LibGuides: History (U.S.) Research Guide: Web Resources

Evaluating Websites

When searching for resources on the Web think about CABLE!

C Currency
A Authority
B Bias
L Level
E Explore

Currency - Knowing when the Website was created can help you judge the quality of the information found there. Some information (such as historical facts) will not change, but other information (like stock quotes) changes daily.

Authority - Knowing about the author of the information is useful. Is the author an expert in his/her field? Check the domain name, as it can offer identifying information about the site.

Bias - Think about the purpose of the site. Is there a position/opinion presented? Also, notice any sites that are linked to it.

Level - Even if a site has useful information, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is appropriate for college-level work. Ask yourself the following questions: Is the site popular of scholarly? Is the information correct? Is the research well-supported?

Explore - It is important to explore further! Did you verify the information in at least one additional source? Did you investigate the author or publisher of the site? Did you find reviews, criticism, or rankings of the Websites?

Selected Websites

100 Milestone Documents
Compiled by the National Archives and Records Administration, and drawn primarily from its nationwide holdings. The documents chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965.
American Presidency Project
The leading source of presidential documents on the internet.
The Avalon Project
Primary source documents in law, history, and diplomacy.
Chronicling America
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Discovering American Women's History Online
Provides access to digital collections of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States.
Foreign Relations of the United States
Presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
Growing treasury of digitized photographs, manuscripts, maps, sound recordings, motion pictures, books, and other media.
Shades of Gray and Blue
Reflections of life in Civil War Tennessee.
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
Designed to supply general information about the state of Tennessee in a user-friendly format for students, teachers, researchers, and general information seekers.
Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
Information on almost 36,000 slaving voyages that embarked to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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