2.6 How the information is written

Information should be up to date.

Information should be balanced:

• it should discuss different sides of an issue;



• it should not be sensational;



• it should not make extreme statements or extravagant claims.

Information should be written with correct grammar and spelling.

Many sites are aimed at health professionals, lecturers and researchers, not the health consumer. Therefore they will use specialised language.

Where sites are aimed at health consumers, the information should be simply written, easy to understand, with no medical jargon. When medical terms are used a glossary should be given so you can find out what these terms mean.

If you want to look up computing or medical terms there are online dictionaries you can use, for example:

• Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, Editor Denis Howe (http://www.foldoc.org) [Opens in new browser window];



• On-line Medical Dictionary, produced by the CancerWEB project (http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/omd/) [Opens in new browser window].

Information should be written so it is accessible to the disabled.

If the site is targeting groups with a first-language other than English, it might be appropriate for information to be provided in those languages as well.

< previous page: date  |   next page: conditions >

© Copyright for this site is held by Contact a Family and the Information Society Research and Consultancy Group, School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, Northumbria University. Site published February 2003. Last updated October 2006. Review date October 2007.