Greenburgh Public Library Blog

Health & Wellness: Finding Credible Health Information

When we’re looking for health information most of us usually go to good old Google and type in our symptoms or keywords and click on the first website that seems similar. You will find an overwhelming amount of results that pique your interest but are they trustworthy? 

Whenever seeking medical advice, you should always contact a trained medical professional but if you’re looking for research, there are a few things you should look for when trying to find correct information. According to Medlineplus.gov, there are a few basic things that you can look for when scanning an article:

• Look at where the information is coming from. Is it coming from a well known institution such as the Mayo Clinic or Johns Hopkins or is it coming from one individual? Keep in mind that most information from accredited institution is peer reviewed which makes it an even better source (multiple expert minds are better than one!).
• Take a peek at the domain. You may be asking, what’s a domain? We’ve all seen them before but probably never knew what they were actually called. A domain is the last three letters in a web address. The most common are .gov, .edu, .com and .org. When looking for health information, you’ll want to go back to tip one- review the source. Well known health institutions will the majority of the time have a .gov or .edu domain. A .gov domain is a government run website such as The National Institute of Health. Edu websites are from educational institutions. Keep in mind, some sites such as Johns Hopkins and UCLA Medical Center have .org domains but they are partnered with the educational institutions themselves. When looking at non bias and authoritative information, you will generally want to steer clear of .com websites as these are for profit commercial website. 
• Make sure you can determine who is writing the article. Does the person have a medical degree or is it just opinion based?
• References! When writing a piece about medicine, there should be references to other studies. The information did not appear out of thin air.
• Can you find contact information for the institution? If contact information is lacking, it is a red flag that this information may not be peer reviewed or unbiased.

To make things easier, the library has created a Health and Wellness page with up to date news and information about all things health! Do you need information about a specific ailment? Try our  A-Z list of common conditions! You will find state and county information such as contact information for both the NY State Department of Health Westchester County Department of Health. Don't forget that you can always check out some of our new health and wellness books! 

One of our newest additions to the page is a section devoted to the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19). With the concern of a new disease, we have put together resources that will give you the most update and authoritative information.