Help:Guidelines

Contents | Getting Started | Guidelines | Markup | References | Images | Categories | Templates | What Now?

Before we get into editing articles, we need to talk about some basic editing guidelines concerning things like style, structure, layout, and etiquette. Mistakes are okay, but let's do our best to keep the quality high by following these guidelines.

Style

Below are some key points about style.

General Style

Information, caution with opinion

Statements should be referenced where possible. When opinion is given then it should be stated clearly that it is opinion.

Non-evidence based topics

If a condition, procedure, or other topic is not considered mainstream or is controversial, then a warning should be placed at the top of the page, either {{nonmainstream}} or {{controversial}} as relevant.

Paraphrase sources

Try to paraphrase things in your own works where possible, rather than quoting. Creative commons works can be copied if suitable along with attribution.

Limit links

You are encouraged to provide links to other articles as related terms appear in the text. In general, this can be limited to the first appearance of a term in a given article. (e.g. Don't link to the "Tendinopathy" article every single time "Tendinopathy" appears in the "Lateral Elbow Tendinopathy" article.) However, links in infoboxes should not count toward the one link limit.

Word processors

Avoid preparing your contributions in rich word processors (like Word). The quotation marks, apostrophes, and dashes won't work properly here. Use two hyphens (--) instead of a dash.

Writing Conventions

Always use proper English. Here are a few other more specific guidelines:

Grammar

Never speak in first person and never address the reader directly.

Tense

Try to maintain a consistent tense. Present tense is preferred.

Capitalisation

Follow standard English and Medical conventions for capitalisation.

Other

Use British English spelling.

In general, spell out the numbers 1-10 rather than using numerals. (e.g. use "four" not "4")

Use a single space to separate sentences. (not two)

References at the end of sentences should be placed directly after the period.

Titles

Article Titles

Titles of articles should generally be singular.

Capitalise subsequent words in a title

Section Titles

Do not apply formatting (e.g. bold, italics, etc.) to section titles.

Do not use internal or external links in section titles.

Article Structure

If you're starting a new article, don't worry about getting the structure right the first time--getting information onto the page is more important than proper structure and formatting. The admins regularly scan through new edits and tweak structure where necessary.

Initial Templates

Where suitable include an infobox such as {{Condition}} or {{Procedure}} .

If the topic is non mainstream then include {{Nonmainstream}}

If the topic is controversial (but may be mainstream) then include {{Controversial}}

Include a template for how complete the article is: {{Stub}}, {{Partial}}, {{Complete}}, {{Peer Reviewed}}

Summary

Article content should typically begin with a brief summary.

Article Body

Some recommendations of typical headings to use may be found here: Help:Article structure. For more guidance, find a similar article to the one you are working on and use it as a guide.

Download or Embed Section

An article may include a section for downloading relevant PDFs or other files or embeded objects like youtube videos and PDFs

Bottom Line / Recommendations / Summary

For summarising information with level of evidence ratings. (See below)

Reference Section

This section should contain a <references /> tag, to provide a home for references and citations. The visual editor does this automatically.

Finish Up

Add categories and any relevant navigation boxes.

Layout

Good layout is important for readability and flow of the article.

Structure

Good structure, as discussed above, is very important. But also note that deviations from standard structures may be desirable in some cases. If there's little information available under a given section, for example, it may be better to find another place for this information than to have an awkwardly short section. You are also encouraged to create additional sections and subsections as needed, to visually break down the article into more digestible pieces.

Flow

Always consider the overall flow of the article. Reading the article from start to finish should tell a story. Make sure an article doesn't seem to jump around between unrelated topics if possible. Ensure images and quotes relate to the surrounding article text and that they aren't out of place.

Images

Images are a fantastic way to liven up an article. As always, make sure the image is in the public domain or you have permission. Take into consideration size and spacing; the image should be clearly visible, but not obtrusive to the article text. Try mixing up the alignment of images so that they appear at different locations along the page rather than cascading down one side. Use captions to explain what the image consists of. And realize that too many images can also be a problem. If you believe a large number of images are important to an article, consider using a gallery. We'll talk about how to do all of this on the Help:Images page.

Quotations

Quotes are another great way to provide a visually appealing layout to articles. As discussed above, we don't want to quote large portions of text in the body of articles. But use of relevant quotes is a great way to let the books speak directly into the article. Just like with images, try mixing up the location of any quotes that you use. Creating quotes is covered on the Help:Markup page.

Quality Control

This section requires the understanding of Templates

Quality Tags

Quality tags indicate the quality and completion level of every page. These are very useful to editors because they are an easy way to determine which articles need more attention.

Quality tags should be added at the top of each article (see Help:Guidelines). They are added using special templates; the four you should know about are:

◔ Stub {{stub}}

Stubs are articles that have barely any information. If it's very short and needs a lot of work, it's a stub. Use {{stub}} to categorize.

◒ Partially Complete {{partial}}

Partially complete articles are off to a good start, but need more work before they can be considered complete. Use {{partial}} to categorize.

◕ Complete {{complete}}

Mark an article as Complete when you believe the article is content complete. Use {{complete}} to categorize.

I'm still working on the coding of complete articles. The default method currently to say an article is complete is by adding a parameter with the information. e.g. {{complete|text to show here}} and it will make the icon a full green circle ⬤

The other way is using {{certified|date|reviewer}}. ⬤ Certified . You can mark an article as certified when it has been reviewed by an NZAMM fellow or relevant expert. For example {{certified|01-10-2020|Dr Muscle}}

Grade of Evidence

In order to indicate level of evidence for important recommendations use an Evidence Ratings system of your choice for individual statements

ASIPP criteria is preferred

{{ASIPP|1}} produces [Level 1]

{{CEBM|1a}} produces [LOE 1a]

{{SORT|A}} produces [SORT A]

{{GRADE|A}} produces [GRADE A]

If you want to use your own system then you can alternatively use the following template:

{{Grade|grading system name|grade}}