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Research 101: Evaluating Information on the Internet: Authority

Find out how to avoid a catastrophe when you engage with a web site!

You want to find information that is authoritative--coming from someone who should know what they're talking about!  

What exactly do we mean by authority? - Authority can be understood as the recognized evidence of having the appropriate knowledge & qualifications to be considered an expert on a given topic. Someone can be considered an authoritative source for information on a given topic; an organization or source itself may be considered authoritative if ithas shown itself to be proven accurate and reliable in the past and backs that respect with evidence of that uathority..

Getting Something That's Authoritative - What You Can Do

checkmark  Identify who the author is

checkmark Determine as much as you can about the author's level of expertise regarding the subject matter

checkmarkIdentify what organization is responsible for the whole website and/or is sponsoring the web site or research

Tip: If there is no author listed, then look for the organization, i.e., corporate author, that is responsible for the content. You will then need to determine how authoritative that organization is concerning the topic of the content you are reading.

Face looking down and smilingGetting Something Authoritative: What to Look For

checkmarkAre the author's credentials provided? (Degrees, certifications, etc.)

checkmark Can you verify the author's credentials elsewhere?

checkmark What does the organization do? Why?

Take the Challenge!

Now take a closer look and see if you can answer the following questions. Click on the question to view the answer

Did you spot the name of the author and/or reviewer? Look at the bottom of the page.

It's updated by Updated by: Fred K. Berger, MD; and it has reviewers, too:David Zieve, MD, MHA, Isla Ogilvie, PhD, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

Both Berger and Zieve are medical doctors. Zieve also has an MHA, and Ogilvie a PhD

:

But what is an MHA, and what id Ogilvie's PhD in?

And can these be verified? Yes! A few Google searches come up with the following official websites that verify their credentials:

  • https://www.scripps.org/physicians/5864-fred-berger?tab=overview
  • http://blog.hayesinc.com/author/david-zieve-md-mha-medical-director<.li>
  • https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Isla-Ogilvie/1097365048

A search for MHA certification in Google, we can find out that it is a Master in Healthcare Administration, which doesn't really apply to the content of insomnia.

And it is very difficult to find what Ogilvie's PhD is in.

When we search in Google for the name of each of these individuals and look at where they work and what they do, we do not find any of them specializing in insomnia unfortunately.

  • According to a blog post, as well as his current position, Zieve appears to be focused on administration rather than health conditions.
  • We do not find Berger to be a sleep doctor, but rather an addiction and forensic psychiatrist.
  • According to Olgivie's LinkedIn profile, she is a health consultant.
Two organizations are associated with this content. At the bottom of the web page, we notice A.D.A.M., and at the top of the web page, we notice the U.S. National Library of Medicine. A.D.A.M., Inc.is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission. Both seem authoritative organizations in the field of medicine, so we know at least that this is not a fake site.

This content appears on a reputable medical website and has been updated and reviewed by medical doctors, but they don't appear to specialize in this content. Bottom Line: While this site is fairly good, you probably should look elsewhere for more authoritative content IF we evaluated this content only by the authority of the authors.

But wait! There's more to look at. Documentation is another criterion for evaluating, and if you look at the references--the sources cited at the end of the page--you'll find some more authoritative voices there. So if you needed just some basic information on insomnia, this might work. If the information on insomnia were more detailed and in-depth, again, you might want to look elsewhere.