Discussion Board Post

Course Discussion Board Post Tips that Will Make a Positive Impact

These days when you are a college student, discussion board post questions and comments have become a common way for professors to assess you. This is especially true if you are taking online courses since, unlike in traditional classroom settings, there is no other way to interact with classmates and teachers. But unfortunately, instructors don't always give you clear instructions about how they want you to contribution to the discussion. If you are unsure how to write a discussion board post, the experts at Essays-Experts.com would be happy to offer some pointers.

What Is a Discussion Board?

A discussion board post is an academic assignment in which the student is asked to post a question or reply to a discussion thread in order to demonstrate that they understand the course material and are able to engage their classmates. It typically requires logging onto a university portal, looking through the classes in which you are currently enrolled, and then picking the particular board for writing online comments in the form of questions and responses. While the nature and expectations related to the discussion post depend on your academic level, there are certain universal rules that most discussion boards follow.

Discussion Board Tips

• As you write discussion board questions, make sure to express everything clearly, so that your classmates and instruction can understand your intent. If you use boring words, nobody will want to respond.
• Once you post a question, your job is not done. You should reply to your classmates' comments, provide clarification, new information, and in some cases back up your arguments with strong support. You would even want to concede certain points if the responses include information that runs counter to your argument.
• If you want to really demonstrate that you take your postings seriously, make sure to make reference to current news events. For instance, if you are taking a biology course and there has been a recent scientific breakthrough related to the topic you are discussing, you will make a good impression if you incorporate these articles into your comments.
• If it is relevant to your course, feel free to discuss what you have been learning in other classes. By demonstrating that you can synthesize the knowledge that you've learned in all of your courses, you will gain a lot of respect and your classmates may learn something from you.
• Think of controversial questions related to your course. Those are likely to get a lot of responses. You can also create a post that includes multiple questions so that your classmates have to provide a lot of elaboration.
• Avoid personal insults. Remember that this is not Reddit; you must imagine these board posts as a substitute for the way you would behave in the classroom. You are expected to make a contribution to academic discourse and you are being graded accordingly. Also make sure to write complete sentences, avoid slang and acronyms, and choose words that generate interest. Writing in ALL CAPS is also not appropriate in this setting.
• Don't simply say that you agree or disagree with other posters. Discussion board post comments need to include your own person reasons for sharing or opposing their opinions.

Formatting of a Discussion Board Post

• The formatting of your posts is important. Remember that this is a graded task, which means you need to treat it the same way that you would treat any other academic writing assignment. If your instructor asks you to use double line spacing or Times New Roman 12-sized font, make sure to follow all of the instructions.
• Check your posts for typos, grammar and punctuation mistakes. Since all of these posts can be read by your classmates and instructor, you will find yourself looking a bit foolish if your sentences contain obvious mistakes. You would not want to turn in an essay that contained spelling mistakes or incorrect punctuation. Likewise, your posts should always look proper.

Avoid Plagiarism

When you write a research paper, you always remember to cite your sources since you would not want to get busted for plagiarism, right? The same thing applies to discussion board posts. If you have come across a really great article that provides evidence of your arguments, make sure to indicate where you found the information. Your instructor might expect it to be done in accordance to the proper APA or MLA formatting style, so make sure to ask if in doubt.