Research Guides: Best Practices

The most important content should occupy the best real estate: the left hand column and the top of each page.

Most users will not scroll; instead, they will click away and look somewhere else.

Images can liven up a page, break up text, and provide graphical clues about content.  

It's important to adhere to copyright and accessibility standards when using images.

Useful resources for adding images:

Take advantage of LibGuides Web 2.0 features to include resources like podcasts, videos, and journal RSS feeds.  These can be used to supplement text or instead of text as they may illustrate ideas more easily.

It's important to adhere to copyright standards when using multimedia.

Links to resources should be added as link assets.

• Order link lists by relevance.  (Keep the list short so as to not overwhelm.)
• Link to the specific page that will be needed by the user; do not link to the main page of a large and potentially confusing website.
• Don't manually add the GW Proxy to the URL. Instead, click the proxy button in the pop up so that the proxy address will automatically be added.
• Give each link a brief and informative description so that users can determine its relevance to their need. 
• Have that description display beneath link -- never as a pop up.
• Reuse link assets whenever possible because this makes it easier to batch update. Reminder of what assets are.

When adding links by clicking on the 'Add/Reorder' dropdown select 'Database' or 'Link' (NOT Rich Text Format).

 This allows LibGuides to check for dead links, count the number of clicks, and some automatic updates.

Links should make sense if the linked text is read by itself.  Avoid phrases like “click here” and “more”.

• Instead of writing: Go to this US Government source for comprehensive homeowner data by clicking here.
• Write something like this: The US Government provides comprehensive homeowner data.

The profile box should only be on the “Getting Started” (Home) page of your guide located below the side-navigation menu in the left column.

Display only one profile box per guide.  Research shows that users get confused about who to contact if multiple people are listed.

The profile box should read Subject Librarian, Guide Author or subject specialty: Art Librarian.

The profile box should include the following:

• photo
• email address
• phone number
• library or office address

Additional information can be found on this Introduction to profiles page.

Every guide should be assigned tags.

• At a minimum, tag your guide with the GW course code for the relevant department.  
  • Your guide may have multiple departments tagged, for example, a guide on gender and politics may be tagged WSTU & PSC & PPSY.
  • This makes them more discoverable in Blackboard and in the Bento box.
• Tagging helps to organize guides and makes them searchable.

Each guide should have a friendly URL

The friendly URLs can be set in the following ways:

• Guide: click the pencil next to the URL label
• Page: click the pencil icon in the bordered box next to the Page URL label. 

Tips for Selecting a Truly Friendly URL:

• Use letters, numbers dashes and underscores.
• Don't use spaces! Use either dashes, underscores or combine into one word.
• Limit to one or two words.