Each evaluation sheet includes the following general information about each text:

• Text Title
• Text Publisher
• Author and date of publication

• Total number of points on our weighted point scale
• Total number of words
• Number of index citations
• Number of visuals
• Rank in category which denotes the standing of each text within a given category and is used throughout the study as a reference number on graphs, charts etc.
• Overall rank indicates a text's standing among all of the books included in this survey.
• Percentile score viz-a-viz the best text in the category
• Percentile score viz-a-viz the best text in the survey (the highest ranking text each category and the overall best text each represent 100% so each text would be a percentage of that total).

If we found biases, errors, or inconsistencies, we listed them as well.

Comments:

In this text, Korea was given its own chapter. The data was accurate and interesting. Material such as that on movable type was clear and accurate. Special sections were devoted to King Sejong and the invention of the Korean alphabet. Even though this text had the most material on Korea, it did not have the most mistakes -- a tendency we found in some texts.

This text was far and away the most outstanding text we reviewed.

Comments:

Generally the text is accurate but covers only one rather obscure topic which in certainly not a part of the ordinary Korean's daily experience. The high ranking is due to the number of words it devotes to a description of the shamanistic ritual. Perhaps relating this ritual more to Korean culture or history would enhance the topic and make for more interesting reading.

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Comments:

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Page: 527 The text states that after the inception of the Korean alphabet, "some officials who knew Chinese characters continued to use them. Today, however, Korean students learn King Sejong's alphabet." The fact is, all officials were required to know Chinese characters in order to function in their roles as officials in traditional times. In addition, most, if not all of these officials refused to adopt King Sejong's alphabet and it has only seen wide use in the last century.

It is also important to note that while han'gul is the primary means of writing, all Koreans students are required to learn 1800 Chinese characters before they leave high school.

Comments:

Several of our reviewers caught the term "landless peasants" as an inappropriate term for a description of contemporary (1992) Korea. The issue is rural flight or urbanization. Many urbanites in the modern world are landless, but we do not appropriately speak of "landless peasants" of New York City or Los Angeles.

Comments:

This text was also one of the oldest that we surveyed, which may account partially for the low scores. Earlier editions from other publishers, those published before the current emphasis on multiculturalism, were generally lower in their scores.

In this text the rather odd and outdated quotation about Korea being "like a dagger pointing at Japan" was used. In its context it may have some validity or at least be understood, but used the way it is, and it was used twice, once for the turn of the century and once for the 1970s, it conveys a negative and inaccurate image. We don't refer to the Japanese islands as "floating like battleships surrounding Korea" or any other such analogy. Neither should such an offensive quotation be used even once unless the basis for the unfortunate quotation is germane to an essential argument of the text.

Movable metal type is credited to the Chinese (13th century) who then gave the technology to the Koreans and Japanese, whereas the facts are that the Chinese invented movable type made of wood and ceramics in the eleventh century, and the Koreans developed metal fonts in the 13th century.

The sloppiest map in all the texts we saw was on page 267 wherein the Korean peninsula was labeled as both the Liaoning and Shandong Peninsulas.

In sum, very little was written about Korea, and what little there was was riddled with errors.

Comments: