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Many of us use the Internet to research questions about our own and our pets' health. "Hunting for Health: From Web diet sites to disease news, here's how to tell quackery from quality" by Katherine Hobson will be published in the Nov. 17, 2003 issue of US News and World Report. While geared toward those researching human health-related questions, these guidelines are also helpful to those of us who need to evaluate the accuracy of information we encounter when using the Internet to research our pets' health concerns.
This piece offers the following suggestions for evaluating web sites. (The following material is a series of excerpts from the above article.)

[ November 08, 2003, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: Betsy Iole ]
This piece offers the following suggestions for evaluating web sites. (The following material is a series of excerpts from the above article.)
Hope some of this is helpful.1. Follow the money. First, find out who owns the website and why they're running it.
2. Scope and balance. You've also got to figure out how balanced the information is. Does it give voice to both sides of controversial issues...?
3. Easy or hard? The intended audience...is key. A site may offer very accurate information that's simply too difficult for the layperson to understand. That is often the case with PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi)...Some of the abstracts may be a good jumping-off point for discussions with doctors, but others are incomprehensible.
4. On time. The fourth feature of good health information is currency--being up to date. Knowledge changes quickly, and last year's news or treatment guidelines may be superseded by newer, better studies.
5. Go to the source. Finally, assess the site's sources of information and whether they're credible.
[ November 08, 2003, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: Betsy Iole ]