Web Site Evaluation

Essay 3 – 4 pages, Times New Roman—12 pt font, 1 inch margins on all sides, MLA formatting. Due by the end of this unit. Writing Task The purpose of this paper is for you to provide your evaluation of a Web site. Think of the paper as a critique of the strengths and weaknesses of a certain Web site. As an evaluator you need to express the usefulness and limits of the site, and you can only analyze Web pages that end in .com (a business or corporate site), .biz (an alternate business or corporate site), or .org (a nonprofit organization or advocacy group site). This paper will obviously entail browsing the Web and finding an appropriate, rhetorically rich Web site. This is not a summary paper, but your essay should provide a concise summary of the Web site early on to orient your reader. Throughout the essay you will also need to acknowledge important aspects of the Web page through description, paraphrase, and a few direct quotations. The heart of the essay should present and develop your own “take” about the Web site using appropriate criteria for evaluation (see “Criteria for Evaluating a Web Site”), and you must support that take with strong reflection, reasoning, and details. State your judgment clearly and support it with persuasive points that could influence your reader to your way of thinking or at least have your reader see your viewpoint clearly. Here are some basic questions that will help you evaluate a Web site: Ethos—How credible or authoritative is the author or sponsor? Does the site seem fair- minded in that it permits alternative perspectives, or does the site only offer one frame of reference on issues or problems? Are different perspectives considered? Is the site one- sided? Is it biased in any way? Pathos—How does the site use emotional examples or visual images to persuade? Is this done ethically? How does the site appeal to certain values and beliefs of its target audience? Could those appeals distance some readers? Logos—How does the site use evidence? What is used to support the author or sponsor’s rhetorical purpose: personal experience, field research, outside sources, statistics, hard evidence, anecdotes, real-life experiences, hypothetical experiences? Does the Web site use any specific argumentative modes like cause-effect reasoning, definitional claims, appeals to ethics/morals, resemblance arguments, proposals? Are these used effectively? Where are the flaws in reasoning or logic? This essay involves working with a source, so you need to use quotation, paraphrase, or display of information using the MLA Style of referencing source material. The essay should also provide a separate Works Cited page that provides information about the article. Audience Address your paper to peer-scholars who might be interested in your subject and could be interested in your analysis and/or findings. But also imagine your audience as somewhat informed but undecided people who might take an opposing viewpoint from your own.