Things to look for

So What?

Make sure the essay both very near the beginning and at the end makes it very clear what the reader is to take away as the main points. In other words, the essay needs to very obviously answer the SO WHAT question.

History

  • How well Does the essay embrace or shy away from the complexities of history and historical debate?
  • How well does the essay evoke meanings of place?
  • Are historical claims adequately cited? (meaning parenthetical citations to reputable sources; precise and unambiguous citations with author, date, and page; statements that are not common knowledge have citations)

Readability

  • Wikipedia-like intro (short first paragraph (no heading) that conveys the nature of the site, relevant time, place, and historic significance; focuses on broad points without extraneous detail)
  • Clear narrative thread
  • Meaningful headings that help guide the reader
  • Paragraph first sentences indicate topic
  • Paragraphs and sections smoothly transition from one to another
  • Writing competency (Free of typos, sentence fragments, and simple sentences)

Paragraphs

First sentences

Informative first sentences have a clear progression through the essay.

Paragraph lengths

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with long paragraphs, but long paragraphs are quite difficult to read on a screen, and are also rather off-putting to new readers confronted with a wall of text.

Focused paragraphs

Especially since you’ll be paying attention to paragraph lengths, try to identify whether paragraph has an obvious point. Paragraphs are visual representations of ideas, so each paragraph should have one main idea connected to what comes before and after it.

  • Effective use of Hyperlinks to related pages, including the linked text and external site
  • Images are related to nearby text
  • Images are provocative and engage the reader
  • Captions should be more than a simple label. They should explain the site’s significance, point out crucial details to the reader, convey main points of site to reader through captions alone.