jumps out to me about Lauren’s blog is the energy and mojo conveyed in the structure and titles of her posts. Blog titles like “How do you get men excited about shoes?” “Did the feminist movement fail if I opt out?” and “Hi, my name is Bill and I have cancer!” draw me in as a reader both in their humor and personality. These titles are more conversational than academic, which makes reading this blog much more accessible (read: appealing) to me. Additionally, these titles add a sense of “realness” to the blog that is often missing from academic writing—I really feel that this is Lauren’s real voice, not a product of her putting on her “scholar” hat for an academic class. Additionally, and more importantly, the content of her blogs lives up to the promises of these oh-so-clever titles. Well constructed, with a good flow and well-divided into paragraphs, reading Lauren’s blog is as easy as slicing butter. Nowhere is this more apparent than in her “Hitler: Can he convince you?” entry, in which she breaks down the reasons she probably would have been convinced by Hitler’s rhetoric into 3 easily digestible categories: The Context, The Man, The Propaganda. When placed in this context of this three-pronged attack, her argument is incredibly clear and convincing, making for an intriguing blog entry. Additionally, her liberal use of paragraph divisions makes the blogs seem less overwhelming, adding to the accessible vibe of blog. Overall, Lauren’s blog is a pleasantly intriguing read.
The LINK…
http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/lrhart28/
Wow Matt, I didn't know you felt so strongly about my blog. But more seriously, thanks, I appreciate your critique. Sometimes I feel like I need to work on putting my scholar hat on more often to up my credibility, but am happy to learn that my blogs aren't overly colloquial since my voice still gets my point across. I'm flattered that you've not only read recent posts of mine, but multiple posts and enjoy my quirky titles. I hope my audience gets a feel for who I am through the energy I put in my blogs.
ReplyDeleteFunny Note: I was thinking about writing about your blog!
I wrote about Lauren's blog too, and I thought a lot of the same things were effective. Her titles are definitely attention-grabbing! It's cool that her blogs are so effective for different people.
ReplyDelete