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Accessibility Checklist

This guide contains major best practices for creating accessible online content. This guide used to be part of the LibGuides Editor training but has become a standalone guide.

Examples of Web Writing

Web Writing Examples

Issue Example Rewritten to Improve Web Writing
Too wordy Our discovery layer will help you to find scholarly articles available through our databases. It can also help you to find the correct Library of Congress call number for books within the stacks.

Search@UW helps to find:  

  • Journal articles   

  • Books  

  • Archival material  
Library jargon Establishing Search Parameters  Choosing search terms and filters OR making a search strategy
Complex language/clauses Searching the Catalog can be a bit daunting. If you use the search box on the front of the Libraries' website, called Search@UW, you will get results from ALL of the UW campuses. In order to limit to what we have physically, you want to go the search page itself.   To find  articles and books, you can use the search box on the library’s main page. To limit your search to materials available at UWM, click the "Held by Library" filter on the results page.
Large block of text, difficult to scan

Framing your research  

Scholarly writers engage with the work of others through the strategic selection of research and ideas pertinent to the question or problem under discussion. When trying to decide if a source is pertinent to your question, it can be helpful to ask yourself: What could a writer do with this source? Could this source provide background facts or information? Could I analyze or interpret this source for my reader? Could this source refine my question or extend my thesis? Could this source be a lens for interpreting competing findings?  

College-level writing involves combining and interpreting ideas from a variety of sources. Use these questions to decide if and how a source is useful to your research:

  • Could this source provide background facts or information about my topic?   

  • Could I analyze or interpret this source for my reader?   

  • Could this source refine my research question or support my thesis?   

  • Could this source provide ideas that will help me interpret other sources or data?
Too many choices, cognitive load List of 10 databases   List of 4 databases and a link to the Databases A-Z page for that subject area. (No need to duplicate the databases by subject listing)