If you’re reading this article right now… ahhhh!! Thank-you so much! You must understand this is my first ever article and I have no idea if what you’re about to read is even good enough to grace your eyes. However, that’s exactly why I wrote it. Do continue to find out what I mean à attention grabber. I learned to use those as I was researching how to write one of these things. Did it work?

As a struggling college student, you’re instructed to apply to as many scholarships as you can. So, when I came across the Expert Exchange scholarship, I skimmed over the requirements and then bookmarked it for a later date. That later date came, and it was then that I realized that the required topic is technology. Being technologically challenged, I panicked, but then a light bulb went off. Not knowing how to navigate such a valuable piece of technology like the Expert Exchange website is a tech problem! A problem for starters, but a problem nonetheless. So if you want to learn how you can enter a technology based scholarship knowing little to nothing about technology, read on! If you don’t want to, please still read on… I need as many views as I can get. 

Finding a topic

“Students will submit an original piece of work via an article or video on a technology topic of their choosing…” is the literal first line of the Expert Exchange application guidelines. How I missed it, I’m unsure; however, when I did read it my first question was “What the cuss is a technology topic?” So I googled.

Did this help any of you, because it sure didn’t help me. 

So I decided to ignore the dictionary, get less specific and use, what my English professor would call, a less reputable reference - Quora! 

Okay so “the creation and use of technical means” and “the application of this knowledge for practical ends”… we can work with that. Basically, your topic must be on ANYTHING that has to do with technology. This doesn’t have to be Coding 101. Your topic can be as simple as how to use downloaded Word fonts, creating your Gmail vacation responder, commonalities in phishing scams or, what we all really want to know, how to know when you’ve been screenshot.  This is the 21^st century, you cannot go 24 hours without encountering some form of technology, draw inspiration from that!

Describing a Problem

The next requirement of the scholarship is to make your article or video helpful. In order to do that you must identify and describe a problem with your topic. If you haven’t decided on a solid topic, this may be a good first step. Think about a recent frustration you’ve had with technology, or something your friends have problems with. For instance, none of my professors know how to work the classroom handheld response system or “clickers”. A troubleshooting article or how-to video would be great for them. 

Once you’ve decided what your technology topic will be, pull from real world experience to find problems. If you haven’t had any personally, research your topic of choice to find out the issues people are having with this technology. Identify and chose a problem that you know the solution to, or can research how to solve. 

Solving the problem

Now that you have chosen your problem, you must prepare to describe its solution effectively. You may want to start with what to do to avoid your issue altogether. If a step-by-step on how not avoid said problem is not your style, inform the viewer/reader what not to do once it is encountered. Additionally, if your problem is inevitable, provide links to troubleshooting websites and/or customer service numbers. – The solution part of the process should be fool-proof! 

Creating your article or video

Once you have an outline of the information you want to include in your article or video, you can begin creating it. Expert Exchange makes it easy and provides excellent reference guides for creating articles and videos à hyperlinks because you didn’t really expect me to show you how to use any of this space magic did you?! 

Good luck with your entries!