The Discussion Board

 Demonstration of how to post to the Discussion Board (from Las Positas College)

Writing Tips for Composing Discussion Posts

When you post messages on the Discussion Board to your instructor or to your fellow learners you may want to consider the following points:

1. Keep your posts direct, specific and to the point. In a large class you may have to read up to 20 or more different posts so do not stray from the point of the discussion.

2. Choose the title for your post carefully. Try to use titles that specifically relate to your own thesis or argument in your post.

3. Use topic sentences in your paragraphs that summarize what you intend to say in your post. This will give your fellow learners and instructor a basic idea of your main thoughts. In fact this is a thesis to your paragraph. Thus be sure that you defend and support your thesis in your post. You may want to think of it as a "mini" essay: Topic sentence/thesis, body support; summary sentence at the end.

4. Make sure you read the discussion assignments carefully and follow the directions! Many students fail to do this and because discussion boards are such public venues students look foolish. You may even want to print out your assignments so that you can read them and underline specific assignment requirements by hand. This will help you to stay focused.

5. Take your time in composing your posts. Especially if discussion posts are a large part of your grade for the course you should consider taking time to write your responses on a word document first to check spelling and also to reflect on what you really want to say to your fellow learners and instructors. You may want to compose your message one day and then edit and proofread it the next day to feel confident that what you post is appropriate, too the point, and easy to understand. Then you can copy your text and paste it into the text box of your discussion post.

6. Be sure to check for spelling errors, basic grammar errors, and usage errors. Do not force your fellow learners and instructor to have to puzzle over what you wrote.

7. If you are asked to offer peer responses, be sure to cite at least one point or idea from the other student's post and offer constructive feedback. Do not simply state: "way to go!", or, "I agree". A conversation requires more than those simple words to be truly effective. Many instructors will have criteria for your peer responses--so be sure to pay attention to your assignment requirements for the discussion boards. You may want to actually quote a part of their message to respond. But be sure to use quotations marks.

8. Be sure to check back in frequently to see if others have responded to your post.

9. Finally be sure to do your research before you answer important discussion questions. Use the Chabot Library site to check facts, find support in texts for your ideas and to locate important resources for your papers and assignments.