User:JSpudeman/MOS:Medical Articles
Style
[edit]Consistent Tone & Prose
[edit]Tone is an important part of medical articles, because it allows other editors to read information in a consistent tone so they can expect it of any part of the article -- this makes it a lot easier for someone to pick up and read from a section, rather than having to look at someone else's prose differently.
Jumping straight in can cause confusion when people are reading the article particularly due to the fact you didnt read the approach other editors have done before you. When adding a new section try to follow these guidelines:
- Read the prose and tone of the article before adding -- skimming will suffice.
- Type your section within the article so the prose flows.
- Read your edits through with the text before it to ensure continuity.
Verifiability
[edit]The first cardinal rule of referencing, particularly when expanding articles on medical techniques or conditions is to have material which acts as the base of the definition of the material, used for the main "bones" of the article. Journals should be used as an expansion into the recent developments, and if these are so new, they're likely to not be covered by books then they should be used alongside other journals, if possible, to gain a more expanded view of a subject.
Although having lots of references can be a good thing, you dont need to have 50 books to back up a fact, unless it's something which may seem controversial or unlikely, such as "4% of chest trauma is caused by Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation". When adding references, try to make sure there's a broad area covered by journals and other sources. If possible, try to include perspectives on things such as clinical use, effectiveness, complications, concomitant illness, or soforth.
PubMed, eMedicine and other free-to-all resources
[edit]Although places such as PubMed are a good place to look over developments quickly, it's a bad idea to completely reference an article using web-pages, eMedicine, or PubMed articles. PubMed does provide an excellent resource for those wishing to look into an area without having to trowl through hundreds of journals, but it can also be limited. When making points on the distribution or effect of illness, or clinical trials, it is a good idea to reference an article which has the FULLY printed data sheets and result tables along with the periods of usage and methodology.