Website Essay 3
In chapter seven of the book unSpun the authors, Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, devote a whole section on how to find reliable websites with accurate information. The section is titled Finding The Good Stuff. “The key is finding the right websites and knowing how to evaluate their reliability.” (131) The authors suggest that we disregard any anonymous information and stick with a reliable source such as those with authority. They also warn, that while on the site, you still need to use common sense. They suggest although there might be useful and reliable information, there might also be misleading information as well.
Using the advise I received in chapter seven led me to find a website that I believe is “The Good Stuff”. I believe that the website www.johnmccain.com provides both authoritative and useful material about what Senator John McCain plans to do for our country if he were elected president. The site is well put together and easy to maneuver through when trying to find information on a particular subject. The home page is actually pretty appealing. It has a new John McCain ad posted and it is a picture of Paris Hilton. The ad is relatively short and makes the point, using Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears for examples, that even though your a big star, it doesn't mean your ready to lead a country. I believe the ad serves a couple purposes. It appeals to the younger generation, because all you see on the home page is this huge picture of Paris, which draws the curiosity of the younger crowd. I know that I probably wouldn't have watched that clip if it weren't for the picture. I think the ad also draws in the parents who feel that their children are idolizing the wrong kind of people. Either way you look at it, the ad was very interesting and got me wanting to continue through the site.
Since www.johnmccain.com is the official website of John McCain's campaign, it does seem to be one sided. Of course the site is going to speak highly of McCain, and poorly of Obama. This is were the authors advise comes in pretty handy. Although we are on a site of someone who could possibly be the next President of the United States, it is still important to use common sense. I usually try and take “bad talk” with a grain of salt. That is, I tend to ignore the trash talking and listen to “The Good Stuff”. I think all political websites would be better off if they focused their attention more on what they want to do to better America, and less on trash talking a belittling their opponent. Unfortunately the home page on McCain's web site is nothing more than tv ads talking about why Obama should NOT be president, and doesn't focus on why McCain should be. I think once you maneuver your way out of the home page, John McCain does a great job sticking to his purpose.
At the top of the page there is a tool bar that will lead you to any information you need to know regarding John McCain and his campaign. If you click the ABOUT icon it gives you a list of category's to choose from. Everything you ever wanted to know about John McCain, Cindy McCain, or their lives so far have been documented under this icon. There is also a section under this icon that says “Why John McCain”. I click on it and pulled up a page on why McCain should be president. With all the useful information about what he plans to do in regards to war,the economy,the lack of trust in government, and health care, It was hard for me to understand why this wasn't his home page. Although the site was easily found, I would have rather gotten that information at the beginning. Not a hour after I had read about why we shouldn't vote for Obama.
Another icon available through the tool bar is called ISSUES. This has links under it that have to do specifically with what McCain wants to do for our country. One of these links is titled On The Issues. Without a doubt this is the best link of the whole website, if your goal is to learn what changes to expect if John McCain becomes our President. After clicking on that link a page pops up with many different issues such as: The Economy, Energy, National Security, Health Care, Iraq, Climate Change, Veterans, Immigration, The Sanctity Of Life, 2nd Amendment, Judicial Philosophy, Ethnic Reform, Natural Heritage, Space Program, Agriculture Policies, and Education. All of these are topics that are currently, or will be effecting our country and our society. You have an option to click on any one of these issues and it will take to a page that describes the issue at hand, what could happen, and what John McCain hopes to happen upon election. It is an awesome way to get accurate information on what ever the issue may be, as well as getting information about what John McCain can do to make it better.
All and all, I think this was an excellent website to gather current, authoritative, reliable, and useful information all at once. Of course you do have to sift through in order to discover if there is any misleading information. I didn't find any, but that doesn't mean that my opinion on what is misleading is the same as yours. In my eyes this website is what the authors were referring to as “The Good Stuff”.
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to kim putney
For starters, don't forget to provide a title that predicts the direction of the essay, the point that will be made.
I suggest the first two paragraphs be reworked. The first few sentences of the second paragraph seem to belong to the introduction because the site is still being introduced and a claim about the site is being made. Once the discussion moves on to elements of the site, what is found on the homepage in this instance, that signals the analysis is taking place and a new paragraph is needed. While the site may be put together and appealing, the thesis needs to provide a claim that makes it clear to your reader why this matters, why this "good stuff" is good and why it matters that such is the case.
With each of the support paragraphs, there is a need for a topic statement. The first point appears to be about not so much the appeal or argument of the site, but appealing as in attractive. this is fine, but be clear about it in that sense. Then explain why this sort of thing matters in general, that if something has good content, but is not inviting, we are unlikely to dig through to find the "good stuff." There are examples of the appeal, the Spears ad and such, but there is also a need to explain why this is "good stuff" in explicit terms. It could be that it gets people to keep digging through the site, but there could also be more. It's also important to write this sort of thing in the third person rather than first person because it's not important that it got you to do something, but that you can show to others why it might appeal to them. Third person is the way to do this.
The following two points also need a topic statement, each followed by some explanation as to why the topic matters. At this point, it's uncler what is being looked at in terms of either savvy voter criteria or the website analysis guidelines. Tell your reader what those are and why they matter. That way the examples provided can better do their job by illustrating a point that the reader will be aware of. For the examples taken from the site, there must also be a citation in the body of the essay and a works cited entry. Each individual example from the site must be cited. If they come from different pages of the site, then each requires an individual works cited entry.
Bradley
Adequacy of Response to
Adequacy of Response to Assignment: You used a topic from chapter seven to spark the rest of your essay, and you based your body paragraphs off of ideas such as appeal, bias/agenda, and presentation/accessiblity.
Introduction: Good introduction. You included the book title, authors, and a quote from chapter seven.
Essay Focus, Thesis, or Main Point: I think it could be more clear, but I can spot the direction your essay is headed.
Conclusion: Really try and drive home the importance of being able to analyze political websites. Why is it important to look at any website critically?
Development of Ideas/Experiences: You used a lot of examples from McCain's website that relate back to the idea maintained in the introduction.
Organization/Structure/Paragraphing: Your ideas are well-developed, but I think that you could make the idea of each paragraph more clear by stating it in your topic sentence. For example, your topic sentence in the third paragraph could mention the concept of accessibility instead of just stating that there is a tool bar at the top of McCain's home page.
Conventions: "Advise" is spelled "advice" and the period should go inside the quotation marks when stating "The Good Stuff" in the conclusion and second paragraph.
You have some great ideas
You have some great ideas and used a lot of examples.
I like you intro, in your paragraphs though, I am having a hard time identifying the statement sentence and taking it back to the thesis at the end, see if you can make it clear. It seems that you are just giving examples from the site, see how you could describe some elements of the site by using your examples. You can talk about appeal, content, bias and etc. Your conclusion needs something else, maybe you can challenge the reader and connect it some more with your thesis.
Kim
Adequacy of response to assignment:
You incorporated the book, some savvy, the video, and own analyzing description of the website. Which was everything the assignment called for.
Appropriateness of topic treatment for college reading audience: Yes, easy to read and understood.
Introduction: Into works pretty good. I understood what the essay might be about.
Essay Focus, Thesis or Main point:I can spot the main point.
Conclusion:It does tie back to the into, could meaten it up a bit( I need to do this too!)
Organization, structure and/or paragraphing: Flows fairly well
Wording and Sentence Structure: I went over your essay twice and your words flow pretty good, but I'm not the greatest in critiquing this area!
Conventions of Standard American English and MLA: You did not post your cited work so can not critique that.
Overall very good job. You described the website well!