1. Danielle Carlock
d.carlock@scottsdalecc.edu
480 425 6765

2.  Ads
 Infomercials
 Talk shows
 Magazines
 Friends
 Internet
How can you tell what information is reliable?

3. CHECKLIST FOR EVALUATING A NUTRITION WEBSITE
Apparent conflicts of interest
Does the website allow advertising? Yes No
-If yes, does the owner/sponsor market (a) specific product(s)? Yes No
-If yes, is the owner/sponsor the inventor/creator of the product? Yes No
-If yes, be very wary of any health information that may be provided and cross check with other more reliable sources.
Claims
Is a quick fix promised? Yes No
Does it sound too good to be true? Yes No
Are testimonials or anecdotes used as evidence? Yes No
-If yes to any of the above, be very wary of any health information that may be provided and cross-check with other more reliable sources
Credibility
What domain does the site belong to?
Is this an individual's site? Yes No
If so, does the person list any qualifications in nutrition (preferred is a RD or LN degree/certification)? Yes No
If this is the website of an organization, does it appear to be legitimate? Yes No
-If no, be very wary of any health information that may be provided and cross-check with other more reliable sources
References
Is a list of references in support of the website's opinions provided? Yes No
If yes, are they relevant to the health topic being covered? Yes No
Are the references from reliable sources? Yes No
-If no, is any other valid evidence presented that supports the opinions that are presented? Yes No
-If no, be very wary of any health information that may be provided and cross check with other more reliable sources.
Content
Does the website cover the health issue(s) adequately? Yes No
Does the website have a professional appearance? Yes No
Are there more than a few grammatical errors? Yes No
Is the information presented in a consistent manner? Yes No
Are there contradictions? Yes No
Are readers advised to contact a health professional with questions? Yes No
Is the information current? Yes No
Overall impression about the trustworthiness of this website:
•Good -Accept almost all of the material that is presented.
•Fair - Accept some material, but exclude:
Poor - Do not accept any of the material

4.  Each pair of students will be given two
nutrition sites to evaluate using the checklist.
 Then several pairs (depending on time) will be
asked to share their results

5.  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-
loss/HQ01160
 http://www.weightlosswand.com/weight/chr
omium-weight.html

6.  http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB12-
HealthProfessional/ v
 http://products.mercola.com/vitamin-b12-
spray/

7.  http://www.vitaminworld.com/stress-anxiety-
support-766/valerian-root-extract-001328
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Valerian-
HealthProfessional/

8.  Evidence is based on research
 Research undergoes peer review
 Research is published in scholarly journals

9.  A process done by many scholarly journals when
considering the publication of research articles
 Expert reviewers (peers) evaluate the article’s
methodology, merit, and overall unique
contribution to research in a specific discipline
PRIOR to publication
 In the health sciences, peer review is almost
universal when it comes to primary research
published in the journal literature
 Why is this important?

10.  Written for researchers & scholars in a field
 Primary purpose is to disseminate research
results
 May also contain:
 Editorials, Job announcements, book reviews
 Follow a regular and recurrent publication
pattern (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc)

11.  Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and
Dietetics
 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
 Journal of the American College of Nutrition
 Journal of Nutrition

12.  Present the findings/results of a research study
 The authors of the article are the persons who
conducted the research-i.e primary
 The article will include: why, how, what
 Typically published in scholarly journals &
undergo peer review
 An example

13.  Besides research, you may also find the following in peer
review journals:
 News articles
 Letters
 Editorials
 Book reviews
 Job announcements
 Obituaries of prominent members of the field
****However none of these are peer reviewed****

14.  Magazine and newspaper articles are not
considered scholarly
 They are not peer reviewed
 If they report on research, it is research done by
others (i.e. secondary)
 Example

15. Scholarly (Peer reviewed, Popular (Magazines,
research) Newspapers)
Primary-Reporting on research Secondary-may report on the
directly from those who carried it research of others
out
Written by scholars/researchers in Written by staff writers
a field
Typically has introduction, No formal sections
methods, results, & discussion
sections
Contains a works cited Rarely contains a works cited
Lots of technical jargon Written in plain language

16.  Specialized search engines that find
magazine, newspaper, and journal articles
 Some are multi-subject and others focus on a
specific discipline
 For nutrition, the mostly common used are
Medline and CINAHL

17.  Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health
 Contains articles in nursing and fields such as
nutrition, audiology, physical therapy, respiratory
therapy, etc
 750 journals
 1 million citations back to 1937

18.  World’s premier medical/health science database
 Articles from all health fields: medicine, nursing,
dentistry, exercise science, veterinary medicine,
allied health, etc.
 4800 journals
 Over 19 million citations back to 1940

19.  We now have a “meta” search engine that
searches CINAHL, Medline and our other
databases at once.
 It is on the library homepage and it’s called
the “search all” box