Centre for Nursing and Health Studies

What is a Website Critique?

A critique is a formalized, critical appraisal of a website. It is also a personal response to that site, but it is more than just saying you liked the site or you thought a site was great. Your goal in writing a critique is to turn your critical reading into a systematic evaluation in order to deepen your reader's (and your own) insight of that website.

When writing a critique of a website, you are expected to analyze and evaluate, not just summarize. A summary merely reports what is or is not in a website; that is, it answers only the question, "What did the website contain?" A critique, on the other hand, analyzes, interprets, and evaluates the website, answering the questions how, why, and how well?

A critique does not necessarily have to criticize the piece in a negative sense. Your reaction to the site may be largely positive, negative, or a combination of the two. It is important to explain why you respond to the site in a certain way. Therefore, you have an obligation, both to the reader and yourself, to clarify your opinions.

Defend your point of view/argument by raising specific issues or aspects of the argument. Explain how the section you might use from the site supports your argument. Your personal response to your assessment should not be the expression of an unsupported or irrelevant personal opinion. Your interpretations and your conclusions must be based on evidence from the site and follow from the ideas you have dealt with in the paper.

Framing Your Critique

Introduction

Introduces the nursing or health care issue or trend. Introduces the websites and presents a brief executive summary of each web site. Clearly articulates the thesis.

Analysis of the Website

Analyzes each web site according to the authorship of the site using the following guide from Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries.

Analyzes each web site according the verifiability or accuracy of the information found within the site using the following guide from Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries.

Compares and contrasts how the information is presented in each site using the following questions as a guide.

• Does the content effectively offer sufficient information related to the issue? In what way?
• Does the content appear to be complete, is well organized, and is easy to understand? How?
• Is the content free of bias, or can the bias be easily detected? In what way?
• Does the information appear to be accurate based on user’s previous knowledge of subject? Explain.
• Is the information consistent with similar information in other sources? Which ones and in what way?

How Do the Sites Stand Up to the Overall Analysis?

Now it is your turn to respond to the critique itself. In other words, what is your general interpretation of your findings? With which parts of the sites do you agree? With which do you disagree? Discuss your reasons for agreement and disagreement, and tie these reasons to your findings from your analysis. Discuss how the authors of the sites might improve their site and explain your reasons for these improvements.

Conclusion

State your conclusions about the overall validity of the information found, and your assessment of the choices you made in selecting the web sites. Remind the reader about the thesis and how well you believe your selections augmented or detracted from your thesis.

References

Behrens, L. (Ed.). (1994). Writing and reading across the curriculum (p. 73-74). New York: Harper Collins.