Rule No. 1: Skip Google

While it’s smart to use a general search engine such as Yahoo! or Google to answer specific questions ("Who signed the Declaration of Independence?") or to track down details on news and trivia, it’s better to turn to sites specifically designed for health queries — such as Healia, Healthline, MedStory, and EverydayHealth — for medical questions. These search engines point you to respected health organizations, like WebMD, MayoClinic, or womenshealth. gov. (In contrast, Google and Yahoo! could send you to unaccredited sites or anywhere else on the Internet that matches your search terms.)

Some of these specialized websites also have functions that help refine your results. On Healia (www.healia.com), for example, you can sort your results by sex, age, and race; and tabs at the top of the search-results page let you view categories such as treatment, causes, symptoms, and prevention.

Search Strategy: To avoid being bombarded with information that doesn’t apply to you, make your query as specific as possible. If you have a chronic cough and want to know what’s causing it, type in "cause and chronic cough," rather than just "chronic cough." When it makes sense, add relevant information about yourself, like "cause and chronic cough and pregnancy." If you have a couple of symptoms and want to bring up information only about both these symptoms, not just one or the other, narrow the search by using the "+" symbol (for example, "cough + fever").