This week’s blog assignment is a bit of a change of pace from what our other blog assignments have been. This week we were instructed to find two different university’s websites that deal with our major or professional career paths. I have taken a slightly different approach to this assignment and have decided to apply it to my current situation. I am in the process of finding a university that offers a masters program in Criminal Justice. The two universities I have chosen to analyze are those of Loyola University in New Orleans (http://css.loyno.edu/criminaljustice/master-of-criminal-justice) and Southern Miss (http://www.usm.edu/cj). The reason I chose these two schools is because of the stark differences in website designs and also because they are both in my top 5 choices of schools.
Loyola’s criminal justice masters website caught my eye because it gives really all the initial information a prospective students needs to know to want to learn more. What I mean by this is that it tells the reader why the criminal justice career path is the one to choose. Right beneath that paragraph is a break down of the 30 credit hours that are needed to earn a masters from Loyola. There is also a menu along the left side that is asteticly pleasing and also has links to other parts of the website that a prospective student would want to know. One of the things that I found Loyola’s website to be lacking was accurate information on admissions requirements. One of the phrases that they say when talking about the GRE is that they want the applicant to have a “satisfactory score”. I found this to be very open and not give the student a concrete goal to shoot for.
Southern Miss’s website I found to be very disappointing. There was very little time or thought put into the website design and the information put onto it. The original website has links to different parts of the website that allows the interested student to eventually find out the information he/she is interested in. I find that the initial website has very little actual information on it and does nothing to draw in the reader.
There are some overall objectives that must be completed when a person puts together a website. I am going to take some of the questions provided by the Defining Objectives worksheet provided and answer as if I were designing the perfect website.
What outcome do you desire? The purpose of these websites is to draw in an interested student to dig deeper into the website. The overall goal is to persuade eligible students to join that institution’s program.
Who is your primary reader? The primary reader of this website will be prospective students. Many of these students could be “non-traditional” students meaning they are coming back to school to further their education. This needs to be taken into account so that there is enough information for even the most displaced applicant to understand.
What expectations, regulations, or other factors limit the way you can write? I believe that people that design websites used to universities are virtually handcuffed by a set of policies and the need to be politically correct. I also expect that individual programs are not allowed to take creative license to reflect their unique differences.
I believe that the ideal website is one that strikes a perfect balance between information given and creativeness. I believe that the ideal website must have the number of hours, tuition costs, application requirements, and a description as to why that school is better than the thousands of others out there. I believe that a prospective student shouldn’t have to spend hours clicking away on a schools website just to find out information. I believe all information should be just one click away. The website should have a central theme that is catchy and flows with the information. I believe that if all this is followed then the website will be a huge success.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Blog assignment #2
I want to preface this blog in stating that as a criminal justice major, I have not had to read many outside articles in relationship to my major. That is why I choose to analyze an article from my minor, military science.
The article I have chosen was that about the Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville. This article, which discusses the effective and sometimes ineffective principles of war that were used by both Confederate and Union generals, was written for the West Point Military History Series: The American Civil War. The fact that this article was written for and accepted by the professors at the United States Military Academy, also known as West Point, speaks volumes for this article. West Point has strived to be one of the top universities in the country and I believe that it has succeeded in its mission. I believe the author or authors who published this article have a near expert level of knowledge in the main topic of this article, which is outlining the use of the principles of war in a single battle. I believe that the author(s) had to do extensive research to find a single battle, Chancellorsville, which demonstrated all the principles of war.
I believe that the author(s) call to write was that of proving how essential it is to obey the principles of war during all battles. The author is writing this article, not as an opinion piece, but out of the need to educate the young officers in training at West Point and at other ROTC programs across the country. When reading the article I saw that there was no sense of urgency or a need to rush through the article because this article needed to be precisely written. The author does nothing in particular to identify the importance of the matter at hand because the actions of the battle spoke. I believe that the only way in which the writer could express the importance of the principles of war is by showing what happens when they are not applied. The Union generals, who lost thousands of troops during the Battle of Chancellorsville, clearly ignored the principles of war during the battle. This was a fact that the author(s) clearly point out. The author(s) know that the greatest way to impact the future leaders of this nation’s soldiers is by showing them the price in which others pay when mistakes are made. I believe that this also ties into the reason in which the author(s) wrote this article. The reason for the article being written is to put into the lessons learned into a real world context. The author(s) shows what happens when a leader fails to take into account the principles of war.
The intended audience for this article is for members of the United States Military Academy and all members that are in advanced Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs. This is where I encountered the article. The article was featured in the ROTC textbook which is passed out to every cadet in the country.
This article, in my opinion, successfully completed the task for which it was designed. The author(s) should not change a thing about their article because they are able to demonstrate effectively the principles of war by only telling the facts. The point of the article is to give only the facts and not be skewed by an author’s opinion. I believe that if the article had been written in any other fashion, the article would have suffered.
The article I have chosen was that about the Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville. This article, which discusses the effective and sometimes ineffective principles of war that were used by both Confederate and Union generals, was written for the West Point Military History Series: The American Civil War. The fact that this article was written for and accepted by the professors at the United States Military Academy, also known as West Point, speaks volumes for this article. West Point has strived to be one of the top universities in the country and I believe that it has succeeded in its mission. I believe the author or authors who published this article have a near expert level of knowledge in the main topic of this article, which is outlining the use of the principles of war in a single battle. I believe that the author(s) had to do extensive research to find a single battle, Chancellorsville, which demonstrated all the principles of war.
I believe that the author(s) call to write was that of proving how essential it is to obey the principles of war during all battles. The author is writing this article, not as an opinion piece, but out of the need to educate the young officers in training at West Point and at other ROTC programs across the country. When reading the article I saw that there was no sense of urgency or a need to rush through the article because this article needed to be precisely written. The author does nothing in particular to identify the importance of the matter at hand because the actions of the battle spoke. I believe that the only way in which the writer could express the importance of the principles of war is by showing what happens when they are not applied. The Union generals, who lost thousands of troops during the Battle of Chancellorsville, clearly ignored the principles of war during the battle. This was a fact that the author(s) clearly point out. The author(s) know that the greatest way to impact the future leaders of this nation’s soldiers is by showing them the price in which others pay when mistakes are made. I believe that this also ties into the reason in which the author(s) wrote this article. The reason for the article being written is to put into the lessons learned into a real world context. The author(s) shows what happens when a leader fails to take into account the principles of war.
The intended audience for this article is for members of the United States Military Academy and all members that are in advanced Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs. This is where I encountered the article. The article was featured in the ROTC textbook which is passed out to every cadet in the country.
This article, in my opinion, successfully completed the task for which it was designed. The author(s) should not change a thing about their article because they are able to demonstrate effectively the principles of war by only telling the facts. The point of the article is to give only the facts and not be skewed by an author’s opinion. I believe that if the article had been written in any other fashion, the article would have suffered.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
First blog of the semester
Hey y'all,
I guess the best way to start things off is to tell a little about myself. My name is Kevin and I am in my 4th year at Southern Miss, thought I am not a senior. I have spent my college years living from one great experience to another. College has allowed me to participate in the Journey of Hope, which is a 4000 mile charity bike ride that raises funds and awareness for people with disabilities. This trip changed my outlook on life and has made me into a more thankful person. My next great adventure took me to Ft Benning, GA. There I underwent 4 months of training to become an infantryman. I have been a proud serving member of the Mississippi National Guard for the past 2 years. Once I graduate college (May of 2011) I will become a 2LT in the MS National Guard. Aside from my past, there are a few things I like to do outside of the classroom. I love to cook, fish, and hunt. But now onto the meat of the assignment.
Being a criminal justice major, our writing assignments are usually based around case reports and analysis of court cases or court decisions. Having never been in a work setting that required lengthy written proposals, the only time in which I write reports would be during my bi-monthly reports in ROTC. This reports are in a BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) format where you cut straight to the facts of what has happened. I have not written any public documents however.
I have a confession, I really dislike writing in formal manners. I prefer the writing style used by the military where writing is simple and straight forward. The style of writing I dislike the most would have to be where very little instruction is given. I am a person who needs direction and guidance, so writing that is free form is very difficult for me.
Having not really written many reports where any action would come from my writings I have had no actual break downs in communication. One factor that I could see that would cause writing to fail would be the fact that people in my generation are not used to expressing themselves in a formal written form. I believe one way in which we can fix this break down is by forcing ourselves to work on having better written communication.
To conclude the assignment, I hope to learn to become a more proficient writer by being able to get my point across accurately and be able to be understood by all that read my writings.
Till next week!
I guess the best way to start things off is to tell a little about myself. My name is Kevin and I am in my 4th year at Southern Miss, thought I am not a senior. I have spent my college years living from one great experience to another. College has allowed me to participate in the Journey of Hope, which is a 4000 mile charity bike ride that raises funds and awareness for people with disabilities. This trip changed my outlook on life and has made me into a more thankful person. My next great adventure took me to Ft Benning, GA. There I underwent 4 months of training to become an infantryman. I have been a proud serving member of the Mississippi National Guard for the past 2 years. Once I graduate college (May of 2011) I will become a 2LT in the MS National Guard. Aside from my past, there are a few things I like to do outside of the classroom. I love to cook, fish, and hunt. But now onto the meat of the assignment.
Being a criminal justice major, our writing assignments are usually based around case reports and analysis of court cases or court decisions. Having never been in a work setting that required lengthy written proposals, the only time in which I write reports would be during my bi-monthly reports in ROTC. This reports are in a BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) format where you cut straight to the facts of what has happened. I have not written any public documents however.
I have a confession, I really dislike writing in formal manners. I prefer the writing style used by the military where writing is simple and straight forward. The style of writing I dislike the most would have to be where very little instruction is given. I am a person who needs direction and guidance, so writing that is free form is very difficult for me.
Having not really written many reports where any action would come from my writings I have had no actual break downs in communication. One factor that I could see that would cause writing to fail would be the fact that people in my generation are not used to expressing themselves in a formal written form. I believe one way in which we can fix this break down is by forcing ourselves to work on having better written communication.
To conclude the assignment, I hope to learn to become a more proficient writer by being able to get my point across accurately and be able to be understood by all that read my writings.
Till next week!
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