| NHES
SKILLS
Accessing
Information
Accessing information
is a basic skill. It means "knowing how to find correct information
about health and knowing how to choose a health-related product or service".
A student demonstrates appropriate application of this skill when he / she
identifies the information source and can defend it as a reliable way to
get correct information; uses a variety of sources and shows them to be
reliable", and when the student demonstrates knowing where to go to
get help to solve problems. Some examples of activities that help to build
this skill include research projects, surveys, and reports. (from: Assessing
Health Literacy: A Guide to Portfolios).
Identifying
Valid Sources for Information
To make wise decisions about health, students must be able to access
valid sources of information-sources that will provide accurate information
about health and health-promoting products and services. Students may have
had practice in evaluating printed sources of information, where publication
dates, authors and place of publication are clearly listed. However, the
vastness and accessibility of the Internet requires some additional criteria.
Anyone can post anything on the Net, so the ability to access information
and evaluate sources becomes even more critical.
Internet
Information
The URL, or address, of a Website provides some information about the
host of the site. Commercial organizations have URLs that end in ".com."
Community organizations, such as the American Heart Association and the
American Cancer Society, usually have URLs that end in ".org."
The URLs for government agencies end in ".gov," and the URLs for
educational organizations, such as colleges, end in ".edu."
These designations
can provide an initial clue to the value of the site. Commercial sites are
usually trying to sell a product. Depending on the product they're selling,
they may or may not be trustworthy. For example, sites hosted by tobacco
companies are unlikely to provide the real truth about tobacco. If the site
is hosted by an organization, what is the organization's purpose? Sources
such as the Encyclopedia of Associations (which can be found in the library)
may provide more information about the organization that sponsors a Website.
The dates the
site was created and revised offer clues about how current the information
is likely to be. If no dates are posted, clicking on any listed links may
indicate how current the site is. If the links have expired, the site probably
has not been updated in a while. Up-to-date information may not be important
for all research. For example, current information is important when researching
new tobacco laws, but less crucial to a report on the history of tobacco
use.
Information
about the author of the content of the site also provides clues about the
validity of the information. Do the author's credentials suggest that he
or she is qualified to provide information on the topic? Does the Website
include contact information for the author? If not, you may be able to contact
the Webmaster by e-mail to check the author's credentials. If an author
or Webmaster is not listed, look for another site for information. Knowing
who is providing the information is a vital component in evaluating its
validity.
Web-Links:
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