Difference between revisions of "Create Your First Article"

Revision as of 11:58, 4 December 2014

This is a guide to starting your first medical billing encyclopedia article. We will explain some of the DOs and DON'Ts, then show you how to create an article.

Medical Billing Wiki covers only subjects related to medical billing. If the topic is likely to be related to the billing industry in some way, go ahead; if you're unsure, or the article is about you or something you are closely connected to, you can ask an administrator by email at admin@medicalbilling.wiki.

You can only create a new article once you've registered an account – you need to only choose a username and password.

Before starting, try editing existing articles to get a feel for writing and for using Medical Billing Wiki's mark-up language. Also search Medical Billing Wiki first in case an article already exists on the subject, perhaps under a different title.

If the article already exists, feel free to make any constructive edits to improve it. Gather references both to use as source(s) of the information you will include and to demonstrate the notability of your article's subject matter. References to blogs, personal websites, Facebook and YouTube are unsuitable – we need reliable sources. There are many places to find reliable sources, including your local library, but if internet-based sources are to be used, start with books and news archive searches rather than a simple web search. Extra care should be taken to make sure that articles on living persons have reliable sources – articles about living people without reliable sources may be deleted, especially if they include negative or controversial content. Consider requesting feedback. You can request feedback on articles you would like to create in a number of places, including the talk page of a related article.

Remember that if the article is not acceptable, it will be deleted quickly. Medical Billing Wiki is patrolled where admins check new articles shortly after creation.

Articles that do not meet notability guidelines and do not cite reliable published sources are likely to be deleted. Do not create pages about yourself, your company, your band or your friends, nor pages that advertise, are personal essays or other articles you would not find in an encyclopedia, unless the page is directly related to medical billing, medical coding, or health information in some manner. Be careful about copying things, controversial material, extremely short articles, and local-interest articles.

1. Search for the article

Before creating an article, try to make sure there is not already an article on the same topic, perhaps under a slightly different name. Search for the article before creating your first article. If an article on your topic already exists, but you think people might look for it under some different name or spelling, learn how to create redirects to alternative titles; adding needed redirects is a good way to help people find the article. Also, remember to check the article's deletion log in order to avoid creating an article that has already been deleted. (In some cases, the topic may be suitable even if deleted in the past; the past deletion may have been because it was a copyright violation, did not explain the importance of the topic, or on other grounds addressed to the writing rather that the topic's suitability.)

If a search does not find the topic, consider broadening your search to find existing articles that might include the subject of your article.