Finding information on the internet
There is so much information available on the internet. How can I tell what is reliable information?
You are right that there is a great deal of information on the internet. There are millions of websites out there and more are being added all the time. The size and scope of the internet means it’s a great place to find information.
But anyone can set up a website and put up information that looks official and reliable. This makes it difficult to distinguish between what is good, reliable information and what isn’t.
We have listed below some general pointers below to help you
The internet address of a website can tell you about its reliability even before you have visited the site. Internet addresses ending in the following letters generally belong to non commercial organisations
- .gov
- .ac
- .gov.uk
- .ac.uk
Most websites whose addresses end in the letters below belong to charities and public sector organisations. But they are also available for commercial use
- .org
- .org.uk
The endings below are for commercial sites
- .co.uk
- .com
- .net
While a reliable website may have an internet address ending in any of these, it is worth remembering than anyone can buy these addresses. A website ending in .com could belong to anyone from a commercial organisation to your next door neighbour, so it’s best to be careful.
Reliable websites containing factual information should always include a note about when the information was last updated or reviewed. This will normally be at the bottom of each page. For example, if you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you should see the text 'last updated' with a date next to it.
This is not quite so important on websites about personal experiences, or on online community sites which provide their users with moral support. But if a site claims to contain accurate information about a medical treatment, for example, it should be specific about its information being accurate and up to date. Even if the actual information doesn’t change, reliable websites will still review the information and include the review date on the page.
It is important to know that the 'last updated' text on some websites (not this one) changes automatically each day or month without the website authors making any changes to the page. If you are not sure if the information on a website is current, contact whoever runs the website to ask what their updating policy is.
As we’ve said, anyone can put information on the internet. So it is important to find out who has written a site and whether they are qualified to do so. This is particularly important with medical information. These are some of the questions you might want to ask
- Are the writers recognised authorities in this information, for example, do they have qualifications?
- If not, has someone qualified checked the information?
- Is the information research based, or is it just the writer’s opinion?
- How do the writers decide what to base their information on?
- Is the information on their site in line with that on other reliable sites?
- Are they just providing information, or is the site trying to sell you something?
The answers to these questions may be found in the website’s editorial policy, or on its 'about us' page. Again, if in doubt, contact the site and ask.
Accreditation means that an organisation completely independent of the website has declared that it is reliable and trustworthy. To do this, they look in detail at how the website puts its information together and keeps it up to date. CancerHelp UK is accredited by the Department of Health's Information Standard.
When a website is accredited, there is usually a logo for the scheme on the site. You should be able to click on the logo and go to more information about the accreditation scheme. There is a logo for the Information Standard at the bottom of every page of CancerHelp UK. To find out more, you can click on that or on the link above.
An accredited website will have many of the pointers of good practice mentioned on this page. For example, it will have dates on its pages showing when the information was last updated. They may also have their policies for producing information published on the site.
The information on a website should tell you where the information came from. They may include a list of journal article references or links to the books they used. If not, you should be able to contact them to find out the source of the information. It is always worth checking other websites or books to see if they say the same thing, or if not, why they say something different. Many websites will offer links to other similar organisations and websites.
Who is responsible for the website? Is there an address, phone number or email address? The website should include these details on the homepage or in their section called About Us or Contact Us.
Some websites are sponsored or are advertising or selling something. This does not necessarily mean the information isn’t accurate, but it may not give you all the options or choices open to you. Some sites trying to sell alternative remedies have very official looking information on them, but when you look more closely you find it all comes from the company selling the product.
There are some websites that have information about supposed clinical trials. But when you look closely at these sites, you can see that it wasn't a trial at all but anecdotal evidence about individual people who've been treated. This is important because clinical trial data is much more reliable than anecdotal evidence. A website that is trying to make anecdotal evidence look like trial data should ring alarm bells.
If you are unsure, compare the information with websites or books that you trust already. Or search the internet and see how many other websites are saying the same thing.
A good website will tell you who it is for and what it is trying to do. If the aim is not clear the headings of sections and titles of pages may tell you if it will be able to answer your question. If these aren’t clear either, then it probably isn’t a reliable website.
In the end, the websites you choose to trust will depend on the kind of information you are looking for. For example, websites about personal experiences will be very different from factual websites with information about a medical treatment. You may prefer one website over another because of how it looks and feels rather than anything to do with the content. The way the information on a website is written can affect how you respond to the site.
If you keep the pointers on this page in mind, you should be able to tell the reliable websites from the unreliable ones. A good place to start looking for reliable websites is in our list of cancer organisations.
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