healthfinder® is a free guide to reliable health information, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The site provides an easy-to-use, searchable index of carefully reviewed health information from over 1,800 government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and universities.

healthfinder® also leads to selected online publications, clearinghouses, databases, Web sites, and support and self-help groups that produce reliable information for the public.

All pages provide access to 8 sections: health library, just for you, health care, organizations (upper right), help | about healthfinder® (next to search text box) and and (usually at bottom of page). On the homepage, notice health news for current daily headlines. Click on the links to find out how each section is organized and how to use them.

• Be aware that it is necessary to understand Spanish and to query in Spanish to find information in the section.
• The section contains Games, Contests, Safe Surfing (Web site evaluation tips), and Cool & Uncool Stuff. in front of links identify government resources.

On the search results screen, the narrow your search function allows you to limit your retrieval to last updated, resource type, type of information, health category, or to sort your results in different ways. Click on help to learn more.

How to use:

Begin your exploration of healthfinder® at http://www.healthfinder.gov/. First click on help. Check out each of the links on this page to get a good overview. Now research a question in which you have a personal interest.

1. Begin with a topic search. Click health library, then under browse information by topic, click all topics. Click on a letter of the alphabet appropriate to your search.
2. Scroll through the indexed list retrieved.
   • Become familiar with the available lists. They are constantly changing, so it is a good habit to update your memory of them whenever you use healthfinder®
3. Select a topic from the list. If you click on details... at the end of the descriptive text, you can find the internet URL, sponsoring agency, description, a drop down menu of related topics, and the review date for that information.
4. At any time, you can return to the home page by clicking the apple logo at the top of every page. Develop the habit of exploring the main navigation links on the home page in order to become familiar with the topics under each category. Always check the health news section for current daily headlines.
5. To find out how the search engine compares with the alphabetical index, type a specific search term into the search: text box.
   • Compare this retrieval with what you received when you a selected a topic from the health library.
   • According to healthfinder®, the search software ranks the items in the search results according to how closely they match what you type in the search box.
   • The search engine is great when you've forgotten the exact name of an organization, only recall part of a name, or can't find the exact term you want in the alphabetical index.
6. Click help just to the right of the search box.
   • Click on search tips to learn more about how to use this database effectively.