AHIMA Library Research Resources

Evaluating what you find

• Evaluating web sites - Consider the source, for example, ascertain what kind of a website you are visiting (.com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov).   Information on the internet is of varying quality and authority. One of the first things you can do if you have searched the web and gathered information from web sites is to look at the URL of the website. URLs that end with the extension .gov or .edu or generally considered to be reliable resources. URLs that end with the extension .org are also considered reliable, but you need to take into consideration who and what the organization represents. For websites where the URL ends with the extension .net or .com, you need to apply a little more scrutiny. Evaluating Web Pages is a good guide to some of the things you might want to look for.

• Peer review - Articles that have been reviewed by experts in the field prior to publication are generally considered to have met a certain standard of quality. The list of core HIM periodicals indicates whether the contents of the publications are peer-reviewed or refereed. Some databases, for example Proquest, allow you to limit your search results to items that are either considered scholarly or articles that have gone through peer-review.

• Consider the source - Some foundations, think tanks, and research institutes have a definite political slant. That doesn't mean that the content is not good or valid, but it is always a good idea to keep the author's perspective in mind.

Additional resources for evaluating what you find:

A User's Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health Information on the Web (Medical Library Association)

Evaluating Web Pages (Berkeley)

Critical Evaluation of Resources (Berkeley)

Evaluating Web Sites (Cornell)

Wikipedia: Researching with Wikipedia

Citing Wikipedia 

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