Website Review

The purpose of this blog post is to assess and critique a website related to the topic of Neolithic Burials.  This will be done using the rubric created by our group.  In doing this, the goal of this post is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the webpage and suggest areas for improvement. Please see rubric below.

The website selected for this assessment was www.knowth.com. This webpage give and overview of several different Neolithic passage tombs located in the British Isles.

Grading for this website is as Follows:

A. Presentation 3.5/5
The presentation for this website is not too bad however, it fails to catch my eye. It was only upon visiting it for a third time that I realized that the content on the page was actually quite good. Pictures are used quite well to supplement. However, I really would have liked to see some other form of media, for example a google map of the area or a video.

B. Mechanics and Clarity 3.5/5
Of all the reading I did on this webpage no blatant grammar or spelling errors stood out to me.  Overall this webpage reads very easily and is clear and concise.  I would like to have seen references used to validate the information presented. In text citation would also have been useful. Subtracting 0.5 for no referencing and citations.

C. Thesis Statement and Depth of Research10/10
 This was difficult to assess as it was not really a research oriented webpage so there was no clear thesis statement.  However, the information provided supported the topic of  Neolithic tombs extremely well.  Supplementary reading is suggested at the bottom of each page allowing one to further their knowledge of the sites discussed. Overall very good.

D. Research 4/10
Since this is not a research oriented webpage this is also quite difficult to assess.  However, as was mentioned earlier, there was little to nothing in the way of references which are required to make a good informative webpage.

E. Synthesis of Material 10/10
 Information presented on the main page was extremely well supported by information in subsections.  Additionally, extra reading suggested at the bottom of each subsection gave an opportunity to further my knowledge on each site if I so chose. Very well done.


TOTAL  31 / 40 or 78%

Overall this website is very well done. It is informative and concise which allows information to be read easily and understood.  Extensive use of pictures in text also helped convey information to the reader.  However, the distinct lack of sourcing detracted from the overall usefulness of this information.  Pictures and information used in the webpage is not referenced at all which led me to doubt the accuracy of data.  Nonetheless, I still really liked the webpage.