1. Home
  2. Peer Review: Blurbs: Writing Previews of Web Pages

Peer Review

Blurbs: Writing Previews of Web Pages

Reviewed:

Mar 25, 2018 by English
Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating: 4.0 stars
Content Quality: 4.5 stars
Effectiveness: 4.0 stars
Ease of Use: 4.5 stars
Overview:

"Blurbs: Writing Previews of Web Pages" is a general guide on how to write informative and effective short summaries of web content. The guide includes four parts: 1) Introduction to Blurbs, 2) Avoid Fluff and "Marketese, 3) Evaluate or Summarize (Don't Just Tease), and 4) Know Your Audience. The guide provides examples of poor, adequate, and ideal blurbs. This guide could be useful for students in communications, web design, and technical writing courses. Besides links to sample articles, there aren't any interactive elements to the guide. This website is designed by Dennis G.Jerz, an associate professor of English-new media journalism at Seton Hill University in the USA.
Type of Material:

Tutorial
Recommended Uses:

This course be used as a primer for students learning how to write for the internet. Instructors teaching online journalism might find this resource useful, as there are some parallels to writing for a website and for online publications. Teachers/academicians should test the English proficiency level of their students before endeavoring to utilize the materials available on this website since the materials are presented at a high level of English language. Therefore, these materials can be challenging for some students, and that would discourage them from continuing to proceed with learning process.
Technical Requirements:

There is no special technical requirement for using this guide.
Identify Major Learning Goals:

While not explicitly stated, the primary learning goals of this resource appear to be 1) introduce students to what blurbs entail and 2) provide them with concrete examples of blurbs, both strong and weak ones.
Target Student Population:

Undergraduates in Communications or General Writing courses.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

No prerequisites needed.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:

The key concepts are well-explained and illustrated. This tutorial provides a good overview of how to write blurbs and offer concrete examples of strong and weak one.
Concerns:

No concerns for this tutorial module.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:

This tutorial is a good tool for students learning how to write blurbs for web pages. By separating the tutorial into four segments, the material can be easily processed and digested in multiple sittings. Dennis G.Jerz displays some essential academic materials he utilizes in his courses in an attempt to broaden the minds of his website users. These materials are updated and free to be accessed by any users like teachers/academicians who can employ them in their classes.
Concerns:

It would be nice if there were some interactive elements for this tutorial, something like a quiz, testing students' ability to evaluate strong blurbs from weak ones. No concerns for this tutorial module.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:

Overall, the tutorial is very easy to use. The table of contents at the top of the page with anchor links to the different sections is easy to navigate.
Concerns:

The many advertisements on the page could be a distraction for students while using the tutorial. A secondary caution: those who are not very familiar with computers may find some difficulties with the fourth section of the website that is related to gaming.
Other Issues and Comments:

The content on this website does not obligate any PG procedures for underage users. The information is open to any users.
Creative Commons:
creative-commonscreative-commons by