Journal Critique 2

by Claire
(Mississippi)

Original Text: Journal Critique 2

When most people get sick they usually go to the doctor. Although, some people who experience symptoms turn to the internet for a quick diagnosis. In many ways this can be a good or bad thing. The internet can have good resources for medical reasons but not all websites are credible.
There are billions of websites on the internet and just about anything can be searched. Searching for an illness or symptoms for an illness on the internet can draw a very fine line. It is very difficult to tell whether a website is credible or not. There are many disadvantages if a website is not credible. For example, if a person was searching for their symptoms and came across a noncredible website, the outcome would not be accurate. It would be horrible if a person searched for an illness and was given the completely wrong information. Practically anyone that has access to a computer can put anything on the internet. Viewers would not know whether to believe any information if it did not have a legitimate source.
On the plus side there are some advantages. Doctors understand that people search about illnesses and symptoms, so they have tried to make as many credible medical websites as possible. Groups like the Department of Health and Human Services are making a great effort to have as many and accurate medical websites. Some of the things that make a credible medical website are authorship, attribution, disclosure and currency. Without these four basic but vital values a medical website can be questionable. Although there are credible medical resources, it does not mean that doctors are being replaced. The websites are only references to help figure out whether or not an illness is serious enough to go to a doctor. The internet should only serve as an aid not as an alternative for quality care.
There are many good and bad medical website on the internet. Although it may seem easier to get a diagnosis from a computer, it is not always the best method. With a few things to look out for, anyone can tell if that particular website is believable or not.

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Revised Text:

When most people get sick they usually go to a doctor, although some people who experience symptoms turn to the internet for a quick diagnosis. In many ways this can be a good or bad thing. The internet can have good resources for medical reasons but not all websites are credible.

There are billions of websites on the internet and just about anything can be searched. Searching for an illness or symptoms for an illness on the internet can draw a very fine line.

It is very difficult to tell whether a website is credible or not. There are many disadvantages if a website is not credible. For example, if a person was searching for their symptoms and came across a non-credible website, the outcome would not be accurate. It would be horrible if a person searched for an illness and was given completely wrong information. Practically anyone that has access to a computer can put anything on the internet. Visitors would not know whether to believe the information if it did not have a legitimate source.

On the plus side, there are some advantages. Doctors understand that people do searches about illnesses and symptoms, so they have tried to make as many credible medical websites as possible. Groups like the Department of Health and Human Services are making a great effort to create many accurate medical websites. Some of the things that make a credible medical website are authorship, attribution, disclosure and currency. Without these four basic, but vital values, a medical website can be questionable.

Although there are credible medical resources, it does not mean that doctors are being replaced. The websites are only references to help figure out whether or not an illness is serious enough to go to a doctor. The internet should serve only as an aid, not as an alternative for quality care.

There are many good and bad medical websites on the internet. Although it may seem easier to get a diagnosis from a computer, it is not always the best method. With looking out for a few things, anyone can tell whether a particular website is believable or not.

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