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HLT 115: Personal and Community Health (Lamagna)

Searching for Public Health Info on the Web

The web can be a source of very current information as it can be updated instantly; however, locating reliable statistics can be challenging! Many organizations and agencies include health statistics that they collect or have access to. The following are some strategies for locating health-related data on the web:
 

  •     Search for a known organization using quotes, such as "American Heart Association"
  •     Consider searching by topic, remembering search results are usually ranked by popularity. They are often not ranked by relevance
  •     Use synonyms for a disease or condition in search phrases to ensure a broader set of results  (ex: lung OR pulmonary AND heart OR cardiac)
  •     Use synonyms for statistics connected by OR in the search phrase (ex: statistics OR rate OR incidence OR data)
  •     Explore Google Tips and Tricks to practice setting up a search strategy with your topic!

Think Tanks and Research Organizations

Government Websites & Statistics