...Evaluating a Website for Credibility Rashida Kapasi Chamberlain College of Nursing August 26, 2014 Evaluating a Website for Credibility A website chosen for the evaluation is KidsHealth.org. The purpose of this website is to provide information about the health of children and teenagers in a manner that is easy to understand. This website claims to be the most-visited site on the Web for information about health, behavior, and development from before birth through the teen years. All the information is divided in four sections, providing information for parents, children, teenagers, and for educators. This website is easy to find through the Google search engine. That is understandable, taking into account the fact that Kids Health gets a million visits on a daily basis. The Web Address of this site follows the HTTP pattern. The uniform resource locator is http://kidshealth.org. The domain of this site is org., meaning that the domain extension is used by a non-profit organization called The Nemours Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media. The rationale behind the selection of the website is verifying of the website’s claims of being the most-trusted source for physician-reviewed information on children's health. Empirical evidence for the decision comes from the online library Caphis, which puts Kids Health in the Top 100 List of “Health Websites You Can Trust”, and Time Lists (Buenchner, 2004) name this site to be among 50 best...
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...Evaluating a Website for Credibility Chamberlain College of Nursing The era of computer has made education and the quest for knowledge easier and accessible. Health-related information is crucial to the nurse, patients, other allied health personnel and the public. An astute nurse or scholar must evaluate the content of a website for credibility before using the resources following a systematic approach. The criteria to be used when evaluating Web-based sources are, authority, information, objectivity, ease of navigation, privacy and security policies. (CCN, 2015). The criteria will be discussed later. The health-related website I choose to evaluate is the National Institutes of Health website. URL: www.nih.gov The purpose of this website is to support the mission of the NIH, and their mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. (nih.gov) The good thing about NIH website is that it can be located using many search engines like Google, yahoo, msn, AOL, mywebsearch, etc. NIH is a public domain image processing and analysis program for mackintosh. The software is located at http://rsb.info.nih.gov/nih-image/index.html My reasons for the selection of this website are: The NIH is one of the world’s foremost medical researchers and the focal point for medical research in the United States. (nih.gov). It comprises 27 separate...
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...Evaluating a Website for Credibility Chamberlain College of Nursing The era of computer has made education and the quest for knowledge easier and accessible. Health-related information is crucial to the nurse, patients, other allied health personnel and the public. An astute nurse or scholar must evaluate the content of a website for credibility before using the resources following a systematic approach. The criteria to be used when evaluating Web-based sources are, authority, information, objectivity, ease of navigation, privacy and security policies. (CCN, 2015). The criteria will be discussed later. The health-related website I choose to evaluate is the National Institutes of Health website. URL: www.nih.gov The purpose of this website is to support the mission of the NIH, and their mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. (nih.gov) The good thing about NIH website is that it can be located using many search engines like Google, yahoo, msn, AOL, mywebsearch, etc. NIH is a public domain image processing and analysis program for mackintosh. The software is located at http://rsb.info.nih.gov/nih-image/index.html My reasons for the selection of this website are: The NIH is one of the world’s foremost medical researchers and the focal point for medical research in the United States. (nih.gov). It comprises 27 separate...
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...The “In” Credible Web: Evaluating the Credibility of MedlinePlus Cecelia Chamberlain College of Nursing Course Number: NR 500 September 2012 The “In” Credible Web: Evaluating the Credibility of MedlinePlus Accessing health information via the Web has become the “In” thing. According to a 2010 survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 74% of all U.S. adults are using the Internet, and of those accessing the Web 80% are looking for health information (Fox, 2011). This paper will evaluate the credibility of MedlinePlus at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/. This website was located using the search engine Google and was chosen for its .gov domain. According to Brenner (2005), Web addresses ending in .gov, .edu or .org offer greater authority and are more reliable sources. MedlinePlus is a health information website produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). This site provides a wide variety of health and wellness topics as well as interactive tools designed to educate, inform, and guide consumers and medical professionals on health related issues (NLM, 2012). The following criteria; authority, information, and objectivity, ease of navigation, and privacy and security policies will be used to evaluate and identify MedlinePlus as a credible health information resource. Furthermore, implications to nursing practice will be discussed. Authority Authority is consistently identified in the literature as being of the upmost importance....
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...Evaluating Website Credibility Introduction The internet is the primary source individuals use when researching information including, but not limited to, medical information. The goal is to review the credibility of a website using five key criteria which are accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage (Colorado Community Colleges Online Library, 2015). For the purpose of the assignment, the website being evaluated by these five criteria is www.midwife.org which was found using the search engine Google that can be located by using the domain google.com. I chose this website because it provides accurate and up to date information in regards to the ever growing and evolving practice of midwifery both in the United States as well as other developed and underdeveloped countries. The full name of the website is the American College of Nurse-Midwives and the URL to locate this site is http://www.midwife.org/. The purpose of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, also known as the ACNM, is to “establish midwifery as the standard of care for women and to lead the profession through education, clinical practice, research, and advocacy.” (American College of Nurse-Midwives, 2015). Evaluation of Website In regards to the five criteria used to evaluate the credibility of websites, the ACNM meets all five of the criteria set forth. “The ACNM gets its national work done through the collaborative effort of its office staff and a vast network of volunteer representatives...
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...Evaluating a Website for Credibili Chamberlain College of Nursing NR500 January 8, 2016 Evaluating a Website for Credibility Receiving healthcare information for professional nurses and their patients is an important topic in today’s society. The term “just Google it” is as common as drinking a cup of morning coffee. This paper will evaluate the website Healthfinder.gov. This is a government website that provides access to disease management and tools to keep healthy. The website can be found by accessing Google.com and typing healthfinder in the search or by entering the domain name http://healthfinger.gov in the search engine browser. This paper will examine if this is a credible website to use as a professional nurse for reference material. I chose this site to review based on the wide array of healthcare topics found on this site. Characteristics of a Credible Website A website with authority helps determine if a site is credible. The site Healthfinder.gov identifies itself as a site that provides the latest health news that is evidence based. The site launched April 15, 1997 with the backing of the US government. This sites authority can be found by looking in the “about us” section. Dr. Wright is listed as the Chief Medical Advisor. His credentials of being a physician and his title of Deputy Assistant Secretary at the US Department of Health and Human Services provides authority for this site. In addition the two coordinator for the site, Office of Disease...
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...Website Credibility Introduction What distinguishes a website as a credible source? As the internet continues to grow as a source of knowledge for people, there needs to be a system in place for determining its accuracy and reliability. http://www.cdc.gov.htm is a website created by the Center for Disease Control and is intended to provide consumers with information pertaining to diseases, emergencies, disasters, environmental health, travelers health, healthy living, workplace safety and more. This website can easily be found via the Google search engine. The following will discuss this website and determine if it is credible. Authority Authority can be defined as “the extent to which material is the creation of a person or organization that is recognized as having definitive knowledge of a given subject area.” (Usher & Skinner, 2008). The CDC is recognized as an accredited institution whose material is based on sound, researched evidence. The CDC has been in existence for over 60 years and is a well-known institution. On the website the CDC speaks of its core values. These are described as accountability by which their services are based on: sound scientific research and integrity by which there is a promise to disseminate information based on high quality data (http://www.cdc.gov/about/organization/mission.htm). Information The completeness of website information is an important step in evaluating website credibility. If a consumer of the website is reading...
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...* Paraphrase Practice | Evaluating Internet Sources Definition: In a rapidly changing world, Internet technology allows researchers to access the most up–to–date, timely, relevant, and targeted information. Accurately determining the reliability, validity, and usefulness of Web sites is an essential skill to understand and master. Credibility of a website is always important, especially when doing academic research or writing academic papers. In fact, credibility is crucial in academia. As you may or may not know, anyone can post information on the Internet. BobJones.com written by Bob Jones might contain information about the Civil War, but how does the reader know that Bob is an expert on the Civil War? Accurately determining the reliability and validity of websites is an essential skill when deciding to use an Internet source in an academic paper. Use the following guidelines when searching Internet sources for information to use in an academic paper: * Use websites that are credible * Use the most current sources possible * Use sources accessed through a university library These elements are discussed in detail below. Questions to Determine Internet Reliability What is the extension? The Web site address usually includes “www” followed by a period (called a dot), followed by an extension name (also called a domain name). The reliability of a website can frequently be determined by the domain or extension name. The most reliable extensions include...
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...Identifying and Evaluating a Website for Credibility Lori M. Rankin Chamberlain College of Nursing NR500 MSN Foundational Concepts and Application Summer 2015 Introduction Identifying and Evaluating a Website for Credibility The Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) http://www.ahrq.gov is a website that provides a plethora of information. I was able to locate this website using the Google search engine. The purpose of this website is to enhance and provide guidelines for clinicians, impacts on health care, and knowledge of where products and tools are used. This site also lists tools of improving patient care. A credible website also provides quality of journals, peer-reviewed articles and systematic reviews. I chose this data base for best practice information on current issues. Analysis The ARHQ is a website with a search engine database that is owned and published by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. It provides information on evidenced-based practice, provides continuing education opportunities, explores treatment options and gives up to date information on latest news and events. ARHQ is not limited to healthcare providers but is also available to consumers and patients and is labeled for simple navigation. Additionally the website provides a link in Spanish. The website in Spanish is identical for the website in English. The category link for patients and consumers provides information such as “Questions To Ask Your Doctor...
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...world. There is extremely wide variety of material, different in its reliability, accuracy and value. No one has to approve the content before publishing like in more traditional form (books or magazines) and everyone can publish. Internet by its nature was designed to provide unrestricted information. There are no rules or standards as far as quality of information which writer can put on the internet are concerned. This information can be found in a large variety of kinds and was created for different purposes. Each of these different kinds and purposes has various levels of quality, credibility and reliability. Purpose of this report is to discuss how to assess validity of online information and most appropriate methods of evaluation. Discussion 1. Why to evaluate online information The nature of the web itself and the fact that anyone can publish or even change content of some websites means that excellent resources reside along the most dubious and these are the reasons why there is a need for evaluation. The main reasons why to evaluate can be categorized as follows: Lack of guidelines - there are no rules and standards setting the quality of the information Lack of monitoring - web sites are not subject of any critical evaluation, reviewing mechanism or...
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...world. There is extremely wide variety of material, different in its reliability, accuracy and value. No one has to approve the content before publishing like in more traditional form (books or magazines) and everyone can publish. Internet by its nature was designed to provide unrestricted information. There are no rules or standards as far as quality of information which writer can put on the internet are concerned. This information can be found in a large variety of kinds and was created for different purposes. Each of these different kinds and purposes has various levels of quality, credibility and reliability. Purpose of this report is to discuss how to assess validity of online information and most appropriate methods of evaluation. Discussion 1. Why to evaluate online information The nature of the web itself and the fact that anyone can publish or even change content of some websites means that excellent resources reside along the most dubious and these are the reasons why there is a need for evaluation. The main reasons why to evaluate can be categorized as follows: Lack of guidelines - there are no rules and standards setting the quality of the information Lack of monitoring - web sites are not subject of any critical evaluation, reviewing mechanism or any type of monitoring before they become part of the...
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...Evaluation of Websites Credibility The Alzheimer's Association Gwendolyn M. Spong Chamberlain College of Nursing NUR 500 The website I decided to investigate and assess on its credibility is the Alzheimer's Association site (http://www.alz.org). The Alz.org is a site which offers valuable information to those affected and their loved ones as well as extensive research in the hopes of eliminating this disease. I have taken care of many patients that suffer from dementia and they as well as their families have a special place in my heart; therefore I decided to take a closer look at the Alzheimer's Association website. I used Google search engine to find a government or organization website related to Alzheimer's and the number two result in my search was Alz.org. The domain of the website for Alz.org is the ending .org which indicates that the website is operated by an organization and more specifically the Alzheimer's Association is a non-profit organization (Roberts, 2010). This paper will evaluate the Alzheimer's Association websites credibility including the sites authority, information, objectivity, ease of navigation, privacy and security policies; in addition, it will cover reasons for professional nurses to assess information on the internet and how the information from the website can be helpful to them. Today anybody has the ability to create a website and have their thoughts and opinions displayed to the public, however, we have to ask ourselves is the information...
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...Evaluating a Website for Credibility: KidsHealth NR500 Foundational Concepts and Application Evaluation of a Websites Credibility: KidsHealth In today’s world of medicine when developing a patient care plan nurses should use evidence-based practice that has been peer-reviewed by subject matter experts (Miller, Jones, Graves, & Sievert 2010). The internet is frequently used by nurses to gather more information, expand their knowledge base, and provide patient education. The website http://kidshealth.org was found using the Google search engine, and chosen because of my work with the pediatric population. The purpose of KidsHealth is to provide parents, teens, and kids with a resource to consult regarding the health, nutrition, and development of children. The parent section of Kids Health can be located at http://kidshealth.org/parent/. Authority and Objectivity KidsHealh is sponsored by The Nemours Foundation; Nemours is a Children’s Health System with locations in Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania (Nemours A Children’s Health System, 2014). Contact numbers are not available on KidsHealth, but can be found through accessing The Nemours Health System link at the bottom of the website. The URL for Nemours is http://nemours.org and contact numbers of clinics, hospitals, and the departments of health and advocacy, fundraising, and research are available. Comments can be submitted on website regarding the functionality and content of KidsHealth...
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...Evaluating Website Credibility Evaluating the credibility of a website is extremely important, especially when it can impact a person’s health. I have chosen a dot gov domain, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mission is “to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the US” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). The search engine utilized to find the CDC website was Google.com. The domain where the CDC is located is cdc.gov and the URL is http://www.cdc.gov. When selecting a website, I wanted a site that was relevant to my specialty and well known for informing the community on current health issues. Analysis of the Website Analysis of the CDC website shows they utilize many experts in a variety of fields from Medical doctors to masters and doctoral degree researchers. Experts’ credentials are clearly listed at the end of articles and the CDC stands behind the information placed on the website. Since the CDC is a government agency they are legally held accountable for the quality of information that they disburse including videos, webpages, brochures, and research papers. The organization uses peer review for all articles published and has a policy for correcting any inaccurate written or online information. Also they can be contacted multiple ways including a physical address, phone number, and email address. Information on the CDC website is frequently updated and all webpages and articles have...
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...COM10003 Learning and Communicating Online Assessment 3: Reflective essay This essay will discuss how my use of online information has grown from being merely a consumer, to now being able to critically evaluate online sources for credibility and suitability for use in academic work. My role in producing an online informational resource has been enhanced by both the readings, and the experience gained in the collaborative process involved in working as a team. This is my first experience at online collaboration and I will examine the challenges encountered using this medium of communication, how I dealt with them, the lessons learned, and what I would do differently during future collaborative work. Before this course, my experience with online sources of information had been limited to an observer status, and although I had read from a variety of sources online, and considered myself capable of sorting truth from fiction, I had never realised the extent to which information can and should be evaluated. A study conducted by Scholz-Crane 1998 (cited in Metzger, 2007, pp. 2080-2081) explains that a lax attitude toward proving the accuracy and credibility of websites is prevalent among college students. This information has encouraged me to be more critical in regard to information found on the web, and I now apply the criteria espoused by Tate, (2010, pp. 35-36) of checking for accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency and coverage. According to Treise et al (2003, cited in...
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