The blog post will be a 700-word post that has a clearly defined argument supported by evidence and reason. You can think of the blog post as a written extension of the debate the you participated in.
There are three sections.
Opening: What’s the hook (the reason the reader should pay attention)? What’s the main argument of the post? You should make this argument explicit.
Support for the argument: You can support your argument in two ways. The first involves empirical evidence. You can use any of the studies in class and/or additional studies that you find. You should use 2 figures/graphs from the studies to use in your post. A great figure should convey the main point of your post. Be sure to cite all sources and include a title above your figure that conveys the point you are making. The second way to support an argument is to provide a rationale for it.
Example: Suppose you are arguing that greater prosperity will increase religiosity. You can site the empirical evidence for this. You can also discuss that if religion is a “normal good”, we expect that greater income will result in greater consumption of it as well.
Ending: What idea do you want the reader to be left with? Is there a call to action?
References: A list of sources you used for your blog post. In-lieu of credentials, the references will signal some level of expertise on the topic. I am expecting +3 references.
Blog Post 1: Secularization
Blog Post 2: Religion and Welfare
Blog Post 3: Economics and Religion: Which has a greater effect on society?
The actual due dates of each blog post will be made available on Canvas.
Select a point that you want to make regarding the topic. You are free to use materials that you used in your debate. Many students will probably use the exact motion of the debate and argue in favor or against it for the blog post. This is fine. But I will also give you the flexibility of making different arguments if that is what you want to explore.
Use the Blog_Post template R Markdown file
Find a figure or graph that best conveys your point or provides evidence in favor of your argument. You typically can capture an image of it (on a Mac use: Shift+Command+4 ) and save as a .png in the same folder as your markdown file. You can then insert this in your markdown file like this {width=80%}
Add an informative title. Examples of uninformative titles, “Blog Post 1,” “Secularization,” and “Growth and Religion.” An example of an informative title, “Religion is not going away.”
Edit the post. Remove any unnecessary language. Be concise. One tip: read it out loud.
Knit your R Markdown and submit the html