Difference between revisions of "Create Your First Article"

Revision as of 12:17, 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Articles that do not meet notability guidelines and do not cite reliable published sources are likely to be deleted.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.

How to Create Your Page

Only logged in members can create an article.

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.

2. Title Your New Article

In the search box below, type the title of your article, then click Go. If the Search page reports "You may create the page" followed by the article name in red, then you can click the red article name to start editing your article.

3. List Your References

The very first thing you should write in your article is a list of the sources for your information. Just enter them like this (and they will automatically turn into links):

" == References == " (with no quotes) : This makes a heading for your references.

   1. http://www.myreference.com/thispage1.html
   2. http://www.myreference2.com/thispage2.html

4. Preview Your Article

After you have written your article, click Show preview to check for errors, then click Save page.

Avoid Orphaned Articles

An orphaned article is an article that has few or no other articles linking to it. The main problem with an orphan is that it'll be unseen by others, and will get fewer readers if it is not linked to.

Most new articles are orphans from the moment they are created, but you can work to change that. This will involve editing one or more other articles. Try searching for other pages referring to the subject of your article, then turn those references into links by adding double brackets to either side: "" and "". If another article has a word or phrase that has the same meaning as your new article, but not expressed in the same words as the title, you can link that word or phrase as follows: "word or phrase found in other article." Or in certain cases, you could create that word or phrase as a redirect to your new article.

One of the first things you want to do after creating a new article is to provide links to it so it will not be an orphan. You can do that right away, or if you find that exhausting, you can wait a while, provided that you keep the task in mind.