LIBR200 (Ivy Tech Community College)

Reference Analysis Project

Reference Analysis Form (RAF): Websites Resources
 Use this from to evaluate websites. Please refer to the ‘Clarification for the RAF Forms’ for the
details needed in each section. If you do not use this, you probably will not fill out this form
correctly.
 Write a thorough description in narrative form. Give support for your answers to establish the
value of the source. This form is worth 20 points and your answers should reflect that amount.

Reference Category (1pt)

Answer: Health and Science

Bibliographic citation: (1 pt)

 Include: URL, Title of Website; Author, Sponsoring Organization or Agency; Last Update
Answer: https://health.gov/myhealthfinder , Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, November 6 2020.

Arrangement & Indexing: 4 points

 Explain how the web page is designed and laid out.
 Discuss how information is organized, how it is navigated.
 Do you see A-Z listings, tabs at the top or sidebars?
 See the ‘Clarifications for the RAF Forms’ for all that needs to be included here.
Answer:

The first thing that pops up is a two-question questionnaire asking your age and sex. You can
navigate the site without answering them however, as there is a toolbar up top with only one
option of ‘Browse Topics’. Next to that is a searchbar, and an option to translate the page into
Spanish. There are four broad topics with a few sub-topics underneath them. Health Conditions,
Doctor Visits, Everyday Healthy Living, and Pregnancy.

Clicking on a topic will bring you to a page with the sub-topics listed underneath it in the drop-
down, displayed in boxes. Clicking on one of those will send you to a page with a Read More for
the overall topic, and a handful of other articles on more narrow parts of the subject.
Sometimes they will be on a few pages you have to click for, sometimes not. Often the articles
will link to other articles or PDFs with more information. Links to other articles on the site you
may be interested in are displayed in boxes below the main text area.

Each article page includes Reviewer Information (where the information was pulled from and
who verified it) and a last-updated date.

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Reference Analysis Project
Scope/Coverage (5pts)
Scope is the entirety of the subject, which means this is the place to describe the content of the entire
website, not just the homepage. Write a detailed narrative of 5-6 sentences minimum. You cannot give
too many details.

 What is covered? What kinds of information are provided? Is it in-depth or general coverage of a
topic? Fact or biased opinion? Are there links to other sources?
 What topics are included? How in-depth is the coverage of the content and what indicates
depth or lack of it? Explain.
 Is the content historical or current? Local, national or international? Is the information factual or
opinion? What indicates this?
 What resources or additional tools does the website provide the users? What outside links are
provided on the same or related topics? Are there any additional references, bibliographies or
resources listed?
 Imagine your patron has asked you what is on a website and you must explain it. Give as many
details about the webpage as you can.

Answer:

The website itself is concerned with a broad but general coverage of a wide variety of subjects,
but there are links embedded in many articles that offer more specific details. It’s sponsored by
the U.S. Government, so it’s more nationally focused but also it’s more objective than most
sources. The advice given is good, but basic. The language is simple to understand and straight
to the point. There are pronunciation guides for some difficult words like ‘diphtheria’. It’s also
written in a question-and answer format at times. Questions a person might have will be
written larger, and colored differently than normal text. Then the answer will be written below
in the standard format, with a bullet-point list at times of things needed to know.
However some of the links might prove to be useful in different ways than just health, like help
for finding a low-cost dentist for seniors.

Currency (1pt)
 The currency of a website if very important. A website could be accessed for the most current
information about a topic. If so, look for the ‘Last Update’ or copyright date. This will tell when it
was last updated or if it is updated daily. Some may have a copyright date, but it should be
within the last year or 2 to be current.
 This information may be found on the homepage, usually at the bottom, or on the ‘About’
pages. It may also be found on the page that explains the mission of the site.
Answer:

The last updated date for the site is very clear on the bottom of the page, November 6 th 2020.
There is also a last-updated date for every individual article. They average to be within the last
year—most even the last few months.

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Reference Analysis Project

Purpose (1pt)
 Consider why someone would access the website. What might a person need from the site?
 Who is the intended audience?
Answer:

The intended audience is people who have health questions that don’t need a super in-depth answer.
The website can give people an idea what they might need to look into more, or make a doctor’s
appointment to check.

Authority & Credibility (4pts)

Authority: Write a descriptive narrative covering all points below.

The credibility and authority of a website must be established. To do this consider –

 Who are the author/contributors and/or sponsoring agency(ies) of the website?

 What information can you find about the creator of the website that will support their
credibility?
 What information about credentials, work experience, history of the site or company, expertise
and educational background can you find?
 The ‘About Us’ and ‘Staff’ or ‘Company’ pages are possible sources of this information.

Answer:

There are many authors and contributors to the website. The overall agency that runs it is the
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. When I found the list of people who run it, it was under the general HHS
site instead of specifically about health.gov/myhealthfinder. There is a long list of people under
the Leadership page (that takes a little digging to find), and notably the people with ‘M.D.’ after
their name are in the minority. However it is the government.

Credibility: Write a descriptive narrative covering all points below.

 What is the mission of the website?

 Is it accomplished? How? Or Why not? (This could also be somewhere in the ‘About Us’ pages.)
 Do all of the links work? Are there dead links?
 What type of links is the user directed to? Are they reliable and relevant to the information on
the original site?
 Is the site informational, opinion or propaganda? Give an example.
 Can you verify the information in another source? What source would you use?
 Is there any conflict of interest regarding any of the information?
Answer:

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Reference Analysis Project
The mission of the website is not simply summed up in an easy sentence or paragraphs. There is
a section on Priorities that tells what the HHS as a whole wants to tackle, but those priorities are
not reflected on the website. They still have information up about them, but they are not
especially focused on. From what I can tell from looking at the website, it seems to be designed
as a simple tool to help people to learn some basic wellness skills, as well as to help them know
when they might need help.

The links work, and generally lead to other government websites like the CDC site. They are
reliable and relevant to the original site.

The information is informational, there is one article that covers the basis of Tuberculosis. It
doesn’t give much detail, really only that it’s a lung disease that can be spread by sneezing and
coughing. Also that sometimes people have it but don’t know they have it, that’s called Latent
Tuberculosis. The article encourages people to get tested for TB if they have experienced one of
several types of living conditions, as they may have contracted TB and not know it, and also
suggests a list of questions to ask the doctor when they go. The information is very simplistic
and basic, but it is useful and informational.

When I looked at an article on the Mayo Clinic website, it agreed with what the
health.gov/myhealthfinder website said on TB. Mayo Clinic in general is likely a good one to
verify information found on the other website, as it’s also focused on health-related things.

I don’t believe there are any signs and reasons to believe there is a conflict of interest here.
Personally I believe that it being government does mean that it may not be the most up-to-date,
cutting-edge information would likely be found elsewhere. But being slightly behind the curve
doesn’t mean it’s bad, it means that everything that can be found there has been solidly proven
out as working. Just maybe not as well as a new thing.

Bias (1 pt)
 Can any bias on the site be detected? Do you see opinions clearly stated anywhere on the site?
 Is one of the purposes to sell something to support the site?
 Are facts objectively presented?
 Do the authors try to convince the reader of something? Change opinions of the users?
 Is any emotional language present that would lead the users to be concerned about the
reliability or accuracy of the information given? If so, give an example.
Answer:

I didn’t see any opinions clearly stated, and I saw no advertising either. All facts were objectively
presented, and nothing seemed to try and convince the readers/users of anything—except maybe to

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Reference Analysis Project
take better care of themselves by stopping smoking or the like. I detected no emotional language in my
exploring of the site.

Personal Impression (2 pts)

 Why or why wouldn’t you use this website?
 Why or why not would you recommend it to a patron?
 Was it simple to use or did you find it frustrating or too complicated? Explain.
 What did you like about this website?
 Write a minimum 4-5 sentence summary.
Answer:

I might use it if I had some basic questions I wanted to get a little better idea of before going to
the doctor, or maybe to see if I could narrow down better what might be giving me problems. I’d
recommend it to a patron who just wanted some simple-to-understand information about their
health.

I did think the website was very simple to use. Logically laid out with specific but broad
categories of information. It is very basic in terms of information, but that’s not solidly a bad
thing. I liked it because it was easy to navigate and easy to understand. There’s an option too, to
answer a few questions about yourself to get some health recommendations. I didn’t do it
because I don’t want more spam in my inbox, but some people would find that useful.

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