Comments, for students, on use of
the history-ontheweb resource
by Gilbert Pleuger, Editor of new perspective
(the leading Modern History advanced students journal).
Version 2.01 (March 2004)
This page is on a subsidiary screen. To return to the whole site index page click on the X in the top right corner.

If you are very short of time just follow what is immediately below,
for a thorough exploration read on further.
Quick orientation: see what the site has to offer
 (they will be on subsidiary screens to facilitate easy return to this guide:
to return to the comments click on the X in the top right corner)
Start orientation by  Quick site tour and AS/A2 resources site map.
Next, an appreciation of the extent of content and the the number of articles on their study unit will be gained from 
the index of articles on this site by Study Centre topic area and by volume.
 Then a brief look at the contents of the following will indicate the relevance of these sections to their study needs.
 Topic guides for AS/A2 Modern History
 Core concepts, terms and ideologies
 Exam and study advice for AS/A2 Modern History
 The world of sources and contexts

In particular students should read the advice on reading and noting new perspective articles.

All students will gain from reading the study skills section: Advanced History students’ study guide

 

How to gain the most out of whatever time you spend on this site:
read below for a more thorough exploration and discussion 

This website is well known for the extent and high quality of its content.  Smart students use their study time well. These comments are intended to help students benefit from this resource with the minimum time and effort Thereby to gain the most study benefit from the time and effort spent. Through efficient use of time and effort they more readily achieve the exam grade they want and free up time for other activities, such as leisure, sport, cultural pursuits and so on. Efficient students grasp the ideas and information of a topic quickly and are more likely to deepen their understanding of the history of their course and because of the good use of time and effort they make quicker progress with their study, achieve higher grades and gain more satisfaction from their study. The purpose of these comments is to encourage students to reflect on how they go about a study task and how to use efficiently the resources on this site. With the employment of better, more efficient, procedures after looking at the contents from this page, before they jump into a work assignment, they will take a great leap toward becoming smart students. A little circumspection will reap rich rewards.

Before you begin, have a quick scan of the four paragraphs of Students and Internet use by Tom Wells, history-ontheweb Project Manager. If you are new to this site a speedy scan of Quick site tour and AS/A2 resources site map will help orientation and navigation and give some idea of the site’s structure and scope. The linked pages in sections A, B and C, all on subsidiary screens so that you can follow the advice more easily, may seem complicated but they will only take a minute or two to follow and when you review is completed you will gain more from the time you spend on this site.
Comments that will be helpful to a student user are divided into sections. Read the section(s) indicated with the 1-4 study purpose list that follows.

Here are some of the reasons students visit history-ontheweb

  1. The student was directed to the site by their teacher in connection with study for a GCSE/AS/A study unit. See Section B.

  2. A student came across the site by chance while surfing or after using a search engine. See sections A and then B.

  3. The site were recommended by a friend or a teacher. See sections A and then B.

  4. The student had used the site before and seeks articles for coursework or the Individual/Personal Study. See Section C.

Section A

Section B

  1. If the reference was an article log on to the Study Centre you will need the password.

  2. After the password is correctly entered, on the next page choose Study Centre.

  3. On the page after that, choose your topic area. With that selected all the relevant study components (concepts, topic guides, exam and study advice) are collected but do not forget advice on reading and noting new perspective articles and the 66-page illustrated study skills section: Advanced History students’ study guide.

Section C

As an earlier visitor to the site familiarity should enable you to find you way around but if you have forgotten skip over sections A and B. You study topic should guide you the best sections and the topic areas. In addition, you can take a more leisurely look at the articles in the complete topic area and volume index and do not forget Grade Buster’s guides in the Study Centre.

www.history-ontheweb.co.uk - Index page I  The Study Centre  I   About e-new perspective  I  Students' study guide  
 Exam and study advice for AS/A Modern History  I  Topic guides  I  Core concepts  I  The world of sources
Guide to History degree course selection   I  History and theory  I  New texts from publishers  I  GCSE Resource bank

Addenda: comments on the world wide, its benefits and pitfalls

Compactness of storage of resources, and therefore economy of space, is one of the Internet’s strengths. In the desk area of one computer’s footprint a person can have access to the equivalent of a thousand books. Moving from one source to another requires no travel to a library or trudging down isles of bookshelves but merely a new Internet address. Not only that, links to related sources can be left on any page so that not even a new address, only a click, moves the user to other sources. For a teacher with a class in a computer room, the whole class can access the same pages or same work assignment simultaneously and yet work at their own pace. There are, however, pitfalls in the use of the Internet. One of the greatest is what this writer, using a term from the art world, calls provenance, that is origin, genuineness and reliability. Just as an unsophisticated society is vulnerable to the printed word in the (popular) press, so care needs to be taken with Internet page content. Discriminatory skills taught in the classroom need to be employed. Is the author of web copy known? If known, is she/he in a position, by way of study and expertise, to write reliable copy? Can the reason for the publication of copy on the web be identified? Even if the writer is well qualified to write good copy, is there evidence of bias and prejudice? As far as work with specifications is concerned, there is also the problem of pitch: content may be reliable but either too demanding (in details, expression and vocabulary) or too reductionist and simplistic for study for a unit. Lastly, it should be remembered that searching for content on the world wide web takes time. Does the reward for time spent seeking out helpful sources give a fair return?

The particular strengths of history-ontheweb

The history-ontheweb site addresses these issues. The provenance of content, mostly written by university specialists, is evident from the academic position of the authors and specified at the start of articles as well as by the biographical details, including publications, at their end. The pitch has been tuned for use at the advanced level and help added with the ‘words and concepts to note’ feature. Further, the articles’ utility, supported by topic guides, concept definitions and study advice, is enhanced by a careful structure that incorporates a summary, questions to consider, subheadings, further reading and, sometimes, links to related articles on the site. In short, each article is a double lesson work assignment. Lastly, the focus of content, because the articles were commissioned by a specification-aware editor, is securely on the provision of resources to meet the needs of GCSE and A-Level teachers, higher-grade GCSE students and all those who study at AS and A-Level.

www.history-ontheweb.co.uk - Index page I  The Study Centre  I   About e-new perspective  I  Students' study guide  
 Exam and study advice for AS/A Modern History  I  Topic guides  I  Core concepts  I  The world of sources
Guide to History degree course selection   I  History and theory  I  New texts from publishers  I  GCSE Resource bank