Review of Study Skills Blog

One of my goals is to provide you useful information to help you in your self studies. In order to provide you with useful information, whether it is from me or not, I have reveiwed others blogs on this subject. While I must admit, there aren't a great deal of blogs about this subject, I did come across one that did cover a lot information on a variety to study topics.

Content:

• What topics are they covering? The Study Skills Blog provides a great deal of content from study tips for online courses to ways to keep your brain in shape. This blog was started back in 2006 and contains a lot of content. One of the first blogs is Tips on Developing Efficient Study Habits. However, I didn't really find that the blogger really provided any specific tips other than to balance school and social life and listen to the Professors lecture. I think there was a lot more information that could have been provided in this section. The blogger discusses mental focusing techniques and provides a link to an article that discusses these techniques. One of the blogs that I found very interesting was Tips on Getting Your Mood to Study. While there isn't a great deal of information provided here, I did find it useful as we all have times that we just aren't in the mood to study. Another blog that I found interesting was on Anxiety and Studying. The blogger wdoes provide some tips that may help eliminate some of the anxiety we all encounter while studying.
• What topics are they ignoring? While there is a great deal of content within the blog, each blog that focuses on a specific topic doesn't provide a great deal of information. As the reader, it appears that the writer of the blog could expand more on the content in each of the blogs. For example, the blog for Study Tips for Online Courses doesn't really provide tips. It only provides two tips and I don't know that I would call them tips. The blogger is simply telling us what we must do, which is "go to class" and "designate a study area". I don't find that these are really tips but just a quick way to write some information. The blogger doesn't seem to be aware that people learn differently. It's almost as if the bloggers suggestions and tips would and should work for everyone.
• How often are they posting? The blogger isn't providing up to date blogs. The last blog was written in October 2010. Prior to that, the blogs were written about twice per month.
• What level are they pitching their posts at (beginners, advanced etc) The posts appear to be written by someone that does have a certain level of experience in this area but again the blogs are very short and could provide more detail.

Reader Engagement:

• What topics generate most conversation? Unfortunately, there are not a lot of comments within the blogs. I only came across a few that may have had 1 or 2 comments. One of the blogs The Use of Music while Studying did have 2 comments. Both of the comments agreed with the information contained in the bloggers post. Another blog Unwinding and Relaxation During Studying generated 3 comments. Again, those comments seem to be in agreement with the information provided by the blogger.
• What styles of posts seem to connect with readers best? The most comments in one blog were 3 and this was the blog regarding Unwinding and Relaxation During Studying.
• What questions are readers asking in comments? No questions were asked in the comments.
• What complaints do you see readers making in comments?  One comment did say that the blogger could provide more detailed information regarding the blow on how chewing gum can improve memory.
• What tools/mediums is the site using (eg: are they using Twitter, forums etc) The site is not using any tools/mediums such as Twitter.

Design:

• What first impression does their design give? The design of the blog is very basic. There is noting on the site that makes it visually appealing.
• What have they done well? What have they done poorly? The blogger has provided a great deal of content. However, as noted above, the content was very brief. There were things that the blogger could have expanded on or done further research. Some topics appeared to just be "thrown in" without much thought.
• What Options do they give readers to subscribe? There was a section in the blog that allows you to subscribe to a newsletter by entering your email address.

Below is the link to Study Skills Blog for you to review.
http://www.studyskillsblog.com/category/studying-tips/

In my blogs I try to provide specific information for self studiers. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, these techniques have help me over the past 10 years. What makes my blogs unique from others is that I focus on one area only. My unique selling proposition is to provide my readers with the most useful, proven, and helpful techniques to successfully complete any self study endeavor all in one place. I hope you find the information provided does just that.