Civil War Scavenger Hunt:
Website Evaluation
After creating our internet scavenger hunt, we had to discuss why we chose certain websites to answer our questions by accessing whether they were bias, unbiased, who created them and how easy the websites were to use. Below is my evaluation of the websites I chose for my scavenger hunt.
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Scavenger Hunt Evaluation
1. What were Abraham Lincoln's views on slavery which made him a "threat" to Southern ideals? What did the South fear most about Lincoln getting elected? How did they react once he was elected?
For question number one I chose http://www.lib.niu.edu/1997/ihy970236.html and http://www.biography.com/people/abraham-lincoln-9382540?page=3 websites. With information in regards to Lincoln’s election and the southern reaction there are various ideas and common misconceptions, such as the war being fought to end slavery. Therefore when choosing sources for this question I really had to look into the who, what, where, when, and why factors of evaluation. I chose the two websites above since the first is a university library’s website which gives it a more scholarly background and the second website was from a reputable company. The websites were easy to navigate and really put the answers out there for students to grasp. I just skimmed the pages and found the answers. They are not bias and do present relevant and accurate information on the topic making them a good choice for student use.
2. Who was the Confederate President and when was he elected?
The website I selected for this question was http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/civil/jb_civil_davis_1.html. Although many websites have this information, since it is basic factual information, I really could’ve gone to a number of websites. However, I chose this website since it is a government website and has the most accurate information. Another reason why I chose this website when this was one of the few times Wikipedia could’ve been an ok source is to model proper website use and evaluation for the students.
3. Who was the Army of North Virginia’s General and why did he chose to support the South?
The website that was chosen to answer this question was http://www.historycentral.com/bio/CWcGENS/CSALeeRE.html. I chose this website because it was very straight-forward and had reliable information. Plus it was a website dedicated to history and although that may make it an appropriate option at all times, the information displayed on the page regarding General Lee is accurate and easy to read.
4. Going into the Civil War, the North believed it would be an easy and quick victory, not the grueling four year conflict which it became. What was the first instance the North realized this war may be harder to win then expected?
For this question I chose was http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/bullrun.html. This website was hosted by an organization surrounding the historical study of the Civil War. However, this could be a dangerous website if it is not looked into. Many organizations surrounding the Civil War have a lot of bias within the website depending on who is sponsoring the website. For example one website I came across a lot was sonsofthesouth.org. Granted by the title you should be able to tell it will be bias but other websites aren’t that obvious until they start referring to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression. However, when looking over the information on this website, it was more factually based and provided the right information while being easy to navigate making it a good choice for this question.
5. What was the first major battle for the Union during the Civil War? Describe the effects and its significance briefly.
The website I used for this question was http://www.nps.gov/anti/historyculture/upload/Battle%20history.pdf. This website was an ideal choice since it is definitely a reliable source, the government produces it, and in order to answer the question the students will have to read through the website about the events that took place at this battle which will not only allow them to answer the question but will give them a border understanding of how much of an impact the Battle of Antietam had on the war.
6. Which battle was a major turning point during the Civil War? Describe the battle and its significance briefly.
The website that I used for this question was also a Civil War based website. It was http://americancivilwar.com/getty.html. The reason why I chose this website was that even though it went into great amount of detail regarding the Battle of Gettysburg, like most other websites, it outlined the main points of my question within the first three paragraphs making it easier for the students to answer the question.
7. How did the Union finally break the Southern morale?
This question was a difficult one to find a good website for since its search brought up a lot of opinion based or bias websites. Also if the website did not have bias then it was from an un-reputable website such a Wikipedia that isn’t always correct. I finally decided to choose http://www.history.com/topics/william-t-sherman. The reasoning behind this choice was that although it is a commercial site, it is a reputable site. Also, it outlined the information in an easy and understandable way by providing a paragraph to summarize the effects while still getting across its importance.
8. When and how the Civil War was finally ended?
I believe it is a commonly known fact was that the Civil War was ended by Lee’s surrender to Grant. What I don’t think is well known is what went into that decision and the terms of the surrender. People don’t understand how torn apart this country was and how everyone wanted the war to be over but no one really wanted to give up. Even enemies on the battlefield respected one another and did not want to see the suffering which was taking place on such a large scale any longer. The two sides wanted to come together and be reunited as brothers, since after all this was a war where brother fought against brother and father against son. I chose this website, http://www.history.com/videos/surrender-at-appomattox-courthouse#surrender-at-appomattox-courthouse, since I feel the video relays the message better than text could.
1. What were Abraham Lincoln's views on slavery which made him a "threat" to Southern ideals? What did the South fear most about Lincoln getting elected? How did they react once he was elected?
For question number one I chose http://www.lib.niu.edu/1997/ihy970236.html and http://www.biography.com/people/abraham-lincoln-9382540?page=3 websites. With information in regards to Lincoln’s election and the southern reaction there are various ideas and common misconceptions, such as the war being fought to end slavery. Therefore when choosing sources for this question I really had to look into the who, what, where, when, and why factors of evaluation. I chose the two websites above since the first is a university library’s website which gives it a more scholarly background and the second website was from a reputable company. The websites were easy to navigate and really put the answers out there for students to grasp. I just skimmed the pages and found the answers. They are not bias and do present relevant and accurate information on the topic making them a good choice for student use.
2. Who was the Confederate President and when was he elected?
The website I selected for this question was http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/civil/jb_civil_davis_1.html. Although many websites have this information, since it is basic factual information, I really could’ve gone to a number of websites. However, I chose this website since it is a government website and has the most accurate information. Another reason why I chose this website when this was one of the few times Wikipedia could’ve been an ok source is to model proper website use and evaluation for the students.
3. Who was the Army of North Virginia’s General and why did he chose to support the South?
The website that was chosen to answer this question was http://www.historycentral.com/bio/CWcGENS/CSALeeRE.html. I chose this website because it was very straight-forward and had reliable information. Plus it was a website dedicated to history and although that may make it an appropriate option at all times, the information displayed on the page regarding General Lee is accurate and easy to read.
4. Going into the Civil War, the North believed it would be an easy and quick victory, not the grueling four year conflict which it became. What was the first instance the North realized this war may be harder to win then expected?
For this question I chose was http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/bullrun.html. This website was hosted by an organization surrounding the historical study of the Civil War. However, this could be a dangerous website if it is not looked into. Many organizations surrounding the Civil War have a lot of bias within the website depending on who is sponsoring the website. For example one website I came across a lot was sonsofthesouth.org. Granted by the title you should be able to tell it will be bias but other websites aren’t that obvious until they start referring to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression. However, when looking over the information on this website, it was more factually based and provided the right information while being easy to navigate making it a good choice for this question.
5. What was the first major battle for the Union during the Civil War? Describe the effects and its significance briefly.
The website I used for this question was http://www.nps.gov/anti/historyculture/upload/Battle%20history.pdf. This website was an ideal choice since it is definitely a reliable source, the government produces it, and in order to answer the question the students will have to read through the website about the events that took place at this battle which will not only allow them to answer the question but will give them a border understanding of how much of an impact the Battle of Antietam had on the war.
6. Which battle was a major turning point during the Civil War? Describe the battle and its significance briefly.
The website that I used for this question was also a Civil War based website. It was http://americancivilwar.com/getty.html. The reason why I chose this website was that even though it went into great amount of detail regarding the Battle of Gettysburg, like most other websites, it outlined the main points of my question within the first three paragraphs making it easier for the students to answer the question.
7. How did the Union finally break the Southern morale?
This question was a difficult one to find a good website for since its search brought up a lot of opinion based or bias websites. Also if the website did not have bias then it was from an un-reputable website such a Wikipedia that isn’t always correct. I finally decided to choose http://www.history.com/topics/william-t-sherman. The reasoning behind this choice was that although it is a commercial site, it is a reputable site. Also, it outlined the information in an easy and understandable way by providing a paragraph to summarize the effects while still getting across its importance.
8. When and how the Civil War was finally ended?
I believe it is a commonly known fact was that the Civil War was ended by Lee’s surrender to Grant. What I don’t think is well known is what went into that decision and the terms of the surrender. People don’t understand how torn apart this country was and how everyone wanted the war to be over but no one really wanted to give up. Even enemies on the battlefield respected one another and did not want to see the suffering which was taking place on such a large scale any longer. The two sides wanted to come together and be reunited as brothers, since after all this was a war where brother fought against brother and father against son. I chose this website, http://www.history.com/videos/surrender-at-appomattox-courthouse#surrender-at-appomattox-courthouse, since I feel the video relays the message better than text could.