LibGuides: Psychology: Citing Web Pages

Evaluating Health Information Online

It's important to evaluate all information you find online and to take the time to investigate a website before using as a source for research. You can use these suggestions for almost any type of resource or web page but since there are many false or misleading sites online about health and mental health, we are going to focus on those.

Consider the following:

Audience - Who is the information written for? Sites like WebMD.com or MayoClinic.org are written for consumers; people who do not work in the health care field. The information here is simplified and easy for the average person to read. It will not contain the specifics, data and evidence needed to thoroughly answer a question for a formal research assignment. Stick with sites that are written for professionals in the field. For example, if you're working on an assignment for pharmacology, the Food & Drug Administration website will have a lot of expert research on medication. The National Institute of Mental Health have expert research on mental health related topics.
Mission - Is the site there to inform you or to try to get you to buy a product, diet, etc. Look for the About Us section on a website to learn about who runs the site and what their purpose is. For example, the American Cancer Society's website exists to help raise awareness and provide information on cancer.
Funding - The About Us section will also tell you who pays for the site. If a site is run by a corporation and contains many ads, think carefully about whether or not the site may be biased or trying to sell you something. Publicly funded sites, such as the National Institute of Health or CDC provide information without the expectation of making money.
Credibility - The About Us section will also tell you who is providing the content on the site and whether or not they are experts in that area. A person writing about their experience with depression is not the same as a psychologist writing about depression. Also look to see if the author of the website cites their sources and if they are citing credible sources.
Dates - Be sure to check the dates on research and information to be sure you are reading about the most current treatments or practices.

For some great practice evaluating sites, check out this tutorial from Medline.

Web Site Vs Online Journal Article

When citing your sources or making your reference page, it's important to know what type of source you're using. Students often get confused when using a journal article that they find online. It's online, but it's not cited the same as a website. Here's how to tell the difference.

At first glance, the page below looks like a regular website. It's from americannursetoday.com and it has a lot of advertisements and doesn't look like a lot of journal articles you may have seen. But we need to look a little closer.

At the top, in smaller print, it says that this is the official journal of the American Nurses Association. And if we look below the title, Stopping Sexual Harassment & Violence Against Nurses, we can see that it lists a volume and issue, which is typical for journal articles. This is a journal article and we would cite it like a journal article, not a website.

Let's look at one more. What do you think, online journal article or website? How would you cite it?

There isn't anything on this page that says it's a journal, but if you were to click on the image that says PCN, it would take you to a page that explains that this is a journal and would provide more information. On the right side of the screen we also see the volume, issue and page numbers. This would be cited as a journal article. Did you get it right?