Annotated Web Resources

Create an annotated web resources page (or a small site) related to professional communication. A web resources page links to web resources (and perhaps print resources as well) focused on a particular issue or topic. The purpose of this page is educational and informational. You will

• Select specific topics related to professional communication in your field or your field in general and of value to some audience
• Locate useful resources (at least 9 total mostly web-based, but maybe some print)
• Evaluate and annotate those resources--provide brief descriptions, from a users point of view, of what we'd find there.
• Create a web page (or small site)
• Publish your page or site on the web

How should you think about generating topics for this project? First, start by thinking about what would be useful or interesting to you—or to colleagues or classmates with whom you work. Would it be useful to collect samples of technical reports or lab reports, your resume? Would you like to collect resources focused on the design of online information? Would it be helpful to have a reference list of resources for international business communication, or a list of job resources for professional/technical writers?

Once you have general topics, use search engines and online directories to locate resources. Discover what is already available on the web—and then assess those available resources to determine what value could be added, or what is missing, or what is not adequately organized or annotated.

Sections and organization. Your page/site will have the following components:

• Heading title
• Overview paragraph(s) on audience and purpose of page
• List of resources. Links to external sites, organized in some way with subheadings
• Annotations (commentary on the sites)
• Navigational help
• Page/site reference information at the bottom of the page: 1) URL, 2) last modified date, 3) Contact name, 3) email address (see the bottom of this page).

Criteria. The page/site will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• The resources should focus on a particular topic of relevance to professional communication.
• The resources should be of value, significance, and usefulness to some audience (your company, your engineering colleagues, your classmates, a particular university course or departmental concentration).
• The page/site should not merely repeat or re-create what is available elswhere; rather, the page/site should "add value" by collecting material that is not organized elsewhere and by providing useful annotations—in other words, the page should have originality.
• The page/site should be fairly comprehensive in its scope.
• The annotations should be in-depth, intelligent, detailed, interesting, and useful.
• The page/site should be well designed and interestingly designed; the information on the page should be readily accessible.

Here's a student sample and another and one more.