Students analyse and compose online texts such as web pages, posts, blogs and social media, examining how digital features shape meaning, audience and reliability

What this dot point is asking

Most reading and writing now happens online: web pages, posts, comments, blogs, messages. Online texts are not just print on a screen; they work differently, with links, images, video, and the chance for the audience to respond. This dot point asks you to analyse how digital texts make meaning and to compose your own effectively. It also asks a sharper question the web makes urgent: how do you tell a reliable source from an unreliable one? Reading critically online is one of the most useful skills the course can give you.

The answer

A web text is built for fast, jumping reading. People scan, click and scroll rather than read top to bottom. Online texts are designed for that, and reading or writing them well means working with how the web is actually used.

How online texts make meaning

Digital texts use features print does not have.

• Hyperlinks let the reader jump elsewhere, so a text is part of a network rather than a closed whole.
• Headings, bullet points and short paragraphs support scanning rather than slow reading.
• Images, video and sound carry meaning alongside the words.
• Interactivity, such as comments and shares, lets the audience become part of the text.

Each feature shapes meaning. A link suggests what a text relies on or points you toward; a comment thread can change how a post is read. When you analyse a web text, read these features, not just the words.

Judging reliability

The web has no editor checking everything, so judging reliability is on the reader. Useful questions: who made this, and can you find out? What is its purpose, to inform, to sell, or to persuade? Is there evidence, or only assertion? Does the date matter, and is it current? Do other trustworthy sources agree? A confident, well-designed page can still be wrong or biased, so design is not proof. Learning to check the source behind a claim is the core defence against being misled online.

Composing for the web

To compose an effective web text, start from audience and purpose, then write for scanning. Lead with the key point, use a clear heading, break text into short chunks, and make any link or image earn its place. Match the register to the platform: a community update reads differently from a casual post. Remember that online texts are often public and lasting, so tone and accuracy matter more, not less, than on paper.

Examples in context

Consider two original web pages claiming a new study drink improves memory. One is a company sales page: bright design, a slogan, a "customers love it" section, no author, no study cited, a buy button. The other is a community health page: a named author, a link to an actual study, a date, and a balanced note that results are limited. A strong response analyses how the first page uses persuasive design and interactivity to sell while offering no evidence, and how the second signals reliability through authorship, a dated source and a cited study. The lesson is that the more attractive page is the less reliable one, because design persuades but does not prove.

Common mistakes

Try this

• Take any web page making a claim and answer four questions: who made it, why, what evidence, and how current.
• Rewrite a dense paragraph as a scannable web text with a heading and short chunks leading with the key point.
• Compare a sales page and an informational page on the same topic and list the features that signal reliability in each.