- Ask yourself, do I agree with it or not, and why. Believe it or not, the key is [BLEEP]. And this basic relationship with the teacher can significantly boost your overall performance. Hey, what's up, everyone? I'm Alberto from Gradehacker, the nontraditional student's most trusted resource. 

Discussion boards are super important. Not only can it represent up to 20% to 40% of your overall grade, but it's also the best way to stand out from the rest and prove to your professor how much you actually understand. 

And we get it. Sometimes writing them can be tedious. But you can actually use them to improve your academic performance by following just a few simple steps. 

Our first tip is to write your posts and replies in a text editor, like Google Docs or Word. By creating your posts in a separate document, you know that there won't be any grammatical mistakes or poorly structured paragraphs. We say this because, believe it or not, the key is in the details. 

Next tip is to be clear and earn as many replies as you can in online classes. Communication with your professor and classmates is almost nonexistent. And sometimes, establishing this basic relationship with a teacher can significantly boost your overall performance. That's why online discussion boards are so important. 

What we're looking for here is to get as many replies as possible. You want to have an easy-to-read post that catches the eye of your fellow student, who's skimming through the forum for a post to reply to. If you get three or even more responses, your post will stand out from the rest. And we guarantee your professor will notice that. 

Our next tip, the more sources, the better. We recommend taking the extra step and using one or two more sources than the assignment requires. These could be both material from the class or external references. And the idea is to show your genuine commitment to the class. Plus, it will let you tackle that week's subject from different angles, and with more elaborated responses. 

Go ahead and share this video so more people can learn how easy it is to write better discussion posts by Liking and Subscribing to our channel. YouTube will take care of the rest. 

Next, we have a tip that you shouldn't forget. Share your own unique perspective. Yes, having sources and understanding the class material is critical. But discussion forums are meant to be a place where you can engage with the rest of your class and share your own thoughts. Your opinion and point of view are what will make your posts unique. 

Now we're getting to the engaging part of the discussion, because another thing you need to do is reply to your fellow classmates. Now, don't stick with the, hey, Phillip, I agree with your statement, and then change the subject and start writing until you reach the required characters. This is a discussion board. You're here to interact with each other. You need to carefully read what your classmates posted. And if you want your responses to hold the same quality level that your initial post has, see how you can add value and how your experiences and beliefs relate to what the other person thinks. 

If you want to save time looking for complex arguments to reply to, just choose a classmate that thinks differently, read the post, and when you find the other person's opinion, ask yourself, do I agree with it or not, and why. Your answer to these questions will be more than enough to start a reply where you add value to the discussion while proving to your professor how much you understand of the class. A tiny disclaimer here is that even though we highly recommend interacting with people that think differently, the last thing you need to do is take that discussion too seriously and start an argument. This will show a clear disrespect on your part to the community standards, and will most likely have a bad repercussion from your professor and your grades. 

Now, with these tips, you're ready to write discussion posts that everyone will want to reply to. Leave us in the comments below what you do to write your discussion post. Or tell us what you want us to discuss in a future video. Thanks for watching. And we'll see you next time. 

We hope you learned a few tips on how to write better discussion posts. If you want to learn more college tips, then here is how you can write an outstanding argumentative essay or see how to write a research paper outline.