Using the Google search engine, the term ‘Calories’ led to 253 million hits. A closer look at the sources that appeared in the first three pages shows that they were published or modified recently. However, they differ significantly in terms of credibility and purpose. For example, an article by CDC (2018) provides credible information regarding the importance of taking the right amount of calories based on gender, age, and amount of activity. This source is credible before it was published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which is a governmental organization. Government agencies such as CDC are expected to report factual information from experts, empirical findings from recently conducted studies. Therefore, such sources are crucial in showing current issues. Therefore, the source is a credible and reliable scholarly reference that shows how CDC is educating the society on calories.
In the search, Wikipedia (2018) appeared as the third source that offered detailed information regarding the term calories. For example, Wikipedia (2018) provided detailed information about the history of the term calorie, its definitions, and the measurement of energy content in food. However, the source is non-credible and unreliable based on how the information is composed and updated. Wikipedia allows anyone to update the information irrespective of whether the author is an expert in a particular field or not. The example, the latest adjustment of the content on calories was done on 4th October 2018 (Wikipedia, 2018). Therefore, although Wikipedia provides a lead for understanding the term calories, it cannot be used as a scholarly reference since the source of information is unknown. For example, individuals may give false information in case they are not informed enough or just to create a false impression to the readers.
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In summary, sifting through nutrition information presented several challenges. First, the overwhelming number of hits does not mean that they appear based on relevance and credibility. Second, it was difficult to determine the relevance of the sources without opening them. Therefore, the process of identifying the most important sources was a time-consuming undertaking.
References
CDC. (2018, September 18). Healthy Weight: Balancing Diet and Activity to Lose and Maintain Weight. Retrieved October 5, 2018, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/calories/index.html
Wikipedia. (2018, October 04). Calorie. Retrieved October 5, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie
