Free Samples: How to Use The Guide

There are two basic ways (with thousands of variations) to search using the Medical Library Association Encyclopedic Guide.

• The "Search Strategies" in Volume 1 demonstrates how to thoroughly search the Internet for health-related questions.
• Volumes 2 and 3 focus on hundreds of individual health topics, providing specific search strategies outlining how a professional searcher would tackle each topic. A compilation of the most useful information available, in the form of recommended Web sites, is included.

How to Use the Table of Contents and Cumulative Index

The index provides a direct approach to specific medical terms, drugs, diagnoses, or treatments found in The MLA Encyclopedic Guide. Here you will find other terms to use on the Web, other index terms, and often cross-references to other relevant sections of the book. The table of contents in volume 1, Search Strategies/Quick Reference Guide , is a straightforward list of chapters on learning the best strategies for searching a health question on the Internet, and quick reference tools that will assist in making the search successful. Since skills build step-by-step, it is best to read the chapters in order, though often you may prefer to skip around so that you can focus on a specific topic.

The table of contents in volume 2, Diseases and Disorders/Mental Health and Mental Disorders, covers specific medical or mental conditions and topics. The table of contents for volume 3, Health and Wellness/Life Stages and Reproduction, offers more general topics and situations relating to these broad areas of interest. The table of contents for these two volumes covers the entire scope of the material included. Where a broad topic area is presented (e.g., cancer), care has been given to provide a more detailed listing of the content to enable the user to locate a specific topic of interest (e.g., gallbladder cancer). The individual topics are arranged alphabetically within the main groupings. Please note that sometimes a topic may appear in more than one location -- some mental conditions may have physical causes, and vise versa.

Sample Searches Using the Table of Contents

1. Turn to volume 2, "Diseases and Disorders."
2. Look up part XXIII, "Musculoskeletal Injuries and Disorders."
3. Note that entry 219, page 124, is Osteoporosis, one of 19 different musculoskeletal injuries and disorders examined in "Special Topics and Procedures."
4. Turn to page 124 to find a complete search for this particular topic featuring recommended search terms and important sites. Follow any cross-references to other pertinent sections of the Guide.

A search for more general question about the health of older women might be conducted this way:

1. Turn to volume 3, Life Stages/Reproduction.
2. Look up part V, "Adults' Health Issues (Women)."
3. Note that entry 55, page 144, is Osteoporosis.
4. Turn to page 144 to see a complete search (by a different author) for Osteoporosis featuring recommended search terms and important sites. Again, follow cross-references to other pertinent sections of the Guide.

Note: There is a complete search strategy for "Adults' Health Issues (Women)" with special searching issues for this topic, including what to ask and where to start, additional search strategies, a topic profile (with who, what, where, and when) and the abbreviations used in this section. Following the 21 "Procedures and Special Topics" (subject-specific search strategies and recommended sites) is more helpful information about publications on the Internet, hotlines, FAQs, medical specialties, professional organizations, patient support organizations and discussion groups, and "best one-stop shops."

Tips for Searching and Finding Information

The "Quick Reference Guide" shows how to find common types of information, as well as how to find answers to those general questions patients most frequently ask. This is an excellent place to learn more about health care in general.

To use volume 1 to search a specific health topic, move from section to section; play with the examples and search terms given by replacing them with your own questions, terms, and concerns. At helpful Web sites, make a note of other terms used to describe the same idea, and use those in a new search. Go back and forth between the book and the Web browser, and keep making notes of the terms or concepts that seemed to work best with your topic. Don't stop there -- look through the final chapters of the "Quick Reference Guide" for ideas for different questions and ideas for other kinds of resources.

The various parts of volumes 2 and 3 demonstrate these ideas in practice, with many examples on different health topics. Please note that in these volumes, in addition to search strategies and recommended Web sites, each part contains valuable information, such as FAQs, hotlines, and professional and patient organizations. In addition, a companion Web site is available at http://www.neal-schuman.com/mlaguide/.

How to Use Each Part

• Special Searching Issues for This Topic
• Topic Profile‹broken into "Who, What, Where, and When"
• Abbreviations Used in This Section
• Procedures and Special Topics
• Hotlines
• FAQs
• Publications on the Internet
• Medical Specialties
• Professional Organizations
• Patient Support Organizations/Discussion Groups
• Best One-Stop Shops

Within the "Procedures and Special Topics" individually numbered topic entries appear. Depending on the health topic, they range from a few to many topics (arthritis has 4, cancer has 38). For example, the "Procedures and Special Topics" in the AIDS and HIV part has 13 specific entries:

1. General
2. AIDS-Related Dementia
3. Clinical Trials
4. Complications and Common Manifestations
5. Diagnosis
6. Finding a Doctor
7. Finding Community
8. Finding Funding Support
9. Prevention
10. Privacy
11. Special Populations
12. Therapies and Treatments
13. Terminologies and Dictionaries

Each of these 13 individual entries features subject-specific information:

• Recommended Search Terms
• Important Sites

Using the Recommended Searches

The "Recommended Search Terms" provide examples of useful terms and how to "play" with them. The sample searches try to avoid using special features unique to a specific search engine; instead, they feature examples that would work in most major search engines. Ideally, one could copy the recommended searches, exactly as they appear in the text, into the search box of any major search engine. The exception to this "straight copying" is if a strategy would be most effective if you supplied a more specific term from your own circumstances. For those cases, the authors have added instructions for customizing your search in square brackets like this:

• Health [with the name of your diagnosis]

If you see such a search string that includes square brackets, do not type it into the search box as shown, but provide the information that the text within the brackets requests.

Searching with the Plus and Minus

The plus sign is most useful (1) when you would like to use phrase searching but are not certain of the best word order or (2) you are dissatisfied with your results after searching without phrase searching. The plus sign (+) adds focus to the search by telling the search engine that one of the words is more important than the others. With the breast cancer example, you might list the words breast cancer, but use the plus sign to say that cancer is very important to the results. This search would be shown in this book as follows.

• Breast +cancer

Using the Important Sites

A Note on URLs

Suppose that under the "Important Sites" a specific URL does not work, or only the address of the organization home page is provided; how do you find the resource you are interested in? First, look at the name of the site carefully. In many cases, the name of the hosting organization (that is, the sponsor or publisher) is listed, followed by "the path" for locating the specific document or Web page. Each step of the path is separated by a colon (:), and these steps will help you locate the resource you are looking for.

Another way to locate a desired resource is to do a phrase search for the title of the resource. Also, adding the name of the author or publisher of the site or a shortened URL can be especially powerful. For example, suppose you have the following site name:

• American Cancer Society (ACS): Ovarian Cancer: Detailed Guide

Here are some the different searches you can try:

• "ovarian cancer" "detailed guide"
• "ovarian cancer" "american cancer society"
• "ovarian cancer" ACS
• "ovarian cancer" "cancer.org"

Notice the strategy. The searches all include the main topic, "ovarian cancer," combined with the next step on the path ("detailed guide") or with a term or partial address leading directly to the specific page of the American Cancer Society. These same principles can be used to search for any resource with an incomplete URL.

Another way to do this is to type in the URL for the home page. Once there, follow these steps:

• Look for a list of links. If one of them has the same title or a similar title to that listed in the book, click on it to see if it is what you want.
• If there is no link that looks right, do some browsing. There ought to be a section of the site that would make sense as a place to hunt. Use the various levels of the title for clues.
• Check some obvious starting places, such as "patient information" or "publications."
• If the site has many levels of organization, try browsing by type of disease or body part.
• If there is a site map, be sure to consult it. It will help you with surfing to the correct page.
• Try searching for the page with the search engine on that site. To do this, you would simplify the search, usually using just the topic word or a few words from the title, instead of the Google-style search. Play around, you may need to use quotation marks.

Try to enhance these ideas with those listed in section of the "404 Fun: Finding Missing Sites" in volume 1. Also try to find a similar or new page on the site that has the information you want. There is no guarantee that the page is still there. And above all, be playful, curious, and inventive; try to find information that will help you to make thoughtful decisions about your health search.

How to Use the CD-ROM