In the search for information, a student will use just about any source that they can call “reliable” and that contains what they need. More often than not, however, students use sources that have false or outdated information.
To combat this slew of wrong information, eHow is used. eHow is a website that has over 1 million how-to articles and close to 200,000 videos. Together, these articles and videos cover close to 50 different categories, ranging from Arts & Crafts to U.S. Travel.
These how-to articles and videos are regularly moderated and edited by trusted members of the community, which can be anyone in the world, as well as employees who are paid by eHow. Employees must be U.S. citizens, as a Social Security Number is required. Therefore, these articles are more trustworthy than random information one might find during a Google search.
These guides are more reliable than Wikipedia or other sites because not only are people paid to write the guide and make the videos, they must make an account. Anyone can sign up and begin writing on Wikipedia; on eHow, however, only freelance writers who are contracted may edit the guides.
A simple comparison between an eHow article, a Wikipedia article, and a random article should suffice to show that eHow is the best. After searching for the term “how to brew a pot of coffee” I immediately noticed an eHow article right near the top. Below was a Wikipedia article about coffeemakers, and near that, was another article about how to brew coffee.
The eHow article is simple, with step-by-step instructions on how to make the perfect cup of coffee utilizing two different methods. The Wikipedia article, while it had information on various coffeemakers over the years, does not tell you how to make coffee. It simply states all of the designs for coffee machines.
Finally, the non-affiliated article I found does a very good job explaining how to make coffee and includes many tips and hints. I believe, however, that eHow does a slightly better job, and also has pictures, which always help improve the quality of the article.
eHow contains quality, correct information because of the knowledgeable, trusted editors who include links and sources with their guides. If an article or video is discovered to contain false/misleading information, it will be edited or taken down by another writer.
Teaching others is not the sole impetus behind writing for eHow. eHow also offers compensation for writing articles/making videos. Authors are paid when page viewers click ads on their articles. The pay starts out low, but can increase exponentially when an author’s guides become popular. For example, an article exists online about a freelance writer who reportedly made over $20,000 writing for eHow.
Even though they might be in it just for the money, people who write articles or make videos for eHow also provide some great information and help. That eHow shows how to create, solve, or make also makes it different from Wikipedia, as Wikipedia is simply about information. This difference is vital in keeping websites like eHow popular and useful.
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