Nutrition 108

A resource of quality nutrition sites and information on how to find and evaluate web sites of your own

These are just a few of the many web sites out there.

Nutrition.gov
Food and Nutrition Information Center
American Dietetic Association
Mayo Clinic Food & Nutrition
MedlinePlus: Nutrition
Nutriton Fact Sheets

Some general tips

• The more words you put in, the fewer results you will have
• Want to exclude results have nothing to do with your topic? Use the Not command (in Google this is the “-” sign (e.g. fiber -fabric)
• Putting your terms in quotes (e.g. "insoluble fiber") forces the search engine to look for that phrase in the order and exactly as you have entered it
• Domain limiters (e.g. "insoluble fiber" site:.gov) will return you results from that domain only (
• Limit out an entire domain (e.g. "insoluble fiber" -site:.com) will return your results from all domains but that one

Try typing “diet” into Google. Look at the first 10 results. Most of them are sites that are trying to sell you something. While it is entirely possible that these sites have useful information, it is also very probable that they have a bias or an agenda in what they present to you. Here are some things to look for in a web site.

• Who wrote it?
• What are their credentials or reputation (i.e. a government agency, a health care organization, a non-profit?)
• Can you contact them?
• How long ago did they write or create it?
• When was it last updated?
• What’s the domain of the site?
• What is the scope of the web site?
• How detailed is the site?
• Is there a bias?
• Are they trying to sell something?
• Are there a lot of links for pay sites?
• Are there a lot of dead links?
• Is the information presented in an objective way?
• Is the information accurate?

Five criteria for evaluating Web pages
Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask

Academic Search Premier
Health Reference Center Academic
Health & Wellness Resource Center
MEDLINE

Information about connecting to these databases from off campus

Have questions? Need help with finding more information?

Michelle Zafron, MLS.

or Instant Librarian