Medical Information on the Internet

Medical information on the web is plentiful, with many medical areas being represented. Unfortunately there are many people who have had an illness and think they know everything about it. Their motives in may cases are pure but if you take their advice seriously you may be endangering yourself.

In addition, websites like WebMD provide some legitimate information, but if you investigate closely, their senior writers are journalists not doctors. Commercial sites also depend on advertising to stay alive so obtrusive pop-up ads and flash animations may create annoyances that detract from the information.

Below are some examples of websites to look out for and examples of authoritative websites.

• Hypothyroidillness
• Lasik at Home
• QuackWatch

• Panexa
• Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division
• First Male Pregnancy
• Snopes.com
• Medical Hoaxes, Rumors and Other Misconceptions

• A User's Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health Information on the Web
  This site is a wonderful one stop directory of the best medical information on the Internet. It is compiled by the Medical Library Associaton and contains guidelines to follow when finding online medical information as well as the top ten best medical websites.
• National Institutes of Health
• National Library of Medicine Gateway

The online databases at LSCC offer excellent medical information for free. Employees are able to take advantage of this information and use it as a primary source of health information.

• General Databases provide articles on a wide variety of disciplines and usually provide sufficient information for most general research
• Health, Nursing, & Medical Databases include articles about health topics and will help you with more in-depth research.

To access LSCC Databases, login using your X-ID as the Borrower ID and PIN number (last four digits of your Social Security number).

If you know the name of a specific periodical, the Journal Finder search box below will tell you if it is available at one of the LSCC Libraries or through one of the databases.

Journal Finder also provides a list of medical & biomedical informatics periodicals. The journals on the list are available full-text in various LSCC databases. When accessing the linked databases go to the Database A-Z list and choose the database you need.

Remember, plagiarism is a serious violation of LSCC's Academic Integrity policy, so you must cite any idea or direct quote imported from an outside source. The links below provide citation examples and formatting instructions.

• For APA and MLA citation styles, refer to the libraries' Citation Center for printable guides and other help with documentation. Ask a librarian for additional assistance.
• For other documentation styles, the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison provides good examples and instruction.