Where to Find Good Information
Before the Internet was everywhere, we went to the library to research things. (Crazy, I know!) I remember spending hours in the medical library at the University of Washington School of Medicine investigating my recently-diagnosed autoimmune disease. These days, one can do much of the same work in their living room. But, over the last ten years, finding quality information on the Internet has become more challenging. It’s like looking for a needle in the most enormous haystack anyone could ever imagine.
So what can be done? Certain practices can help, and I’ll share some of those here. Later, I’ll talk about how to read a science paper.
Google Scholar is a free place to look for legitimate scientific information. Typing in a search term gives you results that share the author and a description and will reveal the source to the right. You can easily set parameters, like how new you want the resource to be, the type of sources you seek, and how to sort your results. You can also create an alert to get the latest updates on your searched topic. Using Google Scholar rather than regular Google or another search engine avoids all the content non-experts upload. That’s not to say that people without scientific expertise don’t have valuable information to share; they do. But when you want to dive into the facts, using Google Scholar is a great free place to start.
Once you click on one of the results on a Google Scholar search, you’ll learn if the actual information is behind a paywall, which is typical for medical and academic papers. Usually, you can read an abstract, which will give you the general scope of the resource, and you can decide if you want to pursue it further. Sometimes, there is no paywall, and sometimes, the abstract is all you need.
There are a few medical information sites that are not behind a paywall. They do not typically contain original medical papers but instead use that research to summarize vetted medical content. Medscape is my favorite resource in this category. Since it is written with medical audiences in mind, it has more information than you might find elsewhere. You’ll see an overview, a discussion of the presentation (symptoms patients will report to their physicians), the diagnostic workup, medications, and a media gallery. There are also practice essentials that touch on patient education and prognosis. You can create a Medscape account. The same organization owns Medscape and WebMD, but you’ll find Medscape more robust in its content.
Other good resources in this category, though not as comprehensive as Medscape, include Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, MedLine, Cleveland Clinic, and HealthLine.
The United States government funds much medical research and offers Internet resources to learn more about specific diseases and general health and wellness. These include the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health.
The Internet can also be used to find information behind a paywall. The most reliable and stable of these is PubMed, a resource offered by the National Library of Medicine through which the public can access nearly every medical paper published in vetted journals. You can often find full access to journal articles here, but as mentioned, some are behind paywalls. Regardless, this is a real treasure trove of the latest medical research on virtually all conditions.
In a later post, I’ll talk about how to read a scientific paper, how to know which journals are reliable, and how to watch for bad stats. It’s one thing to find data, but another to ensure it’s legit. The websites I mentioned are pretty well vetted, so they are safe. Nonetheless, it’s always good to be on the watch for predatory publishing and common misrepresentations that might send you down the wrong path.
There you have it. I hope you all enjoy checking out these resources. I’ll leave you with a graphic created by the News Literacy Project (one of my favorite nonprofits) that discusses using regular Google (or other search engines) wisely. Some of these tricks translate well to Google Scholar, so navigate to Google Scholar and then apply these tips. In the next few weeks, you’ll hear from me about reading science/medical papers and identifying misleading news stories about them.
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
This blog post is based on personal experiences and is not meant to provide medical advice.
Always consult your healthcare professional for personalized guidance on your health journey.
