NETIQUETTE

English 101, 110, and 201

Bissette

For your online English course, you will be expressing your thoughts in various types of writing. There are a few things to consider when writing online.

Avoid internet speak.

This means spelling out words instead of using abbreviations often seen in chat rooms and text messaging. For example, the following questions would be unacceptable: What did u think of the second paragraph? When r we supposed to turn this in?

Proofread.

Even in a reply to a discussion post, you should be sure to proofread what you have written. You should also try to use correct grammar in all situations. Refer to Easy Writer often to avoid making simple mistakes.

Use proper capitalization.

The beginning of a sentence should always be capitalized, even in online writing. You should also take care to avoid speaking in all caps. For instance, you should not write: THE STYLE OF THIS ESSAY WAS EFFECTIVE. This is the equivalent of shouting.

Use names:

When responding to a discussion item, blog post, or email, use the name of the person you are responding to. Ultimately, we want to foster a positive community through this course.

Be polite.

This is an environment where students should feel comfortable communicating ideas. Therefore, when responding to classmates you should always be polite, even if you want to express disagreement. Excessive profanity, of course, is unacceptable.

Advance Discussion in useful ways.

Do not make off-topic posts in the midst of a thread. Also, contribute, don’t reiterate. A post that says “I agree” is useless. It’s okay to agree with a poster, but rather than simply agreeing, extend what they have to say by locating other examples or elaborating on the point.