In my introductory post, I mentioned that my blog would be an “evolving representation of my educational process.” In this post, I will attempt to bring some validity to that claim by expanding on the purpose of my previous post entitled “What does success mean to you?”
As an exercise in blogging style, “What does success mean to you?” was actually a total revision of an academic essay that I had previously written.
In order to capture the essence of a blog, I began narrowing down my argument to its essential points. Through this process of editing, I was able to make my argument more concise while also eliminating unessential information that distracted from the point I was trying to make. Then, when I had determined what I was going to say, I began to rephrase and rewrite my own words to account for the informality of blog posts.
In my opening paragraph, I began with a small anecdote followed by a rhetorical question directed towards the reader. In this way, I attempted to draw in the reader’s attention by relating the upcoming ideas towards my own personal experience and encouraging the reader to engage with the text. Furthermore, I included a reference to “knock on wood,” a personal 
superstition of mine in order to further personalize and dress-down my
essay. Also, as a final effort to grab my reader’s attention, I included an animated gif from the popular TV show Seinfeld which features Jerry Seinfeld asking the same question that I posed towards the reader. At this point in my post, I am hoping that the reader is interested enough, or at least entertained enough by the Seinfeld gif, to click the “Continue Reading” tab.
Those who continue reading, will discover that the remainder of my post consists of three main body paragraphs and a short conclusion. In order to keep the reader interested, I employed at least one attention grabbing technique in each of these body paragraphs.
The first main body paragraph includes evidence from Stanley Kubrick’s movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” At first glance, the reader will see that this paragraph features a large animated gif featuring the movie’s character HAL 9000. With this gif, I attempted to provide the reader with a visually stimulating image to hold their attention and also to provide a visual memory trigger for those who have seen the movie. Next, I included a “spoiler alert” before my discussion of the movie which I hoped would further captivate the reader and provide my post with a sense of informality. Lastly, the paragraph features multiple hyperlinks which the reader may utilize to help contextualize my analysis of the movie.
In the next paragraph, I did not want to overstimulate the reader since the previous paragraph featured so much multimedia. However, I also did not want the paragraph to feel to long and cumbersome. For this reason, I split the paragraph using a block quote that helps to prevent the reader from getting bogged down in too much writing.
Then, in my last body paragraph I again used various forms of media to re-capture my reader’s attention. Firstly, I used a hyperlink to William Faulkner’s 1950 Nobel Prize acceptance speech. With this link, I hoped to establish my credibility by linking to a prestigious source and showing the reader that the idea I was discussing was inspired by a famous author. Next, I used an animated gif featuring lyrics from the Beatle’s song “Can’t Buy Me Love.” This gif is effective for two reasons. Firstly, the featured lyrics are directly related to my argument, and secondly, the Beatle’s are a popular pop-culture icon who may encourage readers to continue reading.
Essentially, I tried to convey the key features of my argument as simply and concisely as possible while using animated gifs and hyperlinks to both maintain my reader’s attention, provide them with context, and establish my own credibility. This is only my third blog post and I am by no means an expert blogger. However, I hope that my utilization of these techniques prevented me from seeming too far out of my element.
The answers to the these questions may seem elusive when reflecting on a past decision. However, luckily for us, artists have been indirectly contemplating this process for centuries. When constructing an argument, an effective author might consider these same questions to determine what their readers will find convincing. And furthermore, I believe that the answer to these questions depends on each individual’s personal definition of success.
mattsrobinson 