Online Discussion Forums (Forums) are a largely asynchronous synthesis opportunity to replicate classroom seminar learning. This is one of the tools the USAWC Distance Education Program (DEP) uses to replicate classroom seminar learning for students spread across the world.
As a general rule, in USAWC Forums, students are responsible for making primary posts of approximately 250 (+/-) words to make an argument. Students would then respond to at least 1-2 posts of their classmates, responding, following up, or asking for clarification, in posts of approximately 150(+/-) words. In these responses, students can either agree, disagree, or add to the discussion points their classmates raised. This is not just a message of concurrence, but must include substantive reasons for why the student agrees or disagrees with the post.
PLEASE NOTE: Every forum has different rules of engagement, so students should be aware of and adhere to those rules of engagement, but this guidance is a good rule of thumb for primary and secondary posts within the forum.
Forum posts are an opportunity to demonstrate critical thinking, astute analysis, content mastery, and writing skill. In addition, forums are the asynchronous online version of seminar learning, and so discussion posts that do not necessarily conform to this guidance IN ADDITION TO the primary and response posts positively contribute to seminar learning, and most faculty instructors welcome this kind of discussion.
Primary posts (usually about 250-words) follow the A-S-A format (provided here) for a main body paragraph. However, students can also choose to split their posts into separate sections (for example, separating out the analysis) to make the post more readable by adding white space:
Students should write forum posts in prose, NOT in bullet points. Students may choose to present their Assertions, Support and Analysis, in separate paragraphs, or in one paragraph. Either way, in many, if not all, forums for first year studies, primary posts require an assertion(s), support, and analysis, in an effort to help students prepare for writing essays effectively. See examples here.
FIRST PERSON Analysis: Because forums provide the seminar experience for the USAWC distance program, unlike in written essays, often it may be appropriate to use first person case to relate experiences or observations to the analysis in a forum post.
Quotes: Avoid long or multiple quotes in forum posts. Instructors want to see what students know and think about the material/issue. There may be place for a short, pithy quote (5-7 words), but paraphrasing sources and using critical thinking, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis should be the goal.
FORUM CITATION FORMAT: PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS: As with written essays, it is important to appropriately credit information that is not common knowledge and which was not a student's original idea. However, unlike longer written requirements, forum posts use parenthetical citations rather than footnotes.
Students should simplify references for assigned course readings by placing in-text, parenthetical citations just after cited material, but before the closing period. These citations will include author's last name, publication date, and location information (e.g., page number, URL, or video timecode), as in:
Only use parenthetical citations for DEP forums. All other USAWC writing will use footnotes.
Outside sources: The primary sources for forums should come from assigned readings, to demonstrates a student's knowledge of the course material. In cases in which students have included outside sources, they must give the full citation inside the parenthesis, rather than the abbreviated form students may use for course materials.
Citations do not count toward the wordcount (forum or short essay).