Use this list to guide you with search the Internet on medical conditions.
- Choosing the search words that will help you find what you are looking for. This is never an easy task. First, what is the primary subject you want to know about and be specific, example: Lobular Breast Cancer. Second, what is the secondary subject you want to know about? Example: Phytoestrogens. You want your search engine to combine these subjects to give you the closest results. Best to keep your search to two key subjects to avoid confusing results.
- Search: lobular breast cancer AND phytoestrogens
- Determining which results to read. You can choose from personal blogs, scientific articles from peer reviewed journals, institutional information, news articles, self proclaimed experts, non-governmental organizations, governmental websites and many more. What should you prioritize to read and what will you be able to understand? You want the information to be unbiased, this means it should not be funded or related to the sale of any product. Here is a list of reputable sources that will provide you with unbiased results:
- PubMed. When searching for articles on PubMed look at 3 key aspects:
– The authors – are these authors leading doctors or scientists in this particular field of study? Do a quick search to see how many articles the first or last author have published on this topic;
– The Impact Factor, each journal has one, a good Impact Factor is over 3; and
– If you do decided to devote time to reading the article does the information add up and make sense? - Google Scholar
- Healthline
- PubMed. When searching for articles on PubMed look at 3 key aspects: