Note: This is for you blogging newbies. I’m basing this on some of the things I remember being confused about when I first started blogging.

So you’ve created a blog…now, how do you find your way back to it…and how do you post your assignments on it?

Before you can post an assignment, or edit a previous blog post/assignment, you’ll need to sign into your blog. There are two ways to do that. Either way, you’ll need the username and password you used to create your blog.

Sign in method #1: Open up your web browser (e.g., Firefox, Safari, Explorer). Go to the Blogger start page at https://www.blogger.com/. In the upper right-hand corner of that page, type in your username and password, then click on the blue “sign in” button. That will take you to your blog’s “dashboard” (administrative area), where you can “write” a new “post” (a.k.a. an assignment) or “manage” (edit or delete) any materials you’ve posted previously.

Sign in method #2: If you know (or have bookmarked) the URL of your blog (e.g., http://myblogsname.blogspot.com), then open up your web browser and type in the URL of your blog. Once you’re there, you can click on the “sign in” link in the upper right-hand corner of your blog to sign in to your blog’s dashboard. Once there, you can write a new post.

Your blog’s dashboard should look something like this.

To write a new post, click on the “New Post” link. That will take you to a form that looks a lot like an email form where you can write and format your new “post” or assignment.

Alternatively, instead of typing your assignment directly into the blog post form, you can write it in Microsoft Word (or a text editor), copy it, and then “paste” it into the “new post” form of your blog.

Once you’ve written (or copied and pasted) your assignment or comment into the “new post” form, simply click on the orange “Publish Post” button at the bottom left of the form…and you’re done. Your “post” will now show up as the first item in your blog.

By the way, if you look at your blog and find that your new post hasn’t showed up yet, try clicking your browser’s “refresh” button.

If you click on “Save Now” instead of “Publish Post,” your new item will be saved as a draft. It will not appear on your blog’s main page until you “publish” it.

If you’ve saved something as a draft and need to go back and finish it, click on the “manage posts” in your dashboard (or on the “edit posts” tab while in the “create post” form). That will take you to a list of all your posts (both published posts and drafts). Click on the edit button for a specific post to edit it.

If you have any questions, leave them as a comment on this blog post and I’ll do my best to answer them.