Website Evaluation Exercise (CRAAP) - Iroquois Indian Tribe History

Website:


http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/iroquioi/iroquoishist.htm

Currency:

• Website is current (2004-2009).
• Some of the links direct you back to the page you are already on.
  
• The information is about the history of the Iroquois, there is no information from any years after the 19th century.
  

Relevance:

• The website is a genealogical website and the information about the Iroquois history that relates to names and movement of the nations that make up the Iroquois.
  
• I would not be comfortable using this website as a resource for a research paper. There are no citations and it is a company website with advertisements on screen. I am not confident that the information on the website is accurate.
  

Authority:

• The site is the Access Genealogy website.
• The site is a ".com" site.
• There is no actual "author" listed.
  
• There is no contact information to anyone involved with the website, only a link to email the site to a friend.
• It is hard to tell what the level of authority is on this website and therefore I have to conclude that the authority level is low.
  

Accuracy:

• It is unclear where the information on the website came from. The title of one book is listed as a resource for further information, but the complete bibliographic information is not given, only the title.
  
• The information is not supported by evidence.
• The information is neither reviewed nor referred.
  
• The language has a fair number of grammatical errors including calling Cayuga Lake Cayuga Lane.
• There is no easy way to tell the accuracy level of the information on this site. The inattention to editing and detail leads me to believe that the information is suspect.
  

Purpose:

• The purpose of this website appears to be to give information about genealogy and to make money through advertising and promoting other genealogy websites.
  
• There is no actual stated purpose on the website.
• The information is presented as fact, but there is no actual evidence presented.
• The language in the website makes it clear that the information is presented from the white American perspective. The use of words such as regime (when referring to the French), the word 'tribe' rather than 'nation' (when referring to a group in Natives), the fact that the Iroquois are presented as a militaristic confederacy that was bent on acquiring new land, and the fact that the white conquest of Native Americans in not discussed show this perspective.