SURFING THE INTERNET WORKSHEET

SEARCHING

1. Dial up Emily’s Kewl Home Page (http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/5505). Follow one of the links, and describe where it takes you.

2. Choose one of the following company URLs, circle your choice below, and describe its home page by listing some techniques that it uses to appeal to consumers.

Air UK http://www.airuk.co.uk/

American Spirit Athletic Wear http://www.amspirit.com/bag.html

Blucher Boots Co. http://www.fn.net/business/boothill

Crayola Crayons http://www.crayola.com/crayola/

Harley Davidson http://www.hd-stamford.com/sales.html

Mexicana Airlines http://www.catalog.com/cgibin/var/mx/index.html

Rainforest Action Network http://www.ran.org/ran/index.html

Techniques:

a.

b.

c.

3. Run a query to visit the NASA home page. Once you are there, explore and then list two interesting things that you find.

a.

b.

4. Remember the student information sheet that you filled out on the first day of class? On it you wrote down your hobbies, interests, etc. Choose one of your hobbies or interests, and run a query on it. Look at one of these home pages and describe what you find.

Home page address:

Name of home page:

Briefly describe the page:

5. Under Entertainment, find the category Television. Visit the home page of a t.v. show you have seen, and list a surprising or interest fact about one of the stars:

Show:

Fact:

6. Under Art, find the category Museum and visit an art museum that sounds interesting to you. Either describe the museum’s current exhibits, or name and describe the most intriguing painting that you see on the home page.

Museum:

Painting or Exhibit:

7. Under Social Science or Science, find an area that interests you and briefly describe a useful home page that you find there.

Name of Page:

Description:

DESCRIBING AN INTERESTING PAGE: Pre-Writing for Assignment 1A

Choose a page that intrigued you. Run a query and follow the links to identify 3-5 related pages; you will need these pages for your final project. For your first paper, you will write a description of your favorite page. Though you’ll probably need to look at the home page again, the following questions will help you record your initial observations and some essential information:

1. Home page address:

2. Home page title:

3. Addresses of related pages:

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

4. Three outstanding features of the page:

a.

b.

c.

5. What kind of information does the page offer?

6. What kind of visuals are included?

7. How is text used on the page?

8. Does the page offer you any chance to interact? How?

9. What links does the page offer?

10. What about this page appeals to you?

ASSIGNMENT 1A: Describe a home page

Choose a home page that you find intriguing. In a 1-2 page paper, describe the content and design of the page. Your purpose is to inform and to interest someone else in this page, so you will want to consider both its audience and your audience. Explain your relationship to what you perceive as the intended audience of the home page—what might you have in common with its authors and regular user? That is, why does it appeal specifically to you? To clearly characterize both text and visuals, you will probably need to take another look at the home page. Be sure to include the home page’s url in your paper.

ASSIGNMENT 1B: Review/Analyze a home page

You are writing for an Internet magazine, and your editor has assigned you to review a home page. Either return to the home page described in assignment 1A or look at a related page. Write a 2 page analysis of why this is or is not an effective page. Begin by identifying its audience and purpose, and then determine how and how well it reaches its audience and achieves its purpose. As with assignment 1B, you want to look not just at content, but also at its visuals and its links.

PROJECT 1: Review a series of related home pages

Debbie Best, English 11

PROJECT 1: Review a series of related home pages. Length: 3-5 pages

Choose 3 related home pages to analyze and compare. They should be on the same topic but posted by different organizations. Warning: If the beginning of the URL is the same, then the pages are probably posted by the same organization. Hint:: Try to choose pages that have significant differences, such as clearly different audiences or different approaches to reaching their audiences.

Like Paper 1B, this assignment asks you to analyze how these different pages appeal to their specific audiences. Consider content, visuals, and links. Then, compare the 3 home pages, coming to a conclusion concerning which ones are and are not effective, and who their various audiences are.

SURFING THE INTERNET WORKSHEET 2

The following pre-writing exercise should help you get started. Fill out the chart for 5 different home pages. Then, before you begin writing, choose the 3 pages that differ the most and that seem easiest to analyze. Circle the names of the 3 pages that you will be working on. Photocopy this sheet, and turn it in on Tuesday, September 17.