An overview of ways to find credible health information online.

1. Searching for Health Information How to Find Health Information Anywhere, Anytime

2. 2 When you have questions about health, where do you usually get information?

3. 3 How do you know that you can trust the information you find?

4. 4

5. Author Who is the author? Can you find an author listed? Do you trust the author’s knowledge? Is there contact information for the author? Is “Webmaster” the only contact you can find? 5

6. Audience Who is the webpage or article written for? Is it written for a specific group? Is it really meant to be used by someone doing research? 6

7. Accuracy Is the material scholarly? Are there references cited? Can you find evidence to support the author’s claims and expertise? Does the author show knowledge of the field? Are there spelling or grammar errors? What domain is in the web site address? 7

8. Bias Is the web page or article sponsored by a company that is trying to sell something? Is the author trying to sway your opinion? Is the web page author trying to present their point of view? How detailed is the information? Is there a broad scope to the information, or a narrow focus? 8

9. Currency Is the web page up to date? Is there a date on the web page? When was the page written? When was the page last updated? Is the information current? Are the links to current information? Are the links working? 9

10. Links Where do the links take you? Do they take you to information that supports the first site? Do the links represent only one point of view? Do the links work? Do the links take you to advertisements? Do the links take you to unrelated sites? 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. 13

14. 14

15. 15

16. 16

17. Use “ ” around a phrase Results from putting food poisoning into the search box

18. Use “ ” around a phrase Results from putting food poisoning into the search box Results from putting “food poisoning” into the search box

19. Search within a specific domain With some searches, you will get a lot of .com results

20. Search within a specific domain You can get rid of the .com results by choosing another domain

21. Search within a specific domain Some .org websites are NOT good sources!

22. Google usually searches on every word you put into the search box It ignores some words, though To make it use those words, put a + in front of the words

24. Just like you can make Google add words, you can make Google take words out To make it ignore a word, put a - in front of the word

26. You can also make Google find words that are similar to the one you’re looking for Using the ~ sign will find synonyms for your search word

28. www.health.hakia.com

29. www.health.hakia.com

30. www.tripdatabase.com

31. www.tripdatabase.com

32. www.medlineplus.gov

33. www.medlineplus.gov

34. www.medlineplus.gov

35. www.mdconsult.com

36. www.mdconsult.com

37. www.pubmed.gov

38. www.pubmed.gov

39. 39 Two last tips… Be cautious about any health site that has advertisements Organizations and associations (American Diabetes Association, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) are usually good sources of information