References

Edgar Allan Poe Museum Website

"Edgar Allan Poe Museum : Poe's Life, Legacy, and Works : Richmond, Virginia." Edgar Allan Poe 

     Museum : Poe's Life, Legacy, and Works : Richmond, Virginia. Richmond Garden Trail, 2014. Web. 

     10 Apr. 2016. 

Encyclopedia Britannica Website 

Cestre, Charles, Thomas Ollive Mabbott, and Jacques Barzun. "Edgar Allan Poe." Encyclopedia 

     Britannica. N.p., 11 Jan. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Presentation of the Website

Edgar Allan Poe Museum Website

Presentation: Visually, this website is very appealing. It's dark and creepy - just like the man himself! It's designed with Poe's literary works in mind (i.e., the title of the page has a raven within the lettering). It's also organized very well.
Eye Appeal: I don't feel overwhelmed by this website - and I know that can be a factor for students when trying to gather information. It's easy to identify where I need to do go for certain information. The graphics and images supplement all of the information well too!
Flow of information: The tabs are easy to identify: About the Museum, Poe's Life, Selected Works, Teachers, Students, and Shop. Each place is easy to locate and accessible. I also like when you go to click on a tab it lights up - very appealing and fun!
Spelling/Grammar: There are zero spelling and grammatical errors on this page.

Encyclopedia Britannica Website

Presentation: This website is presented just as a page from an encyclopedia. It's not flashy or overly exciting.
Eye Appeal: The advertisements on the right could be very distracting for a student. They may have a tendency to click on them and end up somewhere where they should not be for the assignment.
Flow of information: The information is set up into two categories: Life and Appraisal. It's very straightforward and should not be confusing for the student. However, the tabs at the top (stories, quizzes, galleries, etc.) could be confusing for the student because those links have nothing to do with Poe.
Spelling/Grammar: There are zero spelling and grammatical errors on this page.

My Website Preference

Honestly, I really like both of these websites! However, if I were to choose just one I would have to go with the Edgar Allan Poe Museum website. The amount of information present on that website is awesome! Students and teachers could utilize this source in many, many ways. On the Encyclopedia Britannica website you would direct students to go there just for biographical information. It may be nice to utilize one in conjunction with the other to have students compare/contrast the information that is given.

Comparison of the Two Websites

Authority, Accuracy, Currency, and Objectivity will be identified below:

The Edgar Allan Poe Museum website was generated by an actual museum in Virginia. It's a non-profit organization (hence the .org domain) and it's a real place that you can go visit (which I would love to do some day by the way). The purpose of the website is to educate people about Poe's life and his literary works. It was created in 2014 and has been updated in January of 2016. Students could go to this website and seek out information about Poe's life or actually read some of his texts. There is also an awesome teacher resource page and a student page that links the students to all kinds of fun activities related to his life.

As for the Encyclopedia Britannica website - I would also direct students to utilize this page, but for different purposes. This webpage is a bit more limited - strictly supplying information about his life and appraisal as a literary legend. The information is credible though - it does come from an acclaimed encyclopedia that people used to purchase in print and have within their homes and has three other resourceful writers. The page was last updated on January 11, 2016. There are also numerous links embedded within the page to assist students in gaining further information on the topic of Poe or related information. There's a plethora of knowledge written in this single page, but it does not offer all the other amenities that the museum website does - such as readings, activities, and resources.


Both of these websites are very factual with a lot of relevant information that I could utilize within my introduction of Edgar Allan Poe. These websites were created by experts and not just anyone can contribute to the website. I would encourage my students to seek out information from either of these webpages - especially if I were having them write a biography on this author.

Title, Introduction, and URLs

For this module, I will be comparing two websites that provide information concerning the great Edgar Allan Poe. He is one of my favorite authors, and I teach an entire unit on his short stories. I will be looking at two websites: one created by the Edgar Allan Poe Museum located in Richmond, VA and the other provides biographical information about Poe on Encyclopedia Britannica.