1. Go to http://wordpress.com/ and click on the ‘create your wordpress.com blog now!’ button (hint: it’s bright orange)
2. Fill out the information required for sign up – your email address (remember, your school email is [your login]@keswick.cumbria.sch.uk ... don’t get it wrong!); a username (pick something you’ll remember!); a password and the blog address you’d like to use. Your initials and then ‘keswick’ is a good idea, e.g. vakeswick – which is my blog!
Then click ‘sign up’ for the basic, free, version.
3. You will get an email sent to your email address. Click on the ‘activate blog’ button in that email. This will take you to your welcome page where you can set up your blog preferences. Choose a tagline and a theme, and customise it to suit your preferences.
4. Create your first post.
Make an entry in your blog outlining your initial ideas for your MS3 project. Think about the following:
To see an example of what this should look like check out last year’s blogs (linked below) or the sample at: http://pskeswick.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/hello-world/
If it’s too early for you to do this, don’t worry. Just say hello and move on.
5. You’ll now be taken to your dashboard. The first thing to do is click on the ‘edit’ button next to ‘blogs I follow’ and add my blog: http://vakeswick.wordpress.com You can add your classmates’ blogs in the same way.
Whenever you log in to your blog you’ll be taken to your dashboard – from here you can make your posts, store your links and videos, and collect your research. For how to do this, see ‘How to research’.
Now what?
First things first, make sure you've given me your blog address so I can add it to the list.
1. Use your blog to track your ideas. Write your initial ideas up into a blog entry. What do you want to look into for MS3? What are you interested in researching and writing about? Do you have any ideas about possible production pieces?
2. Use your blog to keep a track of all your research. Create a post to act as a list of all the websites, articles and online information you find. This means you can save a site for later and not have to worry about remembering the address or search term you used! It also lets Miss Burt and Miss Archer keep an eye on how much research you’re doing!
3. Use your blog to store images and media files in a safe place. Go to your dashboard, click on the ‘media’ tab and upload anything that might be important for your research. Write down your initial ideas or a short analysis of each file: why did you upload it? Why could you use it? This will build up your ideas as well as giving Miss Burt and Miss Archer an idea about how you’re progressing.
4. Use everyone else’s research to help your own. It’s not cheating! Get into the habit of checking each other’s blogs and picking up on anything that might be useful for your own work. Leave a comment to let someone know they’ve helped you, to ask them a question about what they found out, or to let them know there’s something on your own blog that might be useful for them to see.
5. Keep up to date with deadline information, course details or anything else you need to know! Check back here – vakeswick.wordpress.com – for reminders about what you need to do, when you need to do it, and how it should be done. I’ll update the blog as often as possible with course information, as well as any links or images that might be useful for more general research.
How to research
MS3 Blog - check this regularly!
Mirror MS3 Blog on Wordpress
How to set up and use your own blog
Our blogs: 2013-14
Previous blogs (external link)
Writing the research investigation
Mark Schemes
2. Fill out the information required for sign up – your email address (remember, your school email is [your login]@keswick.cumbria.sch.uk ... don’t get it wrong!); a username (pick something you’ll remember!); a password and the blog address you’d like to use. Your initials and then ‘keswick’ is a good idea, e.g. vakeswick – which is my blog!
Then click ‘sign up’ for the basic, free, version.
3. You will get an email sent to your email address. Click on the ‘activate blog’ button in that email. This will take you to your welcome page where you can set up your blog preferences. Choose a tagline and a theme, and customise it to suit your preferences.
4. Create your first post.
Make an entry in your blog outlining your initial ideas for your MS3 project. Think about the following:
- Are you going to look into representation, genre or narrative?
- Which media form are you going to research?
- What issues are you interested in?
To see an example of what this should look like check out last year’s blogs (linked below) or the sample at: http://pskeswick.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/hello-world/
If it’s too early for you to do this, don’t worry. Just say hello and move on.
5. You’ll now be taken to your dashboard. The first thing to do is click on the ‘edit’ button next to ‘blogs I follow’ and add my blog: http://vakeswick.wordpress.com You can add your classmates’ blogs in the same way.
Whenever you log in to your blog you’ll be taken to your dashboard – from here you can make your posts, store your links and videos, and collect your research. For how to do this, see ‘How to research’.
Now what?
First things first, make sure you've given me your blog address so I can add it to the list.
1. Use your blog to track your ideas. Write your initial ideas up into a blog entry. What do you want to look into for MS3? What are you interested in researching and writing about? Do you have any ideas about possible production pieces?
2. Use your blog to keep a track of all your research. Create a post to act as a list of all the websites, articles and online information you find. This means you can save a site for later and not have to worry about remembering the address or search term you used! It also lets Miss Burt and Miss Archer keep an eye on how much research you’re doing!
3. Use your blog to store images and media files in a safe place. Go to your dashboard, click on the ‘media’ tab and upload anything that might be important for your research. Write down your initial ideas or a short analysis of each file: why did you upload it? Why could you use it? This will build up your ideas as well as giving Miss Burt and Miss Archer an idea about how you’re progressing.
4. Use everyone else’s research to help your own. It’s not cheating! Get into the habit of checking each other’s blogs and picking up on anything that might be useful for your own work. Leave a comment to let someone know they’ve helped you, to ask them a question about what they found out, or to let them know there’s something on your own blog that might be useful for them to see.
5. Keep up to date with deadline information, course details or anything else you need to know! Check back here – vakeswick.wordpress.com – for reminders about what you need to do, when you need to do it, and how it should be done. I’ll update the blog as often as possible with course information, as well as any links or images that might be useful for more general research.
How to research
MS3 Blog - check this regularly!
Mirror MS3 Blog on Wordpress
How to set up and use your own blog
Our blogs: 2013-14
Previous blogs (external link)
Writing the research investigation
Mark Schemes