Finding Reliable Information on the Internet

When researching a topic or looking for reliable sources to use for an academic or professional paper there are a few things that should be considered before determining if the article is valid and reliable. Evaluating these sources will help determine the purpose of the article, the audience like who is the author speaking to, the context of the article, and the author. Reliable sources are sources that provide information that the reader believes to be true. In this paper, the topic that I have chosen to research reliable sources is communicable and non-communicable diseases and the prevention and control of these diseases. I will be addressing three internet sites that I believe to be reliable and appropriate for academic use and one site that is unreliable.

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One of the articles I found while researching my topic of choice which is provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after reading this article I found it to be a reliable source as well as useful for someone who is trying to get a better understanding of this disease. In the 2017 article “Synergies between Communicable and Noncommunicable Disease (NCD) Programs to Enhance Global Health Security” the authority which happens to be an organization provides valuable information about this topic. While reading the article I found that the author is an expert on this topic and is very knowledgable. I consider this site to be very useful and believable. The reason being is that the purpose of the article is to inform and also educate one about the disease and also the role of NCD Prevention and Control in Global Health Security. A student or professional worker will find this article to be very credible and will be able to benefit from using this site as the authors make their intentions clear at the very beginning and also provides a plethora of facts and statistics.

Another article that I find to be a reliable source that is provided by the American Public Health Association is “Communicable Diseases”. The intended audience for this article is uninformed. This type of audience is kind of unfamiliar with the topic discussion at hand they know a little information but not very knowledgable about the topic. The information is provided in this article is relevant to the research of my topic as is discusses what communicable diseases are and how to help prevent and control the spread of this disease. It also educates the reader on different types of communicable diseases and how they are spread, what to do to prevent, and background history of the disease. The information seems pretty accurate in this article as well as I have researched other articles and peer-reviewed articles and have found the majority of the information to be the same. I consider this article to be useful because it educates the reader on different diseases, how you can prevent the spread of disease, while also provides the background and basic knowledge of the disease.

In the 2013 article “Socioeconomic Inequalities in Non-Communicable Diseases Prevalence in India: Disparities between Self-Reported Diagnoses and Standardized Measures” I found this article to be a reliable article. The only issue would be is that the information has not been updated in the article within the past 6 years. I consider this article to be very useful and believable because it provides so much information on this topic that it will allow the reader to become very knowledgeable and will also be able to help educate others who may not be very educated on this topic. It provides data and methods, statistical analysis, results, and disparities everything that a reader needs to be able to conduct proper research on this topic. The information is provided at an appropriate level and the authors do make their intentions very clear while their purpose is to solely inform and teach the readers about communicable and non – communicable diseases.

An unreliable source is a source where information that is stated is not believed to be true. The unreliable source that I found is provided by science daily. The article is called “Cancer now leading cause of death in high-income countries – while heart disease burden persists in low-income and middle-income countries”. When researching my topic this article was one of the articles that came up. This article does not provide any evidence or supporting details about communicable and non – communicable diseases and the prevention and control of the disease. The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with information on common disease incidence, hospitalization and death, and modifiable cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged adults across 21 countries (Lancet, 2019). A reader will not be able to trust this site as a reliable source due to the face that no accurate information was found in the article that focused on the research topic that was chosen. It will leave the reader questioning themselves about what it is the issue that this article is discussing.

Consequently, it is very important to use a credible source in an academic research paper because the audience will expect you to back up your assertions with credible evidence (What does, 2019). Reliable sources provide well-reasoned theories, discussions, an argument, and is based on strong evidence. Moreover, using evidence that does not come from a credible source of information will not convince the readers that the claim is correct.

References

Association, A. P. H. (2018, August). Communicable Disease. Retrieved from https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/communicable-disease

Kostova, D., Husain, M. J., Sugerman, D., Hong, Y., Saraiya, M., Keltz, J., & Asma, S. (2017, December). Synergies between Communicable and Noncommunicable Disease Programs to Enhance Global Health Security – Volume 23, Supplement-December 2017 – Emerging Infectious Diseases journal – CDC. Retrieved from https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/13/17-0581_article

Lancet. (2019, September 3). Cancer now leading cause of death in high-income countries – while heart disease burden persists in low-income and middle-income countries. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190903084037.htm

McKenzie, J. F., Pinger, R. R., & Seabert, D. M. (2016). An Introduction to Community & Public Health (9th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Vellakkal, S., Subramanian, S. V., Millett, C., Basu, S., Stuckler, D., & Ebrahim, S. (2013, July 15). Socioeconomic Inequalities in Non-Communicable Diseases Prevalence in India: Disparities between Self-Reported Diagnoses and Standardized Measures. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0068219

What Does Credibility Mean? – Finding Credible Sources. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/evaluatingsourcecredibility/for-students/what-does-credibility-mean