Name: Dalia Akkad

Web Site Title:  Home School Legal Defense Association

Web URL:  www.hslda.org

Date Visited:  November 29, 2005

Brief description of the contents of the site:

A website for the parents of home schooled children.  It has everything on it, from articles, to news bulletins, to SAT testing offers for students.  There is a search engine on the website also, so one can type in any keywords to find out about the topic they are interested in.  It’s mainly a website that has information about legal cases that deal with home schooled children.

Authority
(Author of site:  individual/institutional, organization Domain type [edu, org, com, gov], credentials, expertise, contact information)

Who is responsible for the site?

It’s a .org site.  It was created by the Home School Legal Defense Association.  All the contact information is at the bottom.  There is an address, and various phone numbers.    

Objectivity
(Purpose, target audience, information fact or opinion, obvious bias)

Is the purpose of the site clear, including any particular viewpoint?

The HSLDA is an organization devoted to securing the rights of home schooled students.  There is some information about court cases pertaining topics like benefits for the parents of home schooled children, and then more broad topics like home school regulations and requirements.  There are also topics of information like “Home schooling children with special needs.”  The website was created to inform people of legal information such as home school laws in certain states, and court cases, but it isn’t devoted primarily to that.  It has links to news articles and specific information to help the parents of home schooled children as well.   

Accuracy
(Facts documented or well-researched, links provided to quality web resources)

Is the information accurate?

The website is a professional one, put together by members of a prominent organization.  All their information, and the links they provide lead to quality resources with accurate, credited information.

Currency
(Evidence of current content, page date-stamped with latest update)

Is the information current?  When was this site last updated/copyrighted?

Yes.  The site provides current as well as past information on topics such as court cases.  One of the sections on the homepage is titled “In the News,” and all the articles are recent, within this month.  Also, there is a section titles “This Week…” with all recent information.  The last copyright is 2005.

Usability
(Site organized and easy to follow, content readable by intended audience, information error-free, links back to index page, page loads quickly)

Is the site well designed?

Very well designed and organized.  It is easily navigated.  All the information is presented in an organized manner which is easy for the guest to find and search through.

Are the links to other resources current?

Yes, most of them are dated this month.

Personal Use

Is this site appropriate for use in your research paper?  Why or why not?

Definitely.  It has a lot of information about home schooled children and issues facing them in this day and age.  When I type in my topic into the search bar, “College Acceptance,” I get 300 hits.  This site will probably prove very useful in my research.