Evaluating Research Resources
4 Points
Information on health topics is everywhere. Unfortunately, not all the available health information is RELIABLE, AUTHORITATIVE, UP-TO-DATE, or HELPFUL.
To find information that addresses your project, you'll be tempted to start with a Web search. You'll enter what you imagine is an appropriate search term in Google, Yahoo, Bing, or other search tool, and then you'll confront having to wade through a list of thousands or millions of links (Google-ing "weight loss" produces about 200 million hits) to find one(s) that you think will be helpful. Life is only so long, however, so you cannot check every link.
Before you search the Web, check out this list of helpful resources
USE THESE CRITERIA TO EVALUATE EACH RESOURCE. Best resources have a score greater than 8.
1 point if the information is scientific/objective rather than personal/editorial
1 point if the author/contributor is named.
1 point if the authors'/contributor's background/qualifications are given.
1 point if the author/contributors is highly qualified as a provider of the content.
1 point if additional resources are provided, including references to support the content.
1 point if the content producers can be contacted with questions and feedback
2 points if the information is not older than 5 years. Check for a copyright date, date of publication, or "last modified" statement for a Web page.
1 point if the purpose for presenting the information is educational and not to sell something other than the information, as for a book. If a Web site, look for "Mission" or "About" links.
1 point if financial support for producing the information is stated or obvious and does not influence content.
Total points:
What is your evaluation of this resource?