18 RESEARCH TOOLS FOR THE HEALTH WRITER

ESSENTIAL RESOURCES FOR THE HEALTH FREELANCE WRITER (Part 2)

You definitely just getting started if you think about just going on Google to get the information you need to make an article, you need to know the search tools for freelance writing. You are working at producing certain results, you not just anyone who wants to get information on a search engine. As a writer your objective must be focused and so must your search for information to write.

WHY YOU NEED RESEARCH TOOLS TO FIND INFORMATION?

1. As was said in an earlier post, health writing is aimed at stimulating a reader to make informed choices to improve their well-being, so your research resources for write-ups must be reliable and viable.
2. With knowledge of the different research resources you may have and how to use them. You’ll amaze clients and readers alike. Someone may say, "Woah! He sure must have gone to the last page of Google to get that information."
3. It is a good reward for a client to be impressed with your depth of research and the value of information included in your write-up.
4. Guess what. In-depth research doesn’t necessarily mean running in circles querying different phrases that mean almost the same thing on a search engine bar.
5. Remember that health writing is a noble responsibility as you may influence someone’s well-being out there. Seek out tools for accurate and updated health information.
6. A lack of streamline in your attempts at sourcing for information in the right place would lead to much clutter and information to process. So read along to know the tools to make information search easy. The search tools for effectively sourcing information are search engines and curators as listed below.

SEARCH ENGINES AND CURATORS

1. BibSonomy – It is a social bookmark and publication sharing system. You get to see bookmarks of users across the web and trending publication resources in use across the web. You can also join groups related to your interest where you can learn important resources. You also get some first-hand ideas on topics to write about.
2. CaptoMe – Metadata platform with rich biomedical content and information management tools for well-organized research.
3. ContentMine – The name says it. It is an effective resource for mining data from millions of evidence based literature.
4. Data Elixir – This is simply a weekly online science news letter to keep you informed. You can use this to keep track of trendings. It is also a good resource to search for reliable health information, the best data science news, resources and inspirations from around the web.
5. EvidenceFinder – This is a golden resource. When you query a Google scholar search and you see loads of publications. How do you know which is useful to you amongst the search results? Evidence finder helps curate little information in publications that is useful to you that the search engine probably didn’t recognize and presents those publications to you. It indeed proffers a smarter way to browse.
6. Google: It would be disrespectful not to mention this right. There are better and smarter ways to use Google though.
7. Google Scholar – This broadly searches for scholarly literature across disciplines and sources.
8. LiteracyTool – This site is an Educational web-platform that helps users discover, understand, and explore scientific topics of interest.
9. Scicurve – This is a useful tool for exploring new scientific trends. It makes systematic literature review interactive and comprehensive. You can use this to easily access updated and summarized data.
10. SciFeed – This feeds your E-mail with important new scientific advances matching your query using various data sources and publications.
11. Sparrho – It combines human and artificial intelligence to help you keep track of science in real time. Some people say it put google scholar to shame. Well, I don’t know about that but it’s a laudable resource.
12. Symplur – This empowers decision making because it gives real-time access to insights from over a billion healthcare social media data points. It is a healthcare social media analytics company and is definitely a laudable resource to know trending issues, innovations and find resources. A lot of things don’t hit publications or websites but just stay on social media. Symplur helps connect the dots using social media.
13. Wiki Journal Club – Here you get open, user-reviewed summaries of the top studies in health and medical research.
14. ELife – Open access to the most promising advances in science.
15. Wikipedia: You might think Wikipedia isn’t reliable but it is. It is a good starting point for information online especially when you use the citations provided at the end.
16. Encyclopedia Britannica: You don’t like Wikipedia right? Encyclopedia Britannica is more reputable. Get ready to pay for it although free use may suffice for basic researching needs.
17. Refdesk.com: This is a free web site indexing and reviewing quality, credible, and current Internet reference resources. This resource can reduce the need for the tons of Web-based resources out there, making it easier for you to get the information you need.
18. Internet Public Library: Search for information about the arts, business, entertainment, health, science, and more.

FINAL WORDS

I recommend that you have a dedicated bookmark folder for your freelancing tours across the web. Once, you come across a search resource that you find useful, bookmark it. You don’t want to bother your head in an attempt to recall a valuable resource you once used. Another way to do this is to always include references in the article so you can easily locate such references later. In freelance writing you want to save as much time as you can and gain as much time as possible, using good research tools to find information and keeping track of them is needed to make that possible. Good luck. Do you think I missed something out? Comment below.