The Twitter Writing ProjectEnglish Composition I

Paul D. Camp Community College

Nancy W. Warren

ENG 795/895Dr. DepewSummer 2010

The Project’s Purpose

1. Instruction –Set up and use a Twitter account and access two accounts for this class.

2. Researching- Find links to topics and locate scholars in the field.

3. Peer Interaction- Share what you know with others and consider youraudience when you write.

“ I have assessed three vital components of online courses-instruction, peer interaction, and researching” (Walker 208).

1. Instructions

Join Twitter. Before setting up an account, watch all three of these videos.

• http://bit.ly/cLvE by Twitter

(a simple how to)

• http://bit.ly/UVKz9 by Keith Dougherty (step-by-step)

• http://bit.ly/9DEWyK by Paul Trotter (more in-depth)

More Instructions

You will need to follow two different

accounts for this assignment.

1. Locate the class site @pdcEnglish

2. When you arrive, click on the follow

button to become a follower.

3. Submit your first tweet answering

the question “What’s happening?”

Next

• Find others in the class who are following @pdcEnglish and follow them.

• Remember, this is your school Twitter account. Open a separate account for your personal use.

• Search for people who know about your topic (scholars in the field) and follow them.

More Instruction

1. Follow the second class site @EngWritingTips

2. This site contains important tipsyou will want to know.

3. Submit your first tweet answering the question

“What’s happening?”

2. Researching

After creating an account, begin your search of a topic that interests you and that you know something about already.

Example: Suppose you use disposable diapers for your baby, but you are worried about the effect the diapers are having on the environment.

Search for information

Your thesis: Everyone should switch to cloth diapers.

Enter your topic in the search box:

• clothDiapers (no hashmark)

• #clothDiapers

• #diapers

Note: try #clothNappy (UK term)

Type your topic in the search box

Search #clothnappy

More Researching

After you have done a little research on your topic, find out more about Twitter and then share (tweet) what you found.

The Twitter Survival Guide by Bob Walsh and Kristen Nichole http://bit.ly/4rFIYU

Check out their list of Twitter Tools

Researching continued…

If you find a website to share with the class,

shorten the URL first by using http://bit.ly/ or http://tiny.cc/ to cut down on character use.

Example: shorten the link- http://www.thelabor oflove.com/articles/cloth-diapers-versus-disposable-diapers-pros-and-cons/

to: http://bit.ly/bhCGTq

3. Peer Interaction

Don’t forget to follow Netiquette Rules

when in the classroom environment and check for errors before you post your tweet.

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Who is your audience?

• Consider your audience.

• Who will be reading your tweetsother than the instructor.

• Other than classmates, who elsemight read your tweets?

Help others out

• Reply to posts from classmates.

• Offer suggestions and ideas.

• Post tweets that are valued by others.

• Share thoughts on how to improve research and how to correct writing errors.

Take the initiative

• Connect with other students frequently.

• Help meet other’s research and Twitter needs.

• Praise them for their hard work and research accomplishments.

• Thank them when they help you find what you need.

Follow these guidelines when posting to Twitter

ReviewPurpose of Twitter Project

Instruction, Researching , Peer Interaction

Works Cited

Shea, Virginia. “The Core Rules of Netiquette” Albion 2006. Web 17 June

2010.

Walker, Kristin. “Activity Theory and the Online Technical Communications

Course: Technical Communication Course: Assessing Quality in

Undergraduate Online Instruction. Online Education. Ed. Keli Cargile

Cook and Keith Grant-Davie. Amityville, NY: Baywood, 2005.

Walsh, Bob and Kristen Nichole. “The Twitter Survival Guide”

Multisocialmedia 2008. Web 18 June 2010.