Assignment 4: Website Evaluation

TO: The Current Custom

ATTN: Webmaster: Lorraine Stanick

For the longest time I have had a guilty pleasure of watching fashion and makeup videos on YouTube. What can I say? I'm a complete girly girl when it comes to makeup! While searching through videos I stumbled upon your YouTube account: The Current Custom. Your video blog features topics ranging from your latest shopping finds to reviews of makeup products that I find very helpful. To put it simply, I absolutely love your videos. I especially adore the simplistic beauty of the jewelry that you always wear. I recently discovered that you sell this amazing jewelry on your website! The jewelry that you sell mostly consists of necklaces and bracelets. The necklaces come in varying lengths of either silver or gold link chain. The longest length, which is five feet long, can be doubled around the neck to look as though the person is wearing two necklaces. What I love so much about them is that you can wear them with just a t-shirt and jeans or with a more dressed up outfit. They're extremely versatile. You also wear the cuff bracelets in many of your videos. Again, these come in silver and gold and can be dressed up or down. The necklaces range in price from $38.00 to $144.00 depending on the length and metal finish. The gold is usually a bit more expensive. The cuff bracelets range from $42.00 to $291.00. On the website I noticed that you offer a few other lines of jewelry but I’m particularly fond of the link chain necklaces and cuff bracelets. After all, in the YouTube world the necklaces are known as the “Lorraine” necklaces.

While I can’t say enough good things about the products you offer there is one thing I am not very fond of: the website. In my opinion it could be marketed so much better. At present time the website is very basic. The header of the page consists of a print of a blonde woman wearing black sunglasses and a background of pink. I believe it is a print that your father, Peter Stanick produces. Below this header is the name of the website: The Current Custom, which is also your account name for YouTube. Below the name are eight pictures and labels that direct customers to the pages that correspond to those products. The background behind this is all white. The website should be just like the jewelry and other products that you offer: amazing!

I recommend that the site be tweaked a bit. First off, there is nothing on the website that tells how versatile and beautiful the products are. I would include some kind of brief description of the different pieces of jewelry. I would also ask previous customers to write a short review of their feelings about the jewelry and, also, the customer service that they received. It is difficult buying products over the Internet and a good amount of trust is involved when doing so. Customers like to know that if something were to go wrong with shipping, payment, etc. that it will be taken care of immediately. I know that there are a couple of video reviews of the great customer service that clients received from you so maybe you could include either a write up, or maybe even put the video review on the website. While I may have been able to find those reviews on your YouTube channel, I doubt that every person that goes to the website will go looking for reviews so I feel that it should be provided for him or her. Another change that I think would be beneficial would be to add some color. Your audience is focused toward women so a website that gets the attention of women is going to be necessary. Seeing that you sell your father’s prints I think you should pick out one of your favorite prints of his and choose a subtle yet effective color from the print and design the website around that. By doing so, the website will get an inviting new design and it will have a personal touch because it’s derived from your father’s artwork. As far as the presentation of the jewelry, I think it could not have been presented better! By wearing the products you give the customer a realistic view of how long the pieces are and how they will hang. Placing the jewelry on the commonly used necklace holders wouldn’t have given an accurate visual of the features of the products. All in all, the products that you offer are modern and chic. I hope that you will take my recommendations into consideration so that the website will be just as chic as the jewelry and prints that you sell.

Assignment 3: Website Objectives

I found two websites that are examples of what a "department of biological sciences" webpage usually looks like. The first came from Coloroado State University. This website was a really good example of what an academic webpage should look like. Instead of putting all of the information on one entire page, tabs are located at the top of the page. These tabs organize different topics from learning about the department to the research that is conducted. The site also divides up the undergraduate and graduate degree information making it easier to locate the information that the reader is interested in. Besides the great organization and structure to this site, the colors that are used are captivating. When a college is trying to pursuade students to participate in their program it’s kind of like how businesses make an advertisement for a product or service that they offer. Therefore, the “advertisement” needs to grab the attention of the reader. This can be attained through the use of color and word choices. Some eye catching words used in the Colorado State University website are “remarkable, exceptional, and outstanding”. Also, they make sure to let the reader know in the welcoming statement of the homepage that their biology department was ranked “5^th in the nation in 2007 amongst 375 research universities”.

An example of what an academic website should not be is Delta State University's department of biological sciences webpage. It gets the basic information to the reader but doesn’t really try to grasp the reader’s attention and make the person want to advance his or her education at their institution. There are a few links but they are still very basic. I’ve personally attended this college in the past and, in my opinion, their program is just about on the same level as their website: basic and lacking.

The overall purpose for creating a website is to recruit students to continue their education in my field. The ultimate outcome would be to actually get an incoming freshman or transfer student to want to pursue biology as their chosen field. The reader’s outcome would be to gain more information on the field and what kinds of careers one could achieve with this type of degree. Proffesors that are interested in teaching at USM in the future might also find the website helpful.

A recent catastrophic event that occurred was the oil spill situation in the gulf. This event will most likely have damaging effects for years to come. Because of this, many knowledgable workers will be needed so the job market after graduation should be good. This is where obtaining a degree in the biological sciences comes in. The University of Southern Mississippi offers many concentrations in the field of biology from environmental biology to microbiology. A bachelors of science in marine biology is also offered.

Education is an important and serious topic. By getting the best education that you can, you also increase your chances of landing a great job in the future. Because furthering your education is a serious topic, the website should be written in a somewhat formal way. After all, why would a person want to go to a college that has an ill-written webpage? Everything on an academic website should be thorough and correct. There should be absolutely no spelling errors. That would be extremely tacky. And, yes, I have actually run across an academic site that had spelling errors. I understand that sometimes webmasters make mistakes in grammar and spelling but an academic page should be mistake-free with no exceptions.

Some questions the reader might ask could be-

• What is the student teacher ratio?
• Are there any scholarships that are available for my particular major?
• What kind of research is conducted?
• Can I partake in research projects?
• Are there any honors clubs?
• Which professors are extremely difficult/easy?

The reader could find the questions to their answers through reading the website thoroughly. Also, the reader could find out which professors are difficult/easy by going to Koofers, which has a great deal of information. The reader could use the information that I give through the website by comparing information from another school’s program and deciding which has the better program for his or her needs or wants. I suspect that the reader would think the information I provide would be helpful and interesting. Having been a transfer student, I found it exciting to learn about the program at USM. The website is full of information and easy to navigate. There is even a section that has a list of faculty members so that when you get your classes set up you can go to this page and look up the professor’s name and it will take you to their page. Most of the time there will be a picture of the professor on the page. When I first came to USM I found that very helpful. It’s always good to put a face to a name. I would hope that the reader would see me as a peer offering advice and knowledge.

By seeing what other programs have done to grasp the attention of readers, I believe that I would make sure to treat my site as if it were an advertisement. It would be an advertisement for getting a great scientific education. Using eye-catching colors and providing pictures would cause the reader to want to pay attention. Once you have the attention of the reader, he or she will want to read on because it looks interesting. If the reader is like myself, he or she will assume that if it looks interesting then it is interesting!

Assignment 2: Analyzing a Rhetorical Situation

The article "Chirality at Work" by A. Maureen Rouhi is an article that was assigned to read in organic chemistry I at USM. Around the time that this article was assigned we were discussing stereochemistry which is "the branch of chemistry that deals with spatial arrangements of atoms in molecules and the effects of these arrangements on the chemical and physical properties of substances" (yourdictionary). The author of this article, A. Maureen Rouhi, is the deputy editor-in-chief for Chemical & Engineering News magazine. She received her Ph. D in chemistry from the University of London and has covered stories ranging from biomaterials to the custom production of chemicals (C &EN). Rouhi's article was published by the American Chemical Society in the Chemical & Engineering News magazine (About C & EN). This magazine has an array of topics through its pages. These topics include business, government & policies, and science & technology. However, the topics of business and government & policies almost always are involved with science in some way. For instance, in this month's issue in the government & policy section there is a story titled "Greenpeace Targets Dupont Facilities" which is about an environmental group exposing the risks caused by using toxic chemicals (GTDF). That being said, the publisher's intended readers are scientists, chemists, or any person who has an interest in science. A person reading this article would most likely have some interest in chemistry. Otherwise, he or she would simply not finish reading it. The writer assumes that the reader is aware of meanings of the scientific words that she uses such as "enantiomer, chiral, and racemate". There were some things in this article that I didn't even understand.

The article begins by telling the story of a woman that has been found dead. Investigators found Robutussin in the woman's body but not enough that would kill her. Later, gastric content was analyzed and traces of levomethrorphan were found. Levomethorphan is an enantiomer of dextromethorphan which is the active drug found in Robitussim. These two chemicals combined together, being enantiomers of each other, are extremely toxic thus killing the woman. An enantiomer is a "stereoisomer whose molecules are nonsuperposable mirror images of each other" (Solomons). Here is an example of what enantiomers look like:

The article basically gives many examples of different enantiomers causing toxic effects on those who injested them. Racemic drugs are also mentioned and according to the article racemic drugs "can cause problems in the differences in the biological effects and in the pharmacokinetics of the enantiomers". Some of the different drugs are metabolized differently in different individuals causing some individuals to need more of the drug and some to require less. Rouhi discusses the idea that much more research should go into chiral technologies since so many deaths have resulted in the past from lack of knowledge on the subject. I agree that more research is needed for fully understanding how different drugs work together and, in a way, against each other. Through some of the research that has already been conducted researchers have found that new drugs are most likely to be developed as a single enantiomer and that this is best because of chiral switches.

Assignment 1: Introduction

Hi! *waves* My name is Brittney Luna. I am a senior at the University of Southern Mississippi majoring in biology. I am originally from Cleveland, Mississippi. Before transferring to USM I attended Delta State University for my freshman year. After graduating I hope to get a Master's degree in medical technology. I have not had any English classes at USM because I took everything that I needed (aside from this class) at Delta State. That being said, I transferred over two years ago, therefore I have not had an English class in the past two and a half years. However, I have had to write quite a few papers within my major at USM, all of them being the dreaded lab reports for my chemistry classes. Many people may find that they love writing about scientific procedures. I am not one of those people. Over the past few years I have developed an immense hatred for writing about any kind of scientific instructions, procedures, etc. I find it very boring and too time consuming than what it’s worth. Aside from writing about science, I love to write! One of my favorite things to do is writing letters to friends back home or who have moved off. I could write letters all day long if I had the time! I just find that letter writing is so personal and, in a way, special because no one handwrites letters anymore. Letter writing is a big stress reliever for me. I can be upset about something and write to a friend and by the end of the letter I always feel better about whatever was bothering me before.

The award for “a document that I find most difficult to write” would go to (you guessed it) lab reports!! This is a terrible thing because it’s what I’m going to have to write even after I graduate. Writing a lab report is something that definitely “breaks me down”. First of all, there are several different sections that go into the report such as the introduction, procedures, results, and conclusion. Second of all, the information is already hard enough to understand by reading and now you have to write and explain it to others! (In thorough detail I might add!) I’m usually a complete mess by the time the report is finished. I dread writing reports so procrastination also comes into play. However, I always push through it and get it done. I’m hoping that through this course I will be able to somehow develop a love, or at least a tolerance, for writing within my major.