I compared Google searching to MedlinePlus searching and came up with some surprising results (surprising to me, at least). Ordinarily, I don't Google. I'm a Yahoo woman through and through. Google feels odd to me, although after watching Gale Zadada's "Googling to the Max" presentation, Google is looking awfully good.
My search criteria for the Google vs. Medline search included these words: weight loss middle age women. (This search is obviously not related to me in any way.)
Overall, comparing the 1st 10 results of each search engine, I'd say the Google search returned more results that were actually pertinent to my request. Most of the sites Google presented were somewhat or very useful (I assigned each site a number rating from 1 - 10). Google averaged 5.6 with highs of 9 (for the Mayo Clinic's website), to a low of 2 (for a medical journal article that was not much related to my topic). MedlinePlus's sites averaged a score of 3.15, with a high of 7 for a National Library of Medicine site, and a low of 0 for a couple of obscure articles about diseases not much related to my search request.
Both sites are valuable; I would still probably turn to Google first to help with a customer's health inquiry, but I would not rule out MedlinePlus. Medline seems to be most useful if you have some time to sit down at a computer and review the results and the many links their resulting sites provide. Google seems to provide more detailed, full-text information without a bunch of links that need to be sorted through to get at what you want.
BTW, the basic requirements for weight loss in middle aged women? Eat less, exercise more. I guess I already knew that, huh?
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4 comments:
Hi SuperNes...
I researched weight loss too. I found the Medline to be more comprehensive but I agree that google is pretty great especially for getting a handle on the initial information or if the topic is especially obscure.
See you tomorrow! looking forward to it!
Ellie
Infomaniac
ps check out my blog pic with my darling puppy.
I agree that Medline seems to be better suited for having a fair amount of time to review the information returned. It organized the search results well for me, but it took a while to sort through them all the same.
Very informative enjoyed reading your about research
Excellent comparison and conclusion; well stated and I liked your rubric-type approach to evaluating the results on both sites.
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