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Health Information Sources & Searching

A guide to finding, identifying, and critically appraising health information.

Exploring Websites

Websites offer a wealth of information; however, sometimes that information is outdated, inaccurate, or false.

Common Types of Websites

The domain name gives you an idea of who is responsible for a website. 

.com – commercial site

.org – nonprofit organization (sometimes used for for-profit organizations)

.gov – U.S. government site

.edu – educational institution

Searching Websites

Many websites do not have the ability to perform complex searches. Consider the following tips when searching a website.

  • Keep the search simple
  • Include one term from each concept
  • Try multiple searches using different combinations of terms