The Answer
What was that question again?			This site's information is from the perspective of individuals who traveled the frontier. Although in some ways it is wonderful to learn about the actual experience of a person who was really there, in other ways this is a very narrow source.
Variety Helps Balance Your Perspective			If you are unfamiliar with westward exploration, you may not know what years it occurred in, or what else was going on at this time. You may need to find broader sources to learn more about this topic. To best use this site, you may need a timeline of historical events in the region. This may be available online, or from books. The link to a well-known book, the bibliography, and the authors' willingness to discuss their work all enhance the credibility and usefulness of the site. You could use any of these elements to learn more about its topic.
			For example, if you followed the link to Nash's book, you would find analyses of it by other scholars. They discuss what they find useful about it. Connections to the opinions of other scholars make the site especially well balanced, and would serve as alternative, informed perspectives on Lavinia Coon's journal. If you followed the link to the site's bibliography, you would find a variety of sources, including the following:
Sample Bibliography			Dick, Everett. The Dixie Frontier: A Social History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993 (11). Dick, Everett. The Sod-House Frontier. New York: D. Appleton- Century Company, 1937. French, Emily. Emily: The Diary of a Hard-Worked Woman. University of Nebraska Press, 1987. Holmes, Kenneth, ed. Covered Wagon Women. Vol. 4. Glendale: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1988 (33-82, 209-295). Nebraska Farmer. Brownsville, Nebraska and Lincoln, Nebraska, 1850-1862: January, 1863. Taylor, John G. America as Art. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1976 (162). Tillson, Christiana Holmes. A Woman's Story of Pioneer Illinois. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press,1995. "The West" -- http://www3.pbs.org/weta/thewest/ Wriston, Jennie Atcheson. A Pioneer's Odyssey. Privately Published: 1943.
What to Look for in a Bibliography			These sources are good because many of them are written by scholars. You can tell by the fact that they are published by reputable organizations like the Smithsonian Institution Press, or the presses of well-known universities. If the presses cited in an online bibliography don't ring a bell, you may need to ask a teacher or a librarian about their reputation.
Primary and Secondary Sources			One source for example, the Nebraska Farmer, is particularly valuable. It is a magazine published at the actual time of the Westward expansion. It's a good source because it goes back to the period covered by the web site and it contains accounts by actual pioneers. This kind of material is called a primary source. Materials that analyze primary sources are called secondary sources. Although some people prefer primary sources and others prefer secondary sources, the most reliable information often comes from using a combination of both. Incidentally, these terms are not limited to just history. In science, for example, the term primary source would describe an account of an experiment or study. Whereas a secondary source would describe an analysis of several experiments or studies.
Hands-on
			What would you do if you couldn't find a bibliography or links to the original works of the site? How would you check the validity of its information? Check your answer
Main Sections