Internet Tips
A Guide to Evaluating World Wide Web Sites
The World Wide Web (WWW) can be an excellent information resource for health-related documents. However, the increased use of the Web as well as the ease of Web page publication, has created concerns about the quality of health-related information found on the Internet.
Identifing reliable, scientifically sound, and safe information, among the wealth of resources available on the Internet, can be a problem. The challenge for the searcher shifts from one of quantity to one of quality. Evaluation of health-related Web sites can help reduce the dissemination of misleading, inaccurate, and false health information.
Since there is no governing body or authority that evaluates or reviews the documents that exist on the Web, it will be up to each individual to do this evaluation. The information seeker will need to ask a number of questions about electronic information in order to judge its value and usefulness.
Important guidelines to consider while evaluating the quality of information on the internet are:
Content---Is the information:
- accurate
- factual
- current
- comprehensive
- referenced
- disguised advertising
Authorship---Does the producer of the site have:
- credentials
- qualifications
- accountability
- conflicts of interest
- sponsorship
Purpose---Is the purpose of the information to:
- explain
- inform
- persuade (sell)
Design---Does the site have good:
- organization
- navigation
- style
- graphics
- clarity
- links
- access for all users
Disclosure---Do they ask for your name:
The following links provide evaluation criteria to help you critically judge the health-related information you will find on the World Wide Web.
Tips on Evaluating Web Resources from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine:
URL: http://www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov/gmr/publish/eval.html
Information Quality Tool: a list of questions with a scoring mechanism to rate a website:
URL: http://hitiweb.mitretek.org/iq/default.asp
Evaluating Medical Information on the World W ide Web from the Education Department of UCDHSC Health Sciences Library:
URL: http://hsclibrary.uchsc.edu/education/evaluating.php
