A Resource Site Evaluation 

This section of the handbook is intended to be an example of website evaluation outlined in the previous section Evaluating Websites.    At first glance, The Children's Literature Web Guide looks like an amazing resource.

• The Children's Literature Web Guide can be a great resource for many grade levels.  Its author has gathered many literature Internet resources, such as author websites, teacher ideas, and award lists.
• A few of the endless possible uses:
• Create an author cyber hunt.
• Students research an author.
• Look for an author when reading a book.
• Discuss the awards lists:  How do they compare with each other?  Do the students agree?
• See the WebQuest suggestion for making Author Cards (i.e. similar to Baseball Cards).

Credibility	The author is listed complete with address, phone and email. The author, David K. Brown, is the Director of the Doucette Resource Center at the University of Calgary. In his introduction, the author explains that when he learns of a new site, through searches or other notification, he looks at the site thoroughly before posting it with a short description. He also points out that he is not responsible for the awards.
Accuracy	The site was most recently updated in April, 2001.  According to the "What's New?" page, the site had not been updated in almost a year.
Reasonableness	The author realized that the world is turning more and more to the Internet, but it is his hope that children and young adults will be "tempted away from the Internet, and back to the books themselves". The author seems objective in his reviews.
Support	Although the author does not seem to cite other sources, he does provide links to websites that have similar information.
The following was also considered during the evaluation.
Design & Technology	The site is attractively simple.  Not many pictures clutter the pages.  Logos are well done. The colors are nice. The pages are very easy to maneuver. The links appear to work. The pages load very quickly.

After having looked at the site more carefully, it is still impressive.  It should be a great resource for the reading classroom as it provides many author links.  The main concern is with the update date.  Some of the book award lists have not been updated in several years.  One may also wonder, how many authors are also missing from the site?  Suggestion:  Don't rely on this as the only resource.

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