Website Assignment

The Web as a Research Tool: Evaluation Techniques
Evaluating Web Sites for Educational Uses: Bibliography and Checklist

You'll notice that I have example student web sites available for you to view at Chicanos in Film and Political Leaders. These sites were done last Spring 1997 by students who chose web sites as an option for some of their coursework. Both these sites are excellent beginnings to their topics, but please note that these sites were done before I had formalized a web site assignment, and therefore do not fulfill all the criteria of the assignment you're being asked to complete.

As you continue to develop your assigned topics through research, this assignment allows you to publish your findings and your thoughts in an international forum; in other words, you join a community of scholars and experts. Although your immediate evaluators are your instructor and your peers in your research group, your audience includes a far greater number of people.

Each group will design a web site on your assigned research topic. The form and scope of your web site will depend on the ways in which your group decides to focus your topic. The finished web site should provide a scholarly resource with bibliographic references to related web sites as well as print resources. Each member's individual contribution to the site should be the equivalent in effort, thought, and time, of a ten-page term paper, though it need not take that form. Even if you've never designed a web page, you'll have the opportunity to learn now. We'll have a workshop on September 22 with librarians Cathy Larson and Ann Lally. And you'll have the opportunity to work with your group in CCIT 311 during class time on Oct.20, Nov. 3, and Nov. 17. These sessions will be most effective if each member comes prepared with new material to add to the site. You should expect to be researching and writing throughout the semester, so that the site your group creates offers a comprehensive source for your defined subject. [Note: Take care not to violate copyright laws with material you transcribe for your site. Written material over 150 years old is part of the public domain (not under copyright), but images (like paintings) tend to remain the property of the owner. Many web sites are copyrighted, so be sure you follow the rules for citation.] Because writing is such a critical component of the web site, you will be expected to turn in your written work to me on the following dates: Oct. 8, Oct. 27, and Nov. 10. I will return your written material with comments, so that you'll be able to incorporate revised ideas into each web site workshop session. Your group web site in its final form is due Nov. 21.

Your web site will be evaluated using the following criteria:

Effectiveness and internal logic of the concept: Does it make sense? Do the various units seem compatible or appropriate to each other? Or does the site look like half a dozen loosely-related essays slapped together? Does your site replicate existing web sites, or is it a needed contribution?

Thoroughness of research, including bibliography and links to related web sites

Excellence of argumentation and organization. Your contribution should demonstrate critical thinking based on thorough grounding in the literature of your particular topic.

Mechanics of English usage, spelling, punctuation, and html.

Visual appeal. Although this is an important criterion for a visual medium such as the World Wide Web, it is in fact much less important than the organization of your site, the writing, your arguments, and your research.

Assessment of your contribution to the cooperative effort by your fellow group members. Near the end of the semester you will evaluate each other's contribution to the project using a specially designed evaluation form.

The bulk of the grade you receive will depend on your individual contributions to the web site. An excellent site that shows the results of effective communication, cooperation, and group planning will raise the grade of everyone in the group. Sites that display a failure to communicate and cooperate may lower the grade of all group members.