{"id":572,"date":"2026-07-09T10:50:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/?page_id=572"},"modified":"2026-07-09T10:50:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:50:49","slug":"conventions-for-sotlshu-blogs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/conventions-for-sotlshu-blogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Conventions for\u00a0SOTL@SHU\u00a0Blogs\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"agt-title\">Conventions for\u00a0SOTL@SHU\u00a0Blogs\u00a0<\/h1>\n<div class=\"container mx-auto [ lg:w-9\/12 ]\"><section class=\"py-12 [ md:py-16 ]\"><div class=\"container mx-auto\"><div class=\"z-20 relative\"><div class=\"wysiwyg\">\n<p>The&nbsp;SoTL&nbsp;blogs at Hallam will be published on this page:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All blogs will&nbsp;use the&nbsp;SoTL@SHU&nbsp;logo:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/38\/2025\/07\/SoTL-Logos-1-150x150.png\" alt=\"SoTL@SHU logo\" class=\"wp-image-56\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Purpose<\/mark><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0to\u00a0showcase\u00a0the T&amp;L practices,\u00a0insights\u00a0and reflections\u00a0from across Sheffield Hallam\u00a0with internal and external audiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Categories:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Update\u00a0&#8211; updates on work\u00a0you\u00a0are doing\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Event report &#8211; reporting back from a workshop, conference, session, other event\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Announcement\u00a0&#8211; where\u00a0you\u00a0want to tell stakeholders something\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Output\u00a0&#8211; either a scholarly output or a project output.\u00a0You\u00a0may want to distinguish in the title\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Resource\u00a0&#8211; a guide, case study, video, etc. that\u00a0you\u00a0have created. Can include drafts which you want people to know about.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Discussion piece &#8211; more of an opinion type piece, not necessarily about a solid piece of work or project\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Meet the\u00a0Staff\u00a0&#8211; an overview of yourself and the interesting work you do!\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Titles<\/mark><\/strong>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0establish\u00a0a hook\u00a0and be\u00a0creative. Ensure they are of sufficient length\/description that someone will understand what they should\u00a0expect. Should also be unambiguous\u00a0and free of abbreviations which some readers will not know. Category info like &#8216;Project update:&#8217; and &#8216;Conference report&#8217; are fine at the beginning of a title where they help people understand what they will be getting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Photos\/images<\/mark>\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211;\u00a0blogs\u00a0look\u00a0better with a smattering of\u00a0images.\u00a0Add\u00a0an ALT\u00a0tag description\u00a0of the image\u00a0and\u00a0verify\u00a0as\u00a0copyright free.\u00a0Provide\u00a0an EEDI lens on representation within the images.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Tags<\/mark>\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211;\u00a0provide\u00a02-3 keywords for your blog that we can use as searchable tags, this will make your work more\u00a0visible\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Abstract<\/mark><\/strong>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0provide\u00a0one sentence that describes the content of your blog\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Length<\/mark>\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; variable length is fine\u00a0but ideally posts should not exceed 600 words.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Structure<\/mark>\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211;\u00a0section sub-headings\u00a0are good to break up the text into readable chunks.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Links<\/mark><\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; Links to other guides, blogs, resources, etc. are encouraged.\u00a0Remember this is an external webpage, so link appropriately and remember not all links will be accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Style\u00a0Guide<\/mark>\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211;\u00a0Consider the following prompts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0person preferable to 3<sup>rd<\/sup>\u00a0person\u00a0&#8211; should give it a personal feel\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Credibility:\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0the author bringing?\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clear line of argument, and clear conclusions\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set out the immediate relevant context\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Accessible\/readable for a range of audiences (inc. non-experts)\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Conversational tone\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Concise\/succinct (no extra baggage)\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stick to the purpose\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Offer alternative suggestions (don\u2019t\u00a0just criticise)\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Judge the humour,\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0force\u00a0it;\u00a0playfulness\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Authenticity\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some evidence, but not \u2018academic\u2019 referencing\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Decide on the tone \u2013 analysis? Comment?\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">About you<\/mark>\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211;\u00a0it would be useful to provide\u00a0a\u00a0photo with contact details and social media links in case folks want to connect\u00a0with you.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#b70d50\" class=\"has-inline-color\">What next?<\/mark>\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211;<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>A post published on our blog is a publication. You should therefore add this publication to your publication list\/CV, enter the publication on Elements, and promote the post as much as possible among colleagues and students (adding a link to your signature is\u00a0a good idea).\u00a0You can reference your output like this:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beckingham, S. (2025)&nbsp;SoTL&nbsp;Staircase.&nbsp;SHU@SoTL&nbsp;Blog.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/sotl-staircase\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/sotl-staircase\/<\/a><strong><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>SOTL Leadership Team, April 2025<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><div class=\"mb-8 container mx-auto\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conventions for\u00a0SOTL@SHU\u00a0Blogs\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":314,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-572","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":574,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/572\/revisions\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shu.ac.uk\/sotl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}