Consumer Health Resources

Health Source - Consumer Edition
I was amazed at all the publications available under this resource - was not expecting to see that many.  Recognized a few like AARP but many seemed like very specific publications and a lot of them seemed relatively outdated-several on the first few pages were dated around 1997.  When I did searches for specific diseases, I used the Relevance Sort to show the newer articles first and also tried narrowing the dates using the bar on the left so that it only looked at 2010-2012. There were a  lot of choices of subject that could be used to narrow down the choices as well along with picking specific source types.
I looked at the full text on a couple of academic journal articles and would definitely have a difficult time following them.  The periodical articles I looked at were very easy to read and the electronic resources hits were mostly descriptions of medicines, how to take them, side effects, etc and were easy to read and seemed quite comprehensive.  You could also have some of the articles read to you if desired!
This site had more of an academic feel to me - a place I might go if I was doing research for a paper but not the first place I'd want to look for general information.

Medline Plus
Didn't find a link for this on Marvel so got to it through the link provided in the instructions. (When I looked over the instructions again for this exercise I realized that it had been explained that it was the National Library of Medicine's consumer database!) At first glance, it definitely looks more like a place I'd go to look for information about a disease or problem I might have or just want to find out more about.  The top searches on the left side included diabetes, hypertension, and metroprolol - all things I would be interested in researching further.  The news column included "Does Black Tea Reduce Diabetes Risk?" "Common Antidepressants Tied to Higher Bleeding Risks in Warfarin Users" and "HPB Vaccine May Benefit HIV-Infected Women"  Easy to look back and see previous day's top news articles as well.
In the "Drugs and Supplement" section, I searched for metroprolol and found a very comprehensive summary of the medicine, how to take it, side effects, what not to take it with, etc.
When I searched for high blood pressure on this site, the results came back in a more appealing format and the top hits seemed more relevant to general non-academic searches.  Lots of keyword choices for refining the data as well as type of material.  Just felt easier to search and not as intimidating as the Health Source site.
Clicked on a few of the videos - the first one I tried required Quick time which I did not have on my computer and a lot of other people probably wouldn't have it either.  The other videos all loaded quickly and easily and there are a lot of choices of surgeries to watch among other things.  Also checked out the games but the few I looked at did not seem that appealing - one just seemed like a series of facts - couldn't see any game to it.
The "Understanding Medical Words" and "Evaluating Health Information" tutorials both looked very helpful and informative - I think I'll go back to both of them for sure and would definitely recommend them.
Definitely like the Medline Plus site more than the Health Source one!