For next year's students

Thank you for browsing my blog! I think there may be a few questions future students might have so I'm going to answer it here:

What score did you get for this blog?

64/100

Why?

This blog under the theme of Water & Environmental Change begins with a general introduction to the African context focusing on climate change and the (often underappreciated size of the continent); this review cites past blogs rather than directly peer-reviewed literature. This is followed by a nicely presented mindmap outlining the blog foci (redundancy in opening text). 

A subsequent post reporting on surface water distribution in Africa somewhat repeats material from the opening post and is linked to previous course blogs rather than citing the original literature from which these derive. This is followed by a post suggesting a change in focus climate change and resilience to climate change to nature-based solutions for water management. There then follows posts on sand dams, use of groundwater, and the re-greening of the Sahel; each of these posts is better connected to, and draws from, peer-reviewed sources. 

This shift is reflected in the insight and depth of presented analyses. The blog closes with a summary of issues raised over the course of the preceding posts. There is a good geographical spread of stories and the blog engages with some key topics such as sand dams, groundwater-focused solutions, and land-cover change.

Overall, the blog is well presented, timely and posts are written in an accessible manner. Referencing was often not well done, citing past blogs rather than the original source. Greater engagement with and insight from the peer-reviewed literature over the entire blog would have improved critical insight and enabled a progression of ideas and themes, which for the most part, start after the 5th post.

How did the rest of your cohort score?

The median provisional grade is high, 68. Higher grades were typically associated with a depth and extent of reading and reflection that are evident in the detail and insight revealed in posts. Depth of engagement with the peer-reviewed literature is especially evident in those blogs that received higher grades. Blogs that scored less highly often had some of the following limitations: speculative arguments with unclear or absent connections to literature sources (either not given or with missing links); errors of logic, limited overall coherency among posts (limited or absent progression of ideas) and to the chosen thematic area, as well as missing captions for figures and typos.

Any advice?

• Actually do the blog once a week instead of during Christmas if possible, writing 4000 words the week before hand-in was difficult. 
• Don't overly refer to past high-scoring blogs, make your own structure and fill it out.
• Try not to be redundant in content, even if it format seems fun and 'spontaneous'. Write casually, but keep the structure formal.
• Narrow down the focus (geographical or thematic) of the blog from the beginning, it makes it a lot easier, and as you can see from the comments in my first few posts, gives a better impression. It also doesn't hurt to start planning your individual blog posts, then reshuffling them around if needed for better narrative.
• If you're having trouble narrowing down what to write, or are struggling to find a topic to write, do ask RT! The lectures are pretty interactive so feel free to slip in a question.
• Refer to the blogging marking criteria (it exists), you can find it on the UCL Geog Dept website.
• In the end, it is still linked to the amount of effort you put in, so plan your time. 

Hopefully this helps and happy writing!