Ralph Block

Medieval Literature 3014

Web Evaluation

October 1, 2002

                    Grover Furr's Medieval History and Literature Page is a page dedicated to providing information to students and others interested in medieval times.  The site, located at http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/medieval.html, is owned and operated by Grover Furr, a professor of English at Montclair State University.  As this website shows, Furr clearly has a deep passion for medieval times and displays his love through the careful articulation of sources and information posted on his site.  On this site I was able to find things that we had talked about in class and I feel that just about anyone searching for information on medieval times can find some valuable information on this page.   My evaluation of this site is based on the following criteria, all of which determine the value of this page:  difficulty of navigation, date of last update, value of information provided, and authority of the author.

                    Furrís Medieval History and Literature Page at first visit seems to be a lot to take in.  However, after reading his message to the visitor, the site is fairly self-explanatory.  The page is made up of mostly links to other medieval sites, all categorized in their own specific area.  These areas include Basic Medieval Resources on the World Wide Web, Chaucer, Middle English Literature, Other Medieval Literatures, Journals and Criticism, Medieval History, and Medieval Art, Music, and Culture.  A visitor to the site can click on any of the above categories, which will take them to that specific area.  From there, the Webmaster has listed a number of links, along with a clear explanation of their content, to other pages relevant to the category.  For the most part, the majority of the links are in working order.  The only unfortunate thing is that there are some links like YAHOO's Medieval Studies Links, The Canterbury Tales: the Text (in Middle English), and Medieval Literature Page that donít work.  These are pages that may have been useful to our class during the semester.  But despite a few dead links, Furr has divided these links up into such distinct categories that anyone surfing the page can find what they are looking for at just the click of a button. 

Grover Furrís Medieval History and Literature Page was last updated on July 13, 2002.  This date obviously tells the reader that what they are viewing is relatively recent.  The viewer can also see from the websiteís URL that the site is hosted by Montclair State University and is being used as an informative tool for students interested in, or studying medieval times.  I think it is also necessary to point out that the links chosen by the Webmaster all share a lot of important information ranging from literature of the era, to historical points in medieval history, to even articles and criticisms on medieval times, all of which were written by accredited professors at other universities. 

However, it is also important to point out some of the siteís shortcomings.  While Furr has developed a website that encompasses a vast amount of links pertaining to medieval times, he doesnít actually provide any content on the page.  Granted, these links may be helpful to someone surfing the web, but it may also become a hassle to actually look through all the links Furr has listed.  Such a long list of links almost seems like an overload of information.  The only problem is thereís no real information on the site, just a long list of links.  Many other medieval sites on the Internet are more self-contained than this one, which may be better for certain browsers who are looking for specific information.  

As I already mentioned before, the author of the page is Grover Furr, a professor at Montclair State University.  While the site doesnít come right out and say that he is a professor, Furr does post his email address at the bottom of the page asking for suggestions on the site.  His email address, as well as the siteís URL, has ìmontclair.eduî in the link.  I also went to Montclair State Universityís homepage where I was able to find that Professor Furr is part of the English department.  In conclusion, I hope that Iíve given a fair description of this site and what it has to offer the class throughout the rest of the semester. 

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