WEEK THREE

Week Three Assignment ~ Background Searching on the WWW

1.     1. What is your research topic? This should be a general area of interest at this point. It should NOT be a research question yet.

My research topic is cardiac problems that may develop or are genetic in people aged 0-18.

2. Select a NEW Search Engine or Metasearch Engine from the linked chart in the lesson and run a search for your topic.

·         Tell me which search engine you used.

·         Scan a few webpages from your search and:

o   What new idea or information you find about the topic?

o   What are some subtopics you read about in your search?

o   What possible research questions came up while you were reading?

o   List words that might be used for future searches. Be sure to include at least one DISTINCTIVE term, one BROAD term, one NARROW term and one RELATED term.

The search engine I used was zoo.com. When I typed in my search topic I got websites that had “.com,” “.org,” “.gov,” and “.edu” within the URLs. Most had .gov or .edu. Some were sites for hospitals, some were sites for school that taught about these types of problems problems or studied them. A possible research question I came up with was “What are common heart conditions and their treatment options for adolescent children aging from 0-18?”

Broad Terms:  Heart Problems, Pediatric Cardiology, Cardiovascular, congenital heart defects, arrhythmia,  birth defects, diseases and disorders, cardiovascular diseases

Distinctive Terms: Cardiac Defects, tachycardias

Narrow Terms: Wolfe-Parkinson-White Syndrome, long QT syndrome, ventricular fibrillation, atrial fibrillation,

Related Terms: Cardiology, coronary disease, echocardiology, cardiovascular diagnosis, pulmonary, cardiovascular system

3. Select a subject directory from the linked chart in the lesson in the discipline your topic

·         What is the name of the directory you found? Do a search for your topic in the directory.

·         Scan a few webpages from your search and:

o   What new idea or information you find about the topic?

o   What are some subtopics you read about in your search?

o   What possible research questions came up while you were reading?

o   List words that might be used for future searches. Be sure to include at least one DISTINCTIVE term, one BROAD term, one NARROW term and one RELATED term.

·         How did searching the subject directory differ from your search engine search?

The directory I selected was SearchMedica. The description was that it was a professional medical search engine. When I typed in my search it gave me a list of types of genetic cardiac problems that can happen. Some of the pages it showed me was not related to genetics but can be a cause of cardiac problems to develop. Many of the topics I read explain how the cardiac defect affects the person, signs, methods to control the defects, and treatment options.

4. Evaluation- You read some criteria last week on how to evaluate information in general with some additional suggestions for websites. This week you read about evaluation of websites in particular. Whether you are doing background research, thinking of buying a new car, looking for health care information, or just satisfying your curiosity about any question you will want to ask yourself about the source of the information. This week you will walk through the steps of thoroughly evaluating one website.

Please respond to each of the points below in your evaluation of a website of your choice.

a.    Select One website that relates to your topic and give me the URL.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/892655-overview

b.    What did you learn from the URL? Think about – personal page, domain, publisher, etc.

It is a domain.

c. Scan the page for:

·         Information about the sponsors/authors of the page. Is there an “about us” link?

·         Is there a “date last updated”?

·         Are there any author names, either individual or organizational?

·         What are the author’s credentials?

·         Can you tell if the page has been updated?

Authors: Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical School at Houston; Medical Doctor Consultant, Legacy Department, Best Doctors, Inc , M Silvana Horenstein, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Cardiology, and American Medical Association

Last updated February 13, 2014. Yes you can tell that the page was updated.

d. Does the page have quality information?

·         Are information sources documented with footnotes or links?

·         If information is from another source is it complete, altered, or forged?

The Information has hyperlinks within the article. From what I have seen it is complete.

e. Does it all add up?

·         What is your impression of the page overall?

·         Why was the page put on the web?

·         Is it serious information, irony, satire, or parody?

·         Does it seem as credible as information in books, journals, textbooks?

Yes it all adds up. The page is designed in a way that my eyes don’t wonder from the text, they get straight to the point. The page was put onto the web to inform people about the condition. Yes it seems credible.

6. Finally, reflect on how you will apply what you learned this week to your future research.

I will use this information to narrow down what types of genetic heart defects that there are. Also I have noticed that the information about some of these are specific about what exactly is the cause in the heart using terms that can be a bit confusing to those who do not know what is. I will try to describe to the best of my ability what the terms mean and where it is referring to.