Finding Reliable Health Resources on the Web

A Do Well Be Well Course from the Texas AgriLife Extension Service

Section III – Putting It Together: Searching the Web for Reliable Health Resources

There are many benefits to learning about health problems on the Internet. For one thing, the information you find can make doctor’s visits more effective because you can provide your doctor with a more accurate picture of problems you are having. You can also use the information you find to do better follow-up care for health problems you doctor tells you about.

Learning about health problems on the Internet also helps with disease prevention and it keeps people from wasting health care dollars on worthless treatments.

In the last section, you learned how to use search engines and keywords to help you search. In this section, you will learn how to sort through the information you find to get to the good stuff.

Once you have typed your keywords into your favorite search engine, you can take a look at some key information in the results to tell you whether or not a site is worth your time.

One of the big things to check is the domain name. The domain name is the “address” you see for a site. It usually starts with “http://” and ends with an extension like “.com” or “.org”. These extensions can be your first clue.

Some domain names (like “.com” and “.org”) are unrestricted. This means that anyone can put up a website with this extension without having the content checked.

However, some reliable websites do have unrestricted extensions. For example, the American Cancer Society’s website is http://www.cancer.org. You cannot totally discount a site because it has an unrestricted extension, but you do need to be more careful when looking at it.

On the other hand, a restricted domain name (like “.edu” or “.gov”) can only be used by certain organizations.

For example, only educational institutions like public schools and universities can put up a website with a “.edu” extension. And, only government organizations can use “.gov”.

So, when you see an extension that is restricted, you can usually say that it has passed the first reliability test and you can actually look at the page to see if it has what you want.

Unrestricted domains Restricted domains
  • .com
  • .info
  • .name
  • .net
  • .org
  • .edu
  • .gov
  • .mil
  • .biz
  • .museum

Another thing to look for is a group or agency that you recognize. Some organizations (like the American Cancer Society and the American Diabetes Association) are well respected and have content that can be trusted.

But, if you do go to a page that looks like it belongs to an organization that you recognize, be sure to check out more than just the top page. Some groups will make themselves look like a recognizable organization on the top and then wait until you are farther into the site to spring something on you.

A reliable health website usually meets these three guidelines:

  • It is not trying to sell you anything
  • It has been recently updated (most links work)
  • It has sponsorship and contact information that is easy to find

You can also use the Internet to find out if all of those scary emails you get are true. To find out about “urban legends” and potential hoaxes, visit:

For more information, please take a look at our Health Hints Newsletter on Finding Reliable Health Information on the Web.

Enrichment Activities:

  • Use one of the websites listed above to find out if people really steal kidneys to use for transplants.
  • Use a search engine to find 5 reliable resources related to high blood pressure.
  • Use a search engine to find one reliable and one unreliable resource related to quitting smoking.

 

Continue to Section IV: Conclusion

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Last updated: 26 July, 2010

Educational programs of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, or national origin.