These are the notes from our discussion on what makes a good forum discussion contribution. You can also consider these when thinking about blog post comments, and even class or group discussions.
Summary:
- Agree with someone- and add more, support their ideas
- Disagree with someone – don’t attack the person, give points/reasons why you disagree.
- Add new ideas. (explain your evidence, suggest new topics, make a good thesis statement)
- Share your opinion
- Ask a question. (Extend the ideas or ask someone to explain theirs)
- Give examples, quotes, cite sources.
Anything else?
Also on the note of supporting statements with evidence, research them thoroughly as to cross-reference and to them understand better yourself.
Excellent point. Related to the idea of cross-referencing is that with digital text we can also hyperlink.
Here is a list of fallacies: http://onegoodmove.org/fallacy/toc.htm
These are things to watch out for and to avoid so that you are making strong statements that are worth paying attention to!
Thanks for the great contribution Annica H!