HowTo: Student Fellow Blog Posts

Instructions for posting to the Commons

• Login to esipfed.org
• From the black bar at the top, select "Add content"
• Select "Blog entry"

• Add title
• Tag the post Student Fellow Blog

• Under Text Format select "Full HTML"

• Add your text (I often compose in Google Docs and paste - this will bring in images, but will still require some cleaningup)
• If you want to add images directly (eg. not paste) , see the next section.
• NOTE: Your post is not published yet.
• When you are ready, select "Publishing Options"
• Select the box "Published"
• This post is NOW published to the ESIP site and promoted to the front page.
• Finish with social media tag line, something like: Stay connected with ESIP through our Facebook, Twitter, weekly updates and AGU data blog posts.

Drupal tips for images and text formatting

• Use your favorite photo editor to modify images (crop, add text, etc...) - Drupal is not a great place to do your photo edits.

• If your images were not brought in with a copy/past of text, you have to upload photos/figures one at a time under under "Add new file"
• Click on the uploaded file you want to insert.
• Right click on image and select "Copy image address"

• Place your curser in the text where you would like the image.
• Select the image icon.
• Paste the image URL + select appropriate size

• If you want to be a little more advanced, select "Advanced" in the Image Properties dialog box
• You can insert some HTML to customize the image, for example, add a drop shadow:

box-shadow:rgb(200, 200, 200) 10px 10px 5px; float:right; height:200px; line-height:20.8px; margin:5px; width:300px

Peer review

Before you publish your blog post, have a peer review it for readability,

If you are asked to GIVE a peer review, here are a few good resources:

• http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-peer-review/

Blog Tips

• Before you Blog: Best Practices Checklist
• 12 Tips for Scientists Writing for the General Public

Further reading:

• On Writing Well, William Zinsser
• The Elements of Style, Strunk and White
• Science and Society: An Anthology for Readers and Writers, eds: Nelson-McDermott, LePan, Buzzard
• Everything you could ever want to know about science communication via Cornell University

Style Guide

• ESIP Style Guide
• Purdue Online Writing Lab Overview of AP Style