Website review by Erin Brereton, Common Sense Education | Updated May 2013
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
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Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Vast collection of historical texts is stagnant, has broken links

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Grades
9–12
Subjects & Skills
English Language Arts, Social Studies, Character & SEL, Critical Thinking
Price:  Free
Platforms:  Website
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Take a look inside

5 images
The Ancient History Sourcebook includes listings for Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Hellenistic World.
One of the site’s sourcebooks covers the medieval era.
The site’s homepage lists the various historical topics that are covered.
Individual sections such as the Women’s History section focus on subtopics like well-known historical figures in Ancient Rome.
Some sections, like this listing in the Religion Since 1945 section, are missing information.

Pros: Abundant ancient and medieval historical resources are generally easy to understand.

Cons: Many links take you to external sites instead of having all information available in one place, and there’s little to keep students coming back.

Bottom Line: Great source of information on ancient history could benefit from more visual elements and a stronger focus on modern history.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Teachers could use the Internet History Sourcebooks to find reading selections for classroom use. The vast collection makes this a potential resource for most content areas including language arts, social studies, humanities, history, and more. Students could also use the database to locate materials for research projects or presentations. The collection is a great tool for teaching about using primary source texts -- an important concept for units on the research process.

A few sections include specific teaching resources like a sample introduction to a medieval studies course, including a course description, calendar, and reading assignments. There's also a Byzantine Empire course syllabus and bibliography of Byzantine sources and editions.

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Standards:

The Internet History Sourcebooks Project serves as a central resource for public domain and non-copyrighted historical texts about various time periods and historical topics, including East Asian history, lesbian and gay history, and women's history. Students can also access three large sourcebooks -- on ancient history, medieval times, and modern history. Site sections contain an introduction, background information, and subject matter specific to each topic. The women’s history section, for example, begins with a Jane Austen quote and includes sections on country-specific women’s issues and historical events and figures in ancient Egypt through modern-day Europe. There are quite a few bad links, and some sections look incomplete because they don't contain links. However, overall, the site is pretty well-organized and offers teachers and students access to an impressive collection of historical documents and literature.

As an academic resource, the site offers a lot of information, and the original content is well-written: It’s concise, direct, and includes some historical documents like letters. However, this is a no-frills site -- students will be able to find information for a report or learn more about historical topics covered in class, but there isn't much to visually engage or excite them, and there are no interactive elements.

The ancient and medieval history sections seem to be more robust than the modern history listings. And while much of the information is housed on the site, a fair amount is on other sites. Many are university sites, so the content quality is generally good. But you'll need to keep clicking your browser’s back arrow to return to the site, which can be a little frustrating.

Overall Rating
Engagement

There's plenty of historical information, but it's just a long list of links to various content areas. Teens aren't likely to get excited about the design or other site offerings or use it for much more than research.

Pedagogy

The site's creator has clearly made an effort to present comprehensive, organized historical materials. You'll still find broken links and some incomplete sections, but it’s a decent research resource for teens.

Support

No interactive elements or ways to conduct or measure progress are available. Some additional resources are available for teachers, but they’d likely use the site for research in the same way students would.

Common Sense reviewer
Erin Brereton
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Key Standards Supported

Reading History/Social Studies

  • RH.9-10.9

    Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.

  • RH.9-10.10

    By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

  • RH.11-12.8

    Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.

  • RH.11-12.9

    Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

  • RH.11-12.10

    By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Reading Informational Text

  • RI.9-10.9

    Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”), including how they address related themes and concepts.

  • RI.9-10.10

    By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 9–10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

  • RI.11-12.8

    Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses).

  • RI.11-12.9

    Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features.

  • RI.11-12.10

    By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Reading Literature

  • RL.9-10.9

    Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare).

  • RL.9-10.10

    By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9–10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

  • RL.11-12.9

    Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.

  • RL.11-12.10

    By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Writing

  • W.9-10.9

    Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

  • W.11-12.9

    Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

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Community Rating

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Featured review by
Scott M. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
American Canyon High School
American Canyon, United States
Useful but not engaging to students
Excellent collection of primary sources. Much scaffolding needed to help students understand the documents.
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