And the journey of struggles begins from here! Have you ever got stuck on the part where it comes to alignment? Do you still have this question in mind that how do you go about researching? Now, even if you have conducted both types of research also and prepared solutions as well but you are confused about how to put them in a logical sequence? So, let me give you this astonishing news that these struggles won’t remain anymore as I’ve come here to solve your queries regarding alignment! To do that let’s quickly set our objective for today so, we’ll be able to:-
Explore what is alignment? Why is it actually important and how to check for alignment in your blog. I will provide you with a checklist for you to refer.
Have extreme fun!!
What is alignment?
Alignment is the consistency between the research, the title, problem statement, purpose and finally the solution. Just like in the adjacent picture when those pieces would be joined the puzzle will be completed similarly when you do the proper positioning of the pieces in a sequence your blog will be aligned! If I were to describe it in a few words it would be as simple as “a forming in line".
Why is alignment actually important?
You'll be able to know it’s importance by asking the following questions to yourself:-
How well researched is my artefact?
How clearly defined is the theme?
How well are the examples, evidence and factual data I’ve used supporting the topic?
Is the idea communicated clearly in the whole blog?
How well are my solutions concerning the problem statement?
Once you answer these questions I’m sure that you’ll be able to identify the need for alignment as well as your blog.
How to check if my blog is aligned or not?
Now, let’s move on to how you can inculcate alignment in your own blog. I've prepared a checklist to help you with that! you can use this checklist once you are done creating your blog and want to review it by yourself before submission.
Heading: Read the heading of the blog then check it with the problem statement. The question you have to ask here is:- Is my heading connecting with the problem statement or not? You can check by seeing what the actual problem statement was about and what your heading is trying to say.
Example: The problem statement is about waste management so my heading for the blog can be “Less produce more reduce“
Non -Example: “SAFE WATER SAFE EARTH “ waste can affect water but the main problem is waste management, so it's not recommended to put the heading about water. We need to grab the attention of the audience but, when the heading is not completely connected to its solutions, the audience will not be attracted.
Introduction: Introduction should be very clear and give readers a small idea to the readers of what you'll be talking about. check whether as a reader you are getting a small spark of an idea from intro to the blog. Check is it getting too long should I subtract some unnecessary points from it that are not really connecting with the blog.
Example: For waste management, my intro will be about what is waste and it’s management, what’s the need for your blog, one broad fact and end with let's explore a few steps to manage waste etc.
Non -Example: Unnecessary information in my intro like a list of many facts which is not important, talking about weeding or topics that are not at all relevant to my blog.
Stories: Stories can become a very strong reason for readers to connect the blog with their own lives at the same time become a reason for them to lose interest. They can lose interest once the story is too long or not at all related to your idea/ topic/solutions. make sure you are reading stories you are adding in a blog trying to make it short by providing specific details, it is related to your ideas or the topic you are mentioning.
Example: In my blog of waste management I will add a story of a worker in my community who faces difficult challenges while collecting waste because it is not managed or segregated.
Non-Example: Adding a story of a shopkeeper is not fully related to the ideas I am mentioning nor with the topic.
Factual data: Checking for this you can check whether these facts show readers reality about the topic or about something else that is not there in your topic.
Example: For waste management blog One of my facts can be: 1million tons of municipal solid waste is generated in India every day.
Non-example: 80% of domestic water comes from underground, This can be not aligned but if you want to add it due to any strong reason try to also mention how the waste does it align with the topic. Like I can align by saying this groundwater is getting dangerous and turns toxic soon if the waste keeps mixing with it.
Tools: The different tools you are using like templates, graphs, pie charts boxes or tables it is essential to check whether all these visual tools align with your blog. You shall check it by first listing down what the tools you are using and is it fitting with your blog.
Example: I am using bar graphs in my blog which are representing important facts that are related to my blog, I have used a box to represent a few important ideas to give the audience clarity.
Non-example: I have used a bar graph which represents the population of India, I have used a template to organize my ideas but the template itself seems very confusing.
Images: We can find many interesting images but we can use a few out of them in blogs which really helps you in representing your ideas or the topic of the blog, please also ensure that the images are relevant to the paragraph written over there in your blog because sometimes even though they are related to the topic they may not completely align with the paragraphs. Also think, how can we avoid using unnecessary images that are not properly connected with our blog.
For example, The topic of my blog is how can there be gender equality so I can use the adjacent picture.
Examples & Evidence: Using these can picture out more details at the same time can make the reader feel disconnected if they are not related to the blog/topic, so try using examples or evidence which supports your ideas/solutions/topic the best.
Example: I can give a small example if I am providing my idea on gender inequality: to support any of my ideas I can say that I’ve seen many people using the word “GUYS" which literally means boys to address even girls which in no way promotes gender equality.
Non-example: Providing evidence on things like how I took steps to save water is not at all related to gender inequality.
Using Quotes: Using quotes can inspire readers to start using your ideas in their daily life and can also create an interest for them to keep reading your blog with lots of concentration as long they find it relatable.
Example: “Bring the change you want to see in the world” I can mention this in my blog to push readers to start making changes in their own lives to promote equality and seeing boys and girls with the same view.
Non -example: “You will never realise the worth of water until the earth will dry away “I can’t mention this in my blog because this quote is talking about saving water rather than how can girls and boys be treated equally.
Conclusion: In conclusion, we should make sure we are wrapping up the whole blog and leaving readers with a spark for next steps. Here, you have to make sure that you are only concluding things that are already present in the blog and not ending by giving readers new points or ideas that you haven’t talked about. The conclusion should be crisp and precise and at the same time summarise your whole blog.
Things to follow while self-assessing or proofreading your blog: You will be able to check every element once you read it with proper attention and try to operate with an open mindset to make changes after checking.
Make sure you have fulfilled all the requirements written on the last page of every level document.
Highlight, underline the main sentences or phrases which you think can grab the reader’s attention and only if he/she reads the highlights they understand what your blog is talking about.
Do not forget that you have to keep everything aligned to the topic.
Lastly, look at the below more crisp checklist to summarize all that I mentioned!
I hope I was able to clear your doubts and you did have fun!
Thank you!
References:
by Danyah Khan & Huda Sultana
Assessment Interns (Blogging)