Digital Pedagogy Librarian
Writing for Digital Assignments
Digital assignments often have rigorous writing requirements, but can differ from the skills and styles used in composing traditional academic and research papers. Some examples include:
- Multimodal writing, combining text with images, video, and audio
- Script writing for audio and video projects
- Public writing and the writing of content intended for general audiences
- Descriptive and alternative text
- Transcriptions and translations
While the end product of digital assignments may have a smaller word count than essays and final projects, the writing process may be as (or more) intensive and ask students to engage with knowledge in new ways. This page includes resources related to web writing, public writing, and digital writing that may be useful to educators and students engaged in a variety of assignment formats.
- Digital Writing in the College ClassroomA brief article defining digital writing and discussing impacts on curricular and information literacy in higher ed.
- Writing for Digital MediaOpen access textbook focused on writing and digital media. Includes practical strategies and best practices for different forms of digital content.
Public Writing
- Audience AwarenessA brief guide to identifying and writing for an audience.
- Writing for a General AudienceA brief guide to making academic and research content accessible to a general audience.
- Public WritingA guide from University of Washington with practices and resources about writing for public audiences on the web and in other mediums.
Script Writing
- Create a Script for Your Digital ProjectA guide to writing a script for digital stories and other types of audio and video projects.
- Creating a Great Podcast Script: 3 Methods Top Podcasters UseAn article describing different approaches to writing scripts for podcasts.
- The Journey from Print to Radio StorytellingA guide from NPR with tips for creating effective scripts for audio storytelling projects.
Writing for the Web
- Web Style GuideA user-focused style guide for web content. Chapters 10 - 11 focus on writing and use of images and video in web contexts.
- Writing Clearly and Simply for the WebGuidelines for organizing and writing text content for general audiences on the web.
Accessibility
Descriptive and alternative text are additional forms of writing needed for accessibility in digital stories. Non-text content, including audio, images, data visualizations, figures, and other visual information, should include text that describes what is being communicated. Accessibility considerations can improve your script writing, text-based content in web stories, and selection of multimedia content.
- Writing Helpful Alt TextA simple guide to writing descriptive text for visual information.
- Image Description GuidelinesGuidelines and tips for describing all types of images, including diagrams, maps, equations, tables, and more.
- WebAIM: Alternative TextGuide to writing and applying alternative text to many kinds of images.
- DCMP Description KeyGuidelines and best practices for describing educational video.
- ABS Guidelines for Verbal DescriptionGuide to descriptions for works of art.
- Writing Accessible StoryMap ContentA guide from ArcGIS explaining how to format and edit content for accessibility.
