Michael Hensler
LIS 704: Reference & Online Services
March 7, 2008
Online Resource Evaluation: AskOxford.com
General Information: AskOxford.com is a public site that doesn’t require a login or
password to access the website. The website can be used in a variety of ways
including searching the Oxford reference source (dictionary), search for famous quotes,
ask experts questions, and have words translated into foreign languages. You can also
shop for many titles from the dictionary and other language reference sources.
Organization & Scope: The website is organized in a style and format that is easy to
navigate and read. The site uses a main bar at the top of headings that link you to the
main categories: Ask the Experts, Better Writing, World of Words, Games, Global
English, and Foreign Languages. Below the main topic bar, you’ll find three separate
columns highlighting a Word of the Day, A Quote From..., and A Word From. The main
subjects headings are in a clear, easy to read format. You can easily search a compact
Oxford English Dictionary. I found that the dictionary may give you multiple results to
choose and offers similar words in the dictionary from your search. The “Ask the
Experts” page is the place where you can do advanced searching. The frequently
asked questions page highlights the questions the experts receive the most. The
answers are cross referenced with similar questions which would be helpful. There
doesn’t appear to be an option of sorting dictionary results or the ask the experts
results.
Content: The entries have similar formats. So, when you search for a dictionary entry,
you can always retrieve a list of similar words to the original key word and words that
are used in different ways. For example, when I searched for the term “contentment,” I
received seven entries - anything from “content” to the opposite “discontent.” There are
not a lot of graphical elements in the site, which could be helpful if all you would like to
see is the content and not a lot of extra pictures, sound bytes, animation, etc. I like how
the site incorporates “tips of the week” sections. In the “Better Writing” part of the site,
AskOxford points out commonly confused words. This page also contains many
guidelines and advice to writing as well. I found the dictionary may give you multiple
results to choose and offers similar words in the dictionary from your search. Also it’s
important to note the relatively easy search mechanism and AskOxford’s inability to sort
results by format, type, etc.
Audience: I believe the target audience is great for high school students and
undergrads. The “Better Writing” and online dictionary aspects of the site can be
particularly helpful for those groups. There is also a “Foreign Language” page within
the site that could be useful for people of many language skill levels. So, professionspecific jargon is not used and would be suitable to use as a reference source for
libraries in general.
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Currency: The site has been updated for 2008. I did not see specific information on
how often the pages within the site are updated.
Companion materials: The site has some off-line components other than the Oxford
Dictionary. The Oxford University Press publishes thousands of books per year. There
are other online companion components you can purchase. One example are the CDROM’s that contain lots of reference information and are very modern, up-to-date
resources. Another great idea is the AskOxford email news service that can help keep
a librarian updated on the latest dictionaries and reference titles. So, there’s a lot of
additional information beyond the AskOxford website that you can use, both hard copy
and online/electronically.
Reviews: AskOxford was reviewed by Choice Reviews Online in January 2008 by
M.M. Bohn, formerly, University of Nebraska, Omaha. The review wasn’t highly
regarded by M.M Bohn who summarized that the site is a way for Oxford University
Press to “sell more products” (the OUP portion of the site to be extensive too). Another
critique was the site organization wasn’t very intuitive and you need to spend some time
navigating to find useful information and the overall rating was optional. Overall, I like
AskOxford because of the ability to search with ease and also the site is just fun to
explore and discover how words and phrases are used around the globe.
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