TuftsRoundtable.org Blogger Guidelines

Welcome to the TuftsRoundtable.org Blogger Agreement and Guidelines document. This document serves as the only required reading for blogging on TuftsRoundtable.org. Great care was taken to produce a single and simplified document, covering your rights and responsibilities as a blogger, as well as basic information about signing up for an account. To reflect that care, we at TuftsRoundtable.org instruct you to read it and agree to its principles before requesting a blog and before making your first post. Occasionally, we will instruct you to read an updated version. Like all aspects of TuftsRoundtable.org, this document should encourage debate. Feel free to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with comments, questions, or concerns.

Table of Contents

Creating an Account & Requesting Blogger Status

There are three basic steps to setting up a TuftsRoundable.org blogging account.

Step 1 - Ask Nicely.

  • Create a TuftsRoundtable.org account.
  • Finish reading this document, in its entirety. Do not skim it. You will be help responsible for having read it.
  • Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and ask for permission to start blogging. Tell us your TuftsRoundtable.org username (which you just created), your background, what you plan to blog about, and what you'd like to name of your blog to be. Finally, tell us that you have read this document.

Step 2 - Wait Patiently...

  • The Tufts Roundtable team will then begin the process of adding you to our blogging team. Unfortunately, we cannot automate the blog creation process for security reasons. Once you are accepted, you will have the account privileges and access rights of a blogger. At that point, we will send you an email instructing you to move onto Step 3.

Step 3 - Blog Passionately!

It's time to write your first post! Follow these steps:

  • Log into the site.
  • After you're logged in, click "Write a Post" under the User Menu.
  • This will bring up the online editor. You should not write your posts in this online editor. We recommend that you start in another application, like Notepad or Wordpad on Windows or TextEdit on the Mac, and then paste your post into the editor. Our web-based editor is fully functional, but because web browsers crash or tabs can be accidentally closed, you can lose a brilliant post if you aren't careful.
  • Once you've finished your post in your editing application, paste it into the web-based editor. From there, add links and images.
  • At the bottom of the page, add relevant and appropriate tags to your post (NOTE: more details are needed on this... can't do until site is fixed.)
  • You must, absolutely, do the following things:
    • On the Section: drop down on that page, select "Blogs".
    • On the Category: drop down on that page, select the name of your blog.
  • Make your post!

Blogging Guidelines & Self-Editing Checklist

The mission of the Tufts Roundtable is to foster debate; keeping this goal in mind, we grant complete academic freedom to contributors. That said, the Tufts Roundtable maintains the highest standards. Although you are welcome to write about any topics that interest you, a blog at the Tufts Roundtable is not a diary. If you would like to post entries corresponding to life's mundane events, we recommend Twitter, or a personal blog. Of course, if you are a first-hand witness or participant in a world event, you're encouraged to write about it.

Here's the checklist of criteria for a good blog post at the Tufts Roundtable. It was inspired by the New York Times and was adapted from Professor Sarah Bartlett at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. She was a reporter and editor at Fortune, Inc., the New York Times and Business Week.

  1. Choosing a Topic: Blog about whatever interests you. Use your blog to help others see the world from your perspective, respectfully.
  2. Encouraging Debate: Ask yourself if your piece is interesting, original, or provocative. If the piece doesn't contribute to the ongoing dialogue or further debate, try approaching it from a different angle.
  3. Post Titles: Make Sure Your Post Titles are Capitalize Properly. All post titles should be engaging, succinct, and draw in the reader. Of course, the title should accurately describe what the post is about. Don't forget, most people are only going to be seeing the title of your entry, and will be viewing it on the homepage. Using titles like "Welcome to my blog" only serves to confuse readers and doesn't do anything to draw people to your entry.
  4. Civil Discourse: Refrain from using hate speech or discriminatory language. It will not be tolerated.
  5. Attribution: Although blogs are often characterized as "off the cuff" or "knee-jerk", the Tufts Roundtable's blogs strive to live up to the highest standards of academic honesty. Attribute all facts and quotes, whenever possible.
  6. Names: Check that all names and titles are spelled correctly (e.g. Senator, Representative, Dr., etc.). Incorrectly referencing someone's title or misspelling someone's name is inconsiderate and sticks out to readers.
  7. Grammar and Spelling: Check that verb tenses correspond, apostrophes are neither over nor under used, and that you have not made a common homonym mistake (e.g. they’re-their-there, its/it’s, your/you’re, etc.).
  8. Slang or Jargon: Esoteric or informal words should be avoided. Remember, your audience extends beyond Tufts University and college-age students.
  9. Post Length and Excess Words: The length of your posts is completely up to you. You're welcome to post anything from a short blurb to a long article. However, first drafts of ideas are often long-winded. Subsequent edits should remove extraneous words, especially when they add nothing to the meaning of a sentence.
  10. Pictures: Images must not exceed 600 pixels wide. If images are in-line with text, add padding by selecting them, right clicking, and choosing "Insert/Edit Image". A good padding amount is 5-8 pixels. To check the size of an image, open it with your web browser. To do this, after downloading the image, open a new tab in the browser and drag the image onto that page. The title bar will tell you the dimension of your image in the form of (width x height). To resize the image, you can use Preview on the Macintosh (http://www.butterscotch.com/tutorial/Resize-An-Image-In-Preview) or Paint on Windows (http://www.wikihow.com/Resize-an-Image-in-Microsoft-Paint).
  11. Tags: Add relevant tags to your post. Tags make it easier for users to find your posts on the website and in search engines.
  12. Meta-Information: In the "Metadata" section, you may add keywords to your post. These will make your posts easier to find on search engines, however, they are not required.
  13. Imagery and Style: Ask yourself if you would like to read the piece you have written. Include descriptions of places, people, sounds, smells, and the evolution of thoughts to make the piece engaging.
  14. Final Engagement: If your piece ends with a "whimper", consider replacing it with a "bang". Do not take this too far. Engage, but never bait or flame.
  15. Read Aloud: Read your piece aloud to listen to its flow, searching for potential inconsistencies or gaps.
  16. Put it Down: If you have the time, work on a post in multiple sessions over multiple hours or days. A fresh perspective is always a valuable asset.
  17. Frequency: Try to post at least once a week. Readership is positively correlated with post frequency.
The Tufts Roundtable Staff maintain the right to edit posts and blogs that do not meet these standards.

Promoting Yourself

If you're proud of your work, share it! Post links to your writing on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Share your thoughts with your family, friends, potential employers, and other associates. If you already have a personal blog, try cross-posting (i.e. submitting the same post to both blogs, having each link to the other).

Finding Help & Solving Problems

Many of the features of TuftsRoundtable.org are only available in a modern web browser. In order to ensure a pleasant experience, we ask you not to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer. We currently do not support any version of this browser.

Provided that you are using a modern web browser, technical support is available by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . If you have an idea for the site that you would like to see, share it with us. If you feel motivated to help us realize your feature or vision for the site, consider joining our team.