First, you must be added to the site. If you are not a member by August 30th, please email your instructor right away ([email protected]). Make sure to put “Ling 301” in the subject line of your email.

One you’ve been added as a member, you can follow the instructions below for how to log in, access the forum, post new topics, and post replies.

Logging in

There is a “log in” field in this site’s menu, on the left side of the page. It should look like the screenshot below. Enter your credentials for this site there, check the “Remember Me” box, and click the “LOG IN” button.

Once you’ve logged in, you’ll be taken to your Dashboard. From there, you can access a number of features within the CUNY Academic Commons (which hosts this site), but for our purposes, you should just return to our site. The easiest way to do this is by retyping this site’s url, or accessing it from your bookmarks (if you’ve saved it there).

Accessing the Forum

Once you’re logged in to the site, click the “Forum” link in the site’s sidebar.

This will take you to our site’s forum. Its interface is a bit complicated looking at first, so please make sure you read the following sections on how to post a new topic and how to reply to an existing topic.

Posting a New Topic

You should post a new topic when you want to begin a new discussion. Maybe you have a question, or want to share your impressions about something you read, or just want to start a new conversation with the class.

You start a new topic right from the main forum page. Below the list of existing topics, you’ll see a section called “Create New Topic in ‘Ling 301 (Fall 2020)’,” shown in the below screenshot.

Scroll down, and you’ll see two fields: Topic Title, where you enter the title you want your topic to have, and a text field below that, where you compose your post. (This is very similar to the format used for emails and other online forums.) The interface is shown in the screenshot below.

This forum supports rich text, so you can include links, make bulleted lists, and embed images, as well as attaching files. If you know HTML, you can switch to the “Text” tab to view and modify the markup of your post; if you don’t know HTML, stick to the default “Visual” tab instead.

Once you’ve written your post, make sure that “Normal” is selected from the “Topic Type” dropdown, and, when you’re happy with how everything looks, click “Submit” at the bottom. Your topic will then be posted and the class will be able to read and respond to it.

Replying to a Topic

Some topics say “Required topic” in their title – you must reply to these topics as homework assignments. Additionally, you should engage in other topics that your classmates post. Taken together, you will probably reply to a topic more often than you make a new topic of your own. These instructions show you how to reply to a topic.

First, you’ll see a list of topics on the forum page. Click the one that you want to reply to. An example is shown in the screenshot below.

Important: If you want to reply to an existing topic, do not create a new topic. Make sure you click the topic you want to respond to instead!

Once you’ve clicked the topic you’d like to reply to, you’ll be taken to a new page where you can read all of the posts made in that thread: the topic, and any replies to it. It will look like the screenshot below.

Once you’ve read through the thread and are ready to make your own reply, scroll to the bottom, and you’ll see a text box. It will look like the screenshot below.

This forum supports rich text, so you can include links, make bulleted lists, and embed images, as well as attaching files. If you know HTML, you can switch to the “Text” tab to view and modify the markup of your post; if you don’t know HTML, stick to the default “Visual” tab instead.

Once you’ve written your reply and are happy with how everything looks, click “Submit” at the bottom. Your reply will then be posted in the thread, and others will be able to read and respond to it.