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The amount of information produced by the
government is staggering. |
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Billions of bills, files, research studies and
other paperwork are churned out annually. |
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Much of this is now online. |
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How does anyone begin to study it? Through gateways. |
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Gateways are simply guides or organizing sites
to the plethora of government information. |
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www.firstgov.gov is crucial |
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Private sites have tried to organize government
information. See: www.searchgov.com and www.google.com/unclesam |
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www.fedworld.gov is supported by the U.S.
Department of Commerce. |
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Its specialty is the treasure trove of U.S.
databases, from health care studies to job listings. |
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The site also is an excellent introduction to
U.S. government reports. |
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FedLaw was developed, unsurprisingly, to
organize federal legal and judicial information. |
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http://fedlaw.gsa.gov can provide you with information about legislation, laws,
courts, hearings and other legal stuff. |
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Other government sites rank among the best on
the Internet: |
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www.whitehouse.gov - see daily press briefings www.census.gov
- profile your community |
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www.sec.gov - profile a company |
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www.loc.gov - The Library of Congress |
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www.nara.gov - The National Archives and Records
Administration |
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www.epa.gov - Environmental Protection Agency |
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The Internet is an incredible resource for
information about business and businesses. |
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You can track industries in which you’d like to
work, like entertainment or news. |
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You can use the Internet to do research on a
company or person. |
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You can get investment advice. |
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An important consideration: Is the business you
are interested in private or public? |
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Public companies have shares that are traded on
a stock exchange. They must fill out
out numerous forms and reports – that often are available online. |
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The Securities Exchange Commission – SEC – is
responsible for collecting, organizing and distributing business information. |
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The SEC has created an amazing online database –
EDGAR, Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval. |
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Find it at www.sec.gov |
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You will find that 10-K forms, filed annually at
the end of the year, are perhaps the fastest and most comprehensive source
of information on public traded companies. |
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www.tenkwizard.com provides fast access. |
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Privately held companies don’t have to fill out
the forms that public companies do. |
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You can still get online information on private
companies through business web sites, wire services and other outlets. |
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www.hoovers.com |
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www.companiesonline.com |
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www.morningstar.com |
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Online Health Information |
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Some studies suggest that more than half the
searches undertaken online are health related. |
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As with many other areas, from business to law,
the Internet has put more information into the hands of more people than
ever before. |
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With health information in particular, the
online researcher must carefully evaluate and judge Internet sources. |
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Trusty Google can take you to many sites. Some
are well intentioned but wrong. Others can be malicious and dangerous. |
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Many fine sites can provide researchers with a
wealth of good, reliable information about sickness and health. |
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The database, Medline, at the the National
Library of Medicine, has been around since 1966. |
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www.nlm.nih.gov |
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Although not a government site, Medscape has
emerged as another authoritative health resource. |
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Originally produced by the same medical
professionals who created CBS Healthwatch, www.medscape.com eventually
merged with Healthwatch. |
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Another authoritative site for online health
information is: |
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www.webmd.com |
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As its name implies, WebMD offers services to
doctors as well as patients. |
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www.healthfinder.org attempts to organize the
array of health information available online. |
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You can also try a subject directory, which has
someone checking out listed sites for authenticity, such as www.yahoo.directory.health.com |
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The Merck Manual has been a staple of medical
professionals for years. |
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An online version is available at www.merck.com |
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Information about drugs is available at many of
these sites. |
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However, other sites have tried to organize the
vast material on drugs available in the United States. |
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www.rxlist.com, for example, has a listing of
the Top 200 drugs and information on each. |
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For information on government, business,
sickness and health, the Internet has become perhaps the most valuable tool. |
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Knowledge of Internet research can make you a
better citizen, more successful – and keep you alive! |
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Notes