1.

In order for health promotion specialists to have the most up to date and accurate
information to their clients they must research the credibility of the sources they use. One way
for specialists to find credible sources is to use medical journals, peer reviewed journals,
scholarly articles, and websites that use .edu or .gov or .org. These options are from
educational and governmental and professional resources usually discovered using research
and providing references, not amateur or uneducated opinions. Knowing these sources will
make the specialist more credible as well.
2. Four key items:
1- Authors qualifications- What evidence does the author have to prove an educated
understanding of the information provided? A degree that coincides with the information the
author is presenting does not prove that the author is qualified completely, but it does show
that there is more qualification than someone without a degree and they have been educated
on the subject.
2- Reference list- Is there a reference list provided to show that there was research
conducted to find the most accurate information? Without evidence, an article is just a story or
an opinion.
3- Publications reputation- Is the publishing company or the journal in which the article
is published a known and reputable company? Popular press journals have been known to
publish mediocre articles that are not scientifically based and have poor information.
Professional journals are more educated and provide higher quality information.
4- How new is the information? New information may not have the proper research
studies, which take years to conduct, to prove accuracy and validation.
3. Healthy People 2020 is a program that originally started by the federal government in 1979.
Every decade starts a new Healthy People initiative based on the previous plans with updated
information and revised goals for the American population to achieve. I chose to review the
Healthy People 2020 website based on the criteria mentioned in Chapter 9 of our text.
1- Content- The website address is http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/default.aspx
which does end in .gov. This shows it is a government website and has been refereed by a
government agency, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There is contact information
provided for the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. An email address is provided for
people that have questions about data and objectives and an email address for questions regarding
citations and non-data information. Because of the addresses provided, there is no reference list that I
could find.

2- Authority- As mentioned above, this is a government website maintained by the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services. Emails are provided to contact the CDC and HHS, a fax
number for the Healthy People Team, and a mailing address for the Office of Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion.
3- Publisher source- This website represents Healthy People 2020 and is sponsored by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
4- References- There is no reference list provided. They are partnered with the Diabetes
Advocacy Alliance.
5- Documentation- The most recent publication is conveniently available to download and print.
The topics and objectives are also available in an alphabetical list. This helps to keep track of the correct
information and clearly understand the objectives.
6- Facts- The facts corresponding with each topic and the goals that have been set come from
the information provided by the FDA, USDA, and modern nutrition and exercise ideas, but there is no
reference to them. This knowledge just comes from the information learned over the course of my
schooling.
7- Date of Authorship or Posting- Last updated Thursday, July 24, 2014