Health Topics
Official websites use .gov
A
.gov website belongs to an official government
organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A
lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to
the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official,
secure websites.
Evaluating Internet Health Information Tutorial
The first step to evaluating internet health information is to find out who is managing the site (the provider) and why (the purpose).
Let's begin with the Physicians Academy for Better Health site.
Physicians Academy for Better Health sounds like a very reliable site. But you can't go by the name alone.
To find out who created the site and why, look for the "About" or "About Us" link. On some sites, the "About" or "About Us" link may be located at the bottom of the homepage in the footer or at the top in the header. This is the first stop in the search for clues about a website's reliability.
It should say who is managing the website, and why. A mission or values statement often includes this information.
On the "About Us" page, we learn that the organization's mission, or purpose, is to "educate the public on disease prevention and healthy living."
Now we know the purpose of the Physician's Academy for Better Health website. Let's see if their "About Us" page tells us who is providing the information.