How to Add a Blog Entry

Add a Blog Entry to Your Group

The "Blog Entry" content type allows you to submit blog entries for display on your unique blog as well as your group or Research Center's main blog.

You must be an active affiliate of a Research Center or other group to submit a Blog Entry for moderation.

When to Use a Blog Entry

The main use for a blog entry is to express opinions, personal discoveries, and the like. At the top level of the site, we promote blogs that detail experiences and provide insight. Additionally, blog entries feature a widget to the right of the post with the author’s profile image and a list of links to other recent blog entries.

To Add Blog Entries to Your Research Center

  1. Log in to the website
  2. Click “Shortcuts” in the black navigation bar at the top of the page
  3. Click “Add Content”
  4. Select “Blog Entry”
  5. The form will open that allows you to add a blog entry to your Research Center.
  6. Complete the Title and Body sections.
  7. Click "Edit Summary" to add a one-sentence summary, add an Image at the top or Attachments at the bottom. See below for additional information.
  8. Select a group affiliation. Even if there is only one listed, you must click on the item to select it.
  9. Scroll down to the "Revision Information" section and change the Moderation State to "Needs Review"
  10. Click Publish. Your Blog entry will then be entered into a "Needs Review" queue for your group.
  11. An unpublished version of your article will appear.
  12. Your group administrator or another content moderator will then approve the content, making it live on the site, or deny and provide feedback for improvement.

Blog Entry Fields

Please use the descriptions below to best fill out the Add Blog Entry page. 

  • Title: This will be the main title of your piece and will be the header once published.
  • Featured Image: This image will be included at the top of the blog post, to the left. It will be resized to fit the space. Click ‘Browse’ to open the Media Library, where you can then upload an image or find one in the existing library.
  • Edit Summary: This hyperlink reveals a hidden field that allows you to create a brief summary of your article, which will display in certain views. It is optional and you can click the hyperlink again to hide the field at any time. See below for additional information.
  • Body: This is where the blog post itself will be added. We recommend you create the draft in a word processing document, such as Microsoft Word, and proofread and finalize it there. You can then paste the entry into the body field. Before pasting, make sure the text editor option – shown on the bottom right of this field – is set to “WYSIWG.”
  • Group Affiliation: You will need to select the affiliation(s) you would like this blog entry to be affiliated with. If more than one Research Center is available, please contact researchhub@phoenix.edu.
  • Attachments: You can use this field to add any forms or other items being referenced in the body of the blog entry.

Adding a Summary

Summaries are automatically created using the text in the “Body” field. It usually clips the summary at the end of the first paragraph. If you start an article with the word “Dr.” it often clips the summary after the period.

It’s important to manually edit this before clicking publish. To do so, click the ‘Edit Summary’ hyperlink to reveal a hidden, minimized field that allows you to create a brief, plain text summary of your article.

In creating the summary, you can copy and paste the first sentence or two from the article’s body, or create a custom description. The best way to do this is to ask yourself “Why does this article matter?” because that is what people who are reading it – those who have not already clicked through based on the title alone – want answered. Best practice dictates this summary should be limited to 1 to 2 sentences.

How to Publish or Save as Draft

At the bottom of the page, there are three options to choose from, all explained below.

  • Publish: You must modify the moderation state to 'Needs Review' if you would like to publish. Once selected, clicking this button submits the entry for moderation by your Research Center’s Chair.
  • Save as Draft: Clicking this button saves the draft to the system to be addressed by you, the author, at a later time.
  • Cancel: This button returns you to the previous screen and does NOT save any information you’ve added on this page.

Additional Resources

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