Web Evaluation

I am choosing high school history.

Website 1- http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/american-civil-war-history

The first website I choose was on the American Civil War. When I typed into google American Civil War, this was the first website to pop up. It was the history channel and I have used this source a few other times in high school and college in order to gain a general understanding of a topic before I dove in to more difficult sources. At first glance this website seems good. The information is relevant to the Civil War and all of the links to other pages were functional. There is no listed date, which is a problem; however, since it is on the topic of history, it does not necessarily matter when the information was posted. It is not like there is new information every other day about the Civil War, so I do not think it is a deal breaker if I cannot find the date it was posted. Since it is the history channel posting it, it is assumed that the information is coming from a reliable source. On the other hand, it does not explicitly say who is writing this article or if they actually have any credentials to talk about the subject matter at all. After looking through the facts they do seem very accurate and does not appear to put too much personal viewpoints into the topic. It seems to just lay the information out and allows the reader to take their own views on the subject rather than shoving the authors views down the readers throat. Overall, I would say it is a good source. It is a good place to gain a general understanding of the topic, without having to sort through a scholarly paper to find the same information, just with bigger words.

Website 2- https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/civil-war-facts

The second website I choose was also on the Civil War. The information was presented in a similar manner as the first one, but in my opinion, this one would be more enticing for students. There were graphs that are more aesthetically pleasing than just looking at pages upon pages of words. This article also did not have a date, but similar to the first, I do not believe it is crucial to list the date on something that does not need to be updated every few days. All of the links on the website were functioning and were relevant to the information on the page. There was also an about page on the website that walked through the goal of the website and the organization. It is all about preservation of the Civil War in both physical ways as well as keeping the story straight. An organization like this is more reliable than something like wikipedia where there are people who are just bored with their lives. These people's lives revolve around the civil war, which makes the site more trustworthy. The website seemed accurate and even listed numerous books at the end as sources. Books are usually a reliable source and having them as sources is very promising. The information seems to be presented in an unbiased manner and follow a professional format. Overall, a very good source and one that I would definitely encourage my students to look at.