paper 5 pages due in 8 hours!

Assignment #2: Website Critique

By now you have read Chapter 18, which concerns graphics, and you will read a section of Chapter 21 (pp. 558-65) on writing for the web. As consumers of websites, you already have a good idea of what goes into website design and content, and you have a sense of the ways in which a website might succeed or fail, or fall someplace in between. Thus, you will select and evaluate one website from the list below:

· Chance Co. / www.chanceco.com

· Marigolds Wine and Delicacies / www.marigoldswine.com

· Mr. Cory’s Cookies / www.mrcoryscookies.com

· Slim Albaher / www.slimalbaher.com

· Cedar Grove Historical Society / www.cedargrovehistoricalsociety.org

· Philosophie / www.thephilosophie.com

In your evaluation, resist the urge to sound snarky. It is easy to eviscerate, say, a bad website, movie, theater performance, or runway show, but it takes a deft writer to be thoughtful and circumspect. This is serious: No A’s will be awarded on this assignment for writers who can’t rein in snarky comments. Of course a website can need work, sometimes major work, but you need not sound gleeful as you pick it apart. In your conclusion, you will award the website a letter grade from A to D. You may work with another classmate on this assignment. Please let me know before you start drafting.

Here’s what you must do in the paper. First, title your work with an interesting, informative title. In the intro, state what you believe are the subject and purpose (560) of the website. This should be a sentence or two. Next, describe the primary audience for the website and why you believe that. This might be three to four sentences. Do not just list this information in a boring fashion. The body of the paper—the content—is at your discretion. Remember, though, that you are evaluating, not reporting.

· You could examine the words and images and how effective they are for the audience.

· You could examine the accuracy of the content.

· If design is your thing, you could study design elements.

Use your own interests and expertise to delimit the focus of this assignment. If you want more direction, however, this is adapted from your textbook: Write an evaluation in which you discuss the shortcomings of the site and make recommendations for improvement. In your essay, consider the content, organization, style, and design of the site. If you elect this more directive approach, you have been given a very specific thesis to follow.

Length: 5 or more pages, double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman; no heading, but your name(s) on page 1

Rev. 2/15 dac