The American Revolution Website Evaluation The United States revolution is one of the most iconic events in not just American, but world history. So when performing research on a platform as vast as the internet, proper precautions must be taken. A well designed and thorough web evaluation should be done to ensure the credibility and integrity of the website’s content. Certain Criteria involve who authored the website, when the website was created, when it was last updated, who the website was intended for, what types of resources the website offers, and the sites overall value to the reader.
The website www. ushistory. org is a very informative website that tells about the people and events of the American Revolution. The website was created and is maintained by the Independence Hall Association or the “IHA”. The IHA was founded in 1942 to spearhead the creation of the Independence National Park and to educate the general public about the revolutionary period of the United States. In 1995 they launched their organization’s official website, www. ushistory. org, in hopes to further educate people about American history.
The credibility of the website is evident from there illustrious amount of awards by entities such as The History Channel, Forbes magazine, The New York Times, and USA Today, just to name a few. The website is updated daily with new current events and other interesting historical findings. The websites audience is for any person (preferably with a high school reading level or better) trying to gain a better understanding of the social and political aspects of the American Revolution.
The website offers a wide array of resources from electronic documents such as the declaration of Independence to Benjamin Franklin’s theories on electricity. There is also a large section of links to other historical and informative websites that can further educate the reader about the subject. There is not any strong bias to this website as it is mostly just facts about the people and events. Overall this website has immense value. The fact that it compiles so much information in one place, and since the information is so highly credible, www. ushistory. rg makes for one of the best websites to gather information about the revolutionary war. Another informative and authoritative website about the American Revolution is www. theamericanrevolution. org. The website is authored and updated by Joseph Logan, who is a self-proclaimed historian and revolutionary enthusiast. He frequently works with schools and universities to inform and educated students on the revolutionary period. The site was originally just a way for Logan to document and share his readings about the revolutionary leader John Adams.
However, after only one year, the site started to explode exponentially. Logan read over 200 books about the revolution and documented everything he could from revolutionary leaders to iconic events. This extensive research is reflected in the wide amount and detailed writings about the revolution. The last update took place in February of 2010 however since this type of website is very static in nature, that update was a fairly recent one. Originally created for middle and high school students, this website now informs readers of all ages and education levels.
The resources and content that this website offers is beyond valuable. Every single revolutionary leader from Adams to Wilson has a biography and picture associated with them. The site also has summaries and related documents to all of the major battles in the war. Including how many soldiers were on each side, how many people were killed in the battle, and even how many people were injured. There is also a gigantic interactive timeline for every major event from 1732 to 1781.
Recently Logan has also added videos (some reenactments and some documentaries) to the website which is something very unique to this genre of site. The website does not have any bias as it is just a massive compilation of biographies and documents from the era. Lastly, this website provides massive value to over 3 million people a year. It has accreditations from over 2000 other websites and continues to deliver valuable content every day. A website primarily targeted for young school children learning about the American Revolution is http://www. kidinfo. com/american_history/american_revolution. tml . The website was created by the KidInfo group which is a large offline and online community that helps to inform young students (elementary level) about various grade school subjects. KidInfo as a whole also owns over 100 more resource type websites in various different subjects. The subdomain that this resource page is located on was created in 2003 and has been steadily updated since then. The last modification of this website was on September 14th 2010, proving that this website is frequently updated and maintained with the most relevant information.
This webpage has over 100 external links and subdomains containing information of the entire revolution. While the information on the website is made for a younger audience, it is still extremely valuable and useful. The website’s doesn’t have a bias or particular point of view. Like the other two websites, most of the content is factual and there is no way there could be a bias. For its targeted audience this website brings immense value. It breaks down the social and political factors of the era and simplifies them down to a clear, easy to read, beacon of information.
In modern times, the internet can be used to gather information about literally anything. So when researching events such as the American Revolution, proper evaluations must be performed. The websites www. ushistory. org, www. theamericanrevolution. org, and www. KidInfo. com/American_Revolution, all have similarities and differences in their background, layout, and content; however all of the sources meet the criteria of a properly created, credible and informative website.