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Final Project: Site Organization Plan

Due April 26 — Submit in Canvas

What This Is

Before you start building your site, take some time to plan it out. This assignment asks you to think through the structure of your project — what pages you’ll have, what goes on each one, how a visitor will move through it, and what the experience will be like.

This is a plan, not a contract. You can (and probably will) change things as you build. The point is to think it through now so you’re not making structural decisions at the last minute.

Format

You can do this however makes the most sense to you:

  • Option 1: Written plan

    A document with lists, notes, and descriptions for each section below.

  • Option 2: Visual site map

    Draw it out — boxes for pages, arrows for how they connect, notes about what goes where. Take a photo and upload it. This can be hand-drawn or digital.

  • Option 3: A combination

    A drawn site map with written notes alongside it. Whatever helps you think it through.

A note on platforms

The examples and language below assume Google Sites, but if you’re using a different platform, adjust as needed. Just leave a note explaining how your platform’s structure works differently (e.g., if your platform uses a single scrolling page instead of separate pages).

What to Include

  1. Your Pages

    List every page your site will have. Give each one a working title and write 1–2 sentences about what that page is for. These titles don’t need to be final — just clear enough that I can understand the plan.

  2. How It Connects

    How does a visitor move through your site? What’s the first thing they see (your landing page)? Is there a suggested order to the pages, or can visitors explore freely? How do the pages link to each other?

  3. What Goes Where

    For each page, note what you’re planning to put on it: which sources, which multimedia, which course readings, where your close reading lives. You don’t need to have everything figured out — this is just your current thinking. You can add, move, or change things as you build.

  4. The Visit

    Write a short paragraph: when a classmate explores your site on presentation day, what do you want their experience to be? What should they understand or take away by the end?

Example

Here’s what a plan might look like for a project about Marxist criticism and labor in Rebecca Harding Davis’s Life in the Iron Mills. This is a written version — a drawn site map with the same information would also work.

Note: I’m using a text not from our course for this example so it doesn’t overlap with anyone’s actual project.

Example plan:

1. Your Pages

  • Home / Landing Page: Introduction to the project — what I’m analyzing, why, and a brief overview of Marxist criticism as my framework. Sets the stage for the rest of the site.
  • Historical Context: Background on industrialization and iron mill labor in the 1860s — working conditions, wages, and class structure in factory towns. This is where most of my scholarly research goes.
  • Close Reading: My analysis of specific passages where Davis describes Hugh Wolfe’s labor and hunger — tracing how "hunger" shifts from literal starvation to soul-starvation. Connecting the language to Marxist ideas about alienation and exploitation.
  • Voices & Media: Multimedia page — historical photographs of iron mills, a short video about 19th-century factory conditions, and maybe an image of the korl woman sculpture (or something that represents it).
  • Works Cited: All sources with working links.

Note: These are not the pages you need to have — this is just one example of how someone might set up their site. Your pages should reflect your own project, topic, and framework.

2. How It Connects

The landing page introduces everything and links to the other three content pages. I’m thinking visitors would go Context → Close Reading → Voices & Media, but they could also jump around using the navigation menu. Works Cited is linked from the nav but isn’t part of the main flow.

3. What Goes Where

  • Home: Overview of Marxist criticism (from the Klages chapter), my thesis/angle about labor and alienation in the novella
  • Historical Context: Scholarly article on industrialization and labor conditions in the mid-1800s, possibly a second source on class in American literature
  • Close Reading: Passages from the novella where Davis uses the word “hungry” — tracking how it changes meaning as the story progresses. My analysis connecting each use to the Marxist framework.
  • Voices & Media: Historical photos of iron mills from the Library of Congress, a video on 19th-century factory labor, maybe a painting or illustration that captures the industrial landscape Davis describes

4. The Visit

I want classmates to come away understanding that Davis’s story isn’t just about one man’s tragic life — it’s about what an economic system does to people when it treats their labor as more valuable than their humanity. The Marxist framework helps show that Hugh’s downfall isn’t a personal failure but a systemic one. I want the site to feel like the pieces build on each other, so by the time they get to the close reading, they have the historical context to see what Davis is really saying about class and labor.

Grading

Graded on the check system. If you include all four parts (Your Pages, How It Connects, What Goes Where, The Visit), you’ll get full credit. I’m looking for evidence that you’ve thought through your project’s structure, not for a polished final plan.