Essay 3 – Website Evaluation
Assignment Description
For essay 3, you will evaluate a website for its potential use as a research source. First, select a reasonable subject from our list (see blog), preferably in the area of your major. There are many professional and/or educational organizations related to your major that will work well for this assignment. Imagine that you are doing research for an report or paper and are limited to one website source. You will analyze/critique the site and in the conclusion, determine if the site is a trustworthy and reliable source.
Choose a topic that interests you because you will be spending hours looking at this site. Choosing your site could be the most difficult part of this assignment, but the site should be one that has an informative purpose. (No shopping carts, no user names/passwords.) Note the domain of the web sites (.gov, .com, .org) because this offers a clue about the site’s sponsor. Most search engines will list the .com sites first, but there are others available. Try an advanced search for different domains (.gov, .org, .edu, .net).
You will not actually write about the topic; rather, the purpose of your essay is to analyze the quality of the site.
- No social media sites
- No sites that require a membership to view
- No auction web sites
- No search engines
- No sites with “shopping carts”
- The site must contain a significant amount of information, so no “Pinterest” type sites.
The Next Step: After you decide on a website, you need to look for the elements described in the CRAAP test. in each of them. This will take hours, even days, to complete.
Take copious notes about your website. Visit the site for several days to see if it changes. Once you have completed this “pre-writing,” the drafting will be the quick part. (I promise.)
To make it easier, I will give you the subject for each of the body paragraphs:
1. Website’s Quality of Design
2. Website’s Quality of Information
3. Website’s Ease of Navigation
Developing the body paragraphs or “gathering the evidence”
Here are a few questions to get you started. Refer to Chico University’s CRAAP test for more.
Questions to consider for Quality of Design:
Does the site have a consistent visual theme? Does the visual theme “fit” the site’s purpose? Do the images contribute to the overall visual appeal or detract from it? Where is the focal point on the page? Is there sufficient contrast between the text and the background to make it legible? Is the text divided into readable lengths? Are the headings used in the right places and consistently? Are the links visible on each page of the site?
Quality of Information:
How does the site identify its audience? Why was the site created? Has it been updated recently? How informative is the site? What do you want to know more about? Is the information accurate (as far as you can tell)? Are there any mechanical or grammatical errors?
Ease of Navigation:
How easy or difficult is it to move from one page to the next? Is there a link to get back or get home without relying on the browser tool bar? Is a consistent navigation scheme used throughout the site? Are there any broken links? Does the first page indicate what is on the rest of the site?
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