Hello all. This week I have been given the task in helping my neighbor figure out what sources are credible online. He went to the doctor and was diagnosed with GERD. He has so many questions on this disease and went to these 3 websites:
The internet is filled with so much information on all different subjects so it can be hard to pick out which websites are valid and reliable. First, we can look at Wikipedia. This website is good if you are trying to familiarize yourself with a certain topic. The downside to Wikipedia is that anyone can post information on the website and the expertise of these posters are not taken into consideration. Next, is WebMD. This website is credible and can be used to gather information on health topics. The content displayed on the website is given by those individuals who hold advanced degrees in journalism, informatics, nursing, and medicine. There is credential verification by a third party that can justify the validity and reliability of this resource to the public. Third, is the CDC website, which is the most credible. CDC is the leading national public health institute of the United States. This website provides data, statistics, and is updated quite often with the newest health information related to the public.
When talking with my neighbor I discussed with him what to look for when trying to find information on websites that are reliable. I told him to look for common domain names which is something I've done all through school to ensure that where I'm getting my information from is trusted. Some of these domains include:
- .edu
- .gov
- .org
Here are some hints to evaluate web resources
- Credentials
- Association to organization/institution
- Publications in peer-reviewed publications
- Bias of author
- Information that is current
- Works cited
- Fully covered with WWW sources or should print sources provide balance
- The kind of website is the information presented on
Some websites that I would refer my neighbor to are MedlinePlus, FDA.gov, rxlist, PubMed, and BioMed Central.
Harvard University. (2016). What's wrong with Wikipedia?. Retrieved from http://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page346376
Montecino, V. (1998). Criteria to evaluate the credibility of WWW resources. Retrieved from http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm
WebMD. (2014). What we do for our users. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/about-webmd-policies/about-what-we-do-for-our-users
Great blog post. You gave your neighbor great information. I have learned that .gov, .edu, and .org are typically more reliable than .com sites. However, once cannot just go by that and you listed many great items to look at when it comes to validating a website. It is also very important for the person to take what they learn and discuss with their provider before making any changes to their diet, medication, or alternative lifestyles to treat GERD.
ReplyDeleteJenny