Bookmarklets allow one to make a search link with the search engine's syntax already programmed in and automatically run a search on text appearing on any web page, without having to type in anything - it's all done with a few mouse clicks. Check out this free technology at http://www.bookmarklets.com. Make your own, or use a ready made multiple site search bookmarklet, such as the e-Hand search tool: http://www.e-hand.com/SEARCH/search02.htm .These can be set up in less than a minute.

Here's a walk through showing their utility: from your page to the final search in just three mouse clicks. Assume that you've set up a bookmarklet search (in this example, the e-Hand search tool) as a bookmark (Netscape) or favorite (Explorer). While browsing a document, a term catches your eye (ski pole thumb). You want to find out more on the topic than what is contained in the web page, so you proceed through these steps:

1. Click and drag over the phrase to highlight it, then click on the bookmark (or favorite) to run an automatic search: (Figure 7).
2. This brings up a search window with the selected text already loaded, Pubmed set as the default search: (Figure 8).
3. This particular tool allows you to choose from twelve engines: (Figure 9).
4. In this case, the default was used, which runs a Pubmed search on the selected text: (Figure 10).
5. The bookmarklet can be used on any page - here, about to investigate from within that same Medline search: (Figure 11).