Basic Internet Searches

Google Search Tutorial

There is so much medical information on the Internet that you need help to find it efficiently. This tutorial shows you how to plan a search and find information using the Google search engine.

Planning Searches
Before you log onto the Internet, take a minute to plan your search. Ask yourself: "If I were writing an article on this topic, what key words would I use?" A well-focused question can be stated in one or two sentences. If the question is complex, break it into several simple questions. Underline the most important words or phrases in each sentence. These keywords will be the building blocks for your search strategy.

The sample searches in this tutorial are based on the question “What is the risk of a diabetic woman developing eclampsia during pregnancy?” The keywords are "eclampsia", "pregnancy" and "diabetes".

Open Google In A New Window
Open Google in a new browser window. This allows you to switch back and forth between this page and the Google page by using the Windows Task Bar at the bottom of your screen. You can open any link in a new window by right-clicking it and selecting "Open In New Window" from the pop-up menu.

One Search Term
Return to the main Google page. Click inside the search box at the top of the page. Enter the single search term "eclampsia". To begin the search, press the Enter key or click on the "Google Search" button.

Search Results
Google will display a list of Internet pages containing the keyword "eclampsia". It provides a link to each page and a short quote, showing how the search term appears in context. For a more detailed description of the Results page, read the "Interpret Results" page (mentioned above). For comparison, make a note of how many pages are matched by this search and each of those in the following examples.

Find In Page
Click on the link to one of the pages in the Results list. Your browser provides a handy "find in page" function on the Edit menu. It allows you to search the current page for each occurrence of a particular word. The keyword can be different from the keyword in your original search. Test this feature by looking for the word "pregnancy" in the page you have just displayed.

Additional Resources

Google Help Files
The "About Google > Help And How to Search" section of the Google website contains two files that are useful to novice searchers; Print them to use as a quick reference as you use this tutorial
Google – Basics of Search
Google – Interpreting Results

Web Search Guide
Online tutorial about the use of Internet Search engines