ESSAY WRITING SAMPLE: CRITERIA FOR WEBSITES REVIEW

Sample by My Essay Writer

Criteria are standards or tests by which people compare or judge things or individuals based on them. Website criteria, thus, refers to the standards or tests a website is expected to meet so as to be viewed as being comprehensive. There are currently very many sets of criteria about websites depending on the expectations of the people developing or using the website. Some websites owners are mainly concerned with aesthetics, for instance those websites involved with advertisements. Some website owners, however, do not only focus on how their websites look but more on what they are trying to accomplish (Turban, 2016). This paper, thus, explores a set of criteria which is acceptable to the general public for a website about diseases and disorders.

For my case, I chose a set of three criteria for National Institute of Mental Health website giving information about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which is a disorder typical of behavioral symptoms associated with inactiveness, impulsiveness and hyperactivity (Asherson, 2013). The three criteria are outlined as follows; authority, prevalence and accuracy. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder being a disease condition, which to my view is a problem to mankind, ought to be addressed well with no misinformation. As a result I came up with the set of criteria highlighted above wishing the public could agree with me on my view about this (Asherson, 2013).

The first criterion is authority which tells us whether the individual, institution or organization owning the website has the qualifications and knowledge to pass the given information on their site. This, thus, means websites giving information about diseases and disorders should be owned by individuals or agencies with vast knowledge in the medical field. For instance a website about a given disease cannot just be written by a journalist who could be trying to make fun out of the issue.[Click Essay Writer to order your essay]

When evaluating a website for authority check the website for authorship which will give us the information about who developed the website. Clearly cross-examine the website’s contact information, for instance, phone numbers, email addresses and if possible fax number. Also check for credentials of the author which includes qualifications and whether they have got authority to present that particular information. For this case, the individual should have some qualifications in the medical field or health sector. Lastly, check if the website is supported by any medical organization or any health organization.[Need an essay writing service? Find help here.]

Accuracy of the information is crucial to the reader. This refers to the overall information giving the exact known facts about the disease or topic. However, challenges arise when verifying the accuracy of the information. It therefore calls for the reader to work it out by themselves while considering some of the following; reliability based on the credentials of the writer, whether the references are in line with statistics and even the retrieved information can be compared to other sites or sources and is similar. One could also check if the text follows the simple rules of grammar and whether the writer included a reference or bibliography list.

Prevalence is another important criterion. It tells the reader about how often the website is updated and how current the information in question is. The medical field is known for the many and extensive researches being conducted worldwide. It therefore means that the information about most diseases and their treatment has changed over time.  Checking for the date the information was first written and published on the website and the last time it was reviewed is very important to the public. If posted information dates back to many years with no reviews done, it would be considered to be unreliable.  [“Write my essay for me?” Get help here.]

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is an agency of the United States government which is charged with health-related research and specializes mainly in mental health (NIMH, 2016). This therefore guaranties the website the authority to publish information on mental illnesses. ADHD is among the many mental disorders and so the website performs the first criterion which is authority. At the end of the website, there is contact information, staff directories and even policies. The website is also supported by such organizations as the US government, twitter, Facebook and even Google plus.

The criterion about the prevalence is also performed by the website. From the website one can see that the last time this information about ADHD was revised was on March 2016, which means that the information could have been updated with any new findings from research or any other sources (NIMH, 2016). Based on the bibliography list provided by a link below the website, one can notice that the years of publication do not go beyond 2015, implying that the information provided is current.

The website also meets the criterion on accuracy. National Institute of Mental Health being the author of the website gives the person reading this information confidence that the information could be reliable.  Information on the website observes the simple rules of grammar, meaning that the information was checked and reviewed before being presented on the website. Also the writer of the article has included a list of references which includes journals and other publications. These references are also relevant to the topic in question since they are about research on mental disorders.

Criteria of websites is an important tool that every reader or user of the internet should employ. Criteria however vary from individual depending on what they are looking for on the internet. Individuals doing research would be concerned more with the quality of the information. Those involved with advertisements would go for the aesthetics of the website.

References

NIMH. (2016). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

NIMH. (2016). Citing NIMH Information and Publications.

Turban, E., & Turban, E. (2006). Information technology for management: Transforming organizations in the digital economy. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons.

Asherson, P. (2013). Handbook for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults. Tarporley: Springer