CREDIBILITY
Determining A Website’s Credibility
Jessica Scott
Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts
Abstract
This paper showcases the many ways you can use to determine if a website is credible. It is important to know how to do this because you do not want to rely on information that may not be true. You also should pay attention to whether or not a website is secure when doing things like online shopping, so you can avoid fraud and identity theft. There are two major things you can look for to tell if a website is secure and they are discussed below. This paper aims to answer the question: What makes a website credible and how do we know we are safe on the internet?
Determining A Website’s Credibility
The internet is viewed as the most resourceful tool and technology in the world. Without the use of technology, communication would be limited to using mail for delivery and encyclopedias for research. Although technology has improved the way we communicate and find information for research, the information is not always valid. Unfortunately, for those of us who use the internet for shopping, research, or reading articles of personal interest the information is not treated the same as a magazine or book. While such literature is reviewed by an editorial staff, internet literature or information can be published by anyone. So exactly how do we determine a website’s credibility? In the following paragraphs I will be explaining how I broke down several websites to determine just how credible they are.
Website #1
This website was used for an academic paper regarding why hands wrinkle with prolonged bathing. This article was published on January 11, 2013 by a news radio website called NPR.org. In this article they transcribe a segment from a radio show where this subject was discussed. There were no resources stated anywhere in this article or anywhere on the webpage itself. This was the first red flag for me because if the information being given was credible there would be resources cited supporting their information. They did refer to a Neurologist by the name of Einar Wilder Smith who shared with them his opinions on this subject. Upon my own research I was able to verify that he is a certified Neurologist. However, there was nothing linking him to a study regarding this issue. They also did not mention any other doctors that would support the theories of Dr. Smith. Overall I felt this article was very vague and opinion based.
Website #2
This website was used for an academic paper regarding the safety of smoking tobacco over using hookah. This website is owned by the government, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be exact. This website is extremely thorough and lists all references, as well as stating which reference goes to which statement. I went to each reference website which proved to be credible sources, and all recently updated. I did not find any dead links. Dead links are website links that no longer exist. If there is a webp...
