SparkNotes, originally part of a website called The Spark, is a company started by Sam Yagan, Max Krohn, Chris Coyne, and Eli Bolotin in 1999 providing study guides for literature, poetry, history, film and philosophy. There is no charge for use; the site uses advertising for revenue.
Barnes & NobleBarnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered in lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan...
acquired SparkNotes.com in 2001.
TheSpark.com was launched January 7, 1999 as a dating website by four Harvard students.
SparkNotes, originally part of a website called The Spark, is a company started by Sam Yagan, Max Krohn, Chris Coyne, and Eli Bolotin in 1999 providing study guides for literature, poetry, history, film and philosophy. There is no charge for use; the site uses advertising for revenue.
Barnes & NobleBarnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered in lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan...
acquired SparkNotes.com in 2001.
History
TheSpark.com was launched January 7, 1999 as a dating website by four Harvard students. Most of TheSpark's users were high school and college students, and so the first six literature study guides (entitled "SparkNotes") were published on April 7, 1999 to increase popularity. The SparkNotes.com website was launched on September 1, 1999. In 2000 the site was sold to iTurf Inc. The following year SparkNotes was bought by
Barnes & NobleBarnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered in lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan...
, and fifty literature study guides were chosen to be published in print form. When Barnes & Noble printed SparkNotes, they stopped selling their chief competitor,
CliffsNotesCliffsNotes are a series of student study guides available primarily in the United States. The guides present and explain literary and other works in pamphlet form or online...
. Until then, the only content on the website were literature study guides but in January 2003 the The SparkNotes Test Prep, a practice test service, started. This project was followed by SparkCharts, meant to serve as reference sheets summarizing the topic, and No Fear Shakespeare, a transcription of Shakespeare's plays into modern English.
Other features
SparkNotes has content and services related to the
SATThe SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a non-profit organization in the United States, and was once developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service...
,
ACTThe ACT is a standardized test for high school achievement and college admissions in the United States produced by ACT, Inc. It was first administered in fall 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT Reasoning Test...
, and
APThe Advanced Placement program offers college level courses at high schools across the United States and Canada. According to the Good Schools Guide International, it is "usually much more rigorous than the general course offerings." The most taken AP exam in 2008 was AP United States History with...
tests, paraphrases of Shakespeare into modern English, exercises for high school teachers, and a message board.
Barnes & Noble sells printed versions of the study guides in the United States and
ChaptersChapters is a Canadian big box bookstore banner owned by Indigo Books and Music. Formerly a company in its own right competing with Indigo, the combined company has continued to operate both banners since their merger in 2001.-History:...
in Canada, in a format similar to that of
CliffsNotesCliffsNotes are a series of student study guides available primarily in the United States. The guides present and explain literary and other works in pamphlet form or online...
.
SparkNotes has moved into educational publishing with books like
Poetry Classics and
FlashKids, a series of educational books for K-8 students.
Criticism
Sparknotes has study guides for literature, with chapter summaries that may be used instead of reading the whole material. Teachers blame the website for being a cheating tool, saying that students use Sparknotes as a replacement for reading assignments or to cheat during tests, for example using cellphones with Internet access.
SparkNotes says it does not support academic dishonesty or plagiarism. Students can read the entire book, and then check SparkNotes to compare their own interpretation of the text with the SparkNotes analysis.