Thinking critically is one of the basic skills required when analyzing issues. The ability to gather and give a personal opinion to information is equally important. Not all sources of information are valid. This is why we ought to learn how to think critically by criticizing, comparing, and contrasting the different pieces of information we have at our disposal. Some of the dominant information points are textbooks, television, newspapers, resource personalities like teachers and even academic journals. Above all, the internet is among the most modern sources of information. However, how do you know that certain information from a given website is authentic enough and therefore worth basing our decisions and judgments on?
This paper relates two different websites on the same topic on psychology which in this case is drug addiction and the comparative quality of information in them.
This website was created and is being maintained by Helpguide.org. The domain of the above website is quite authoritative because it ends with.org which means that it is not in the business of advertising at the expense of providing useful information. It is an organization not geared towards making profit and therefore it is more likely to give balanced and unbiased information. This group’s mission is to assist people to comprehend, prevent, and get solutions to different challenges along their way. They have a mission to empower people with the necessary skills and self-motivation towards life. Therefore, they have a good reason to be objective in their reporting. According to Menon (21), internet resources that are considered useful should be authoritative enough and this is mainly determined by the nature of the very source, a school, government, and non-profit organizations are more preferred. The website has a missionary zeal to extend a helping hand and therefore quite objective. Moreover, the information given on drug abuse is accurate and broad-based covering other related subtopics like signs, symptoms, and suggested help for victims which can also be verified through other sources. No blatant advertising is evident on the website. The format in which the information is presented is appealing. Well illustrated diagrams and pictures are proves. The font type and size make the information legible (Jones 78). Three important things I have learned from visiting the site are that drug abuse related to prescription is equally bad as the normal drug abuse. Also family addiction history can be a notable cause of drug abuse and the worst effect related to drug addiction is crime.
This website is under the custody of Alcohol and Drug Abuse.com and its sponsorship is purely for commercial interests. It has open advertisement links which overwhelm the information given on drug and drug abuse. This website is business-oriented because most links are directed towards book stores where academic materials related to drug abuse can be bought. Its main mission is to create public awareness on where psychological books can be obtained and their relative prices. Even the brief information given at the site is void of tangible facts on drug abuse. Moreover, the site has a bad format of illustrations and wording. Their so-called “live support” is not live at all because you have to leave a message. A good internet resource should not be biased therefore the information given ought to be objective (Jones 103). The hidden aim of a website can interfere with its objectivity. The backbone purpose of this site is to drive book sales irrespective of the content and suitability of those materials. Besides, it is not possible to recognize the author or the actual institution associated with this website. The historical background is equally not there. I would not recommend a researcher to use this website because it won’t meet the standards expected. There are some lessons worth learning from this site. For instance, a website with several business links may not be the best for use as a point of reference. In addition to this, the frequency at which information from a particular site is updated is important. Some sites automatically update themselves on a daily basis. A valid site for information research on dynamic issues should be updated manually.
Evaluating internet resources is vital before they can be considered for use. This calls for critical thinking on the part of the researcher. Some of the criteria that can be used to determine whether a particular website is worthy or not include the source, objectivity, accuracy, and currency among others. Internet sources can be very good for use in research work but those which do not meet the set criteria should be avoided. Websites that lack continuity and therefore cannot be cross-referenced in the future should not be used at all. Proving given sources that were earlier used but cannot be traced at present is very tricky.
Works Cited
Jones Steve. ed. Doing Internet research: critical issues and methods for examining the Net. Sage Publications Inc., 1999. Print
Menon M. Goutham. ed. Using the Internet as a research tool for social work and human services. Haworth Press Inc., 2002. Print