MEpedia:How to contribute

Contribute to MEpedia Today! Anyone can contribute, and everyone has something to offer, whatever your skills & experience, even if you have never edited a wiki (like Wikipedia) before. All we ask is that you read the guidelines (see below) before you edit. Please also join our group of authors and editors.

How do I edit pages?
Look for the "edit" links at the top of the page (to edit the whole page) and next to each section heading (to edit just that section).

Internal links
Nancy Klimas Nancy Klimas

Bold text
Doctor Nancy Klimas Doctor Nancy Klimas

Bulleted text
*Item 1
 * Item 2
 * Item 3


 * Item 1
 * Item 2
 * Item 3

Images
To add an image use the "Upload a file" link on the left of any page, and make a note of the file name, then add it to the page. Add right or left, and a width (with a px suffix) to set the size):



Citing a published study
In the body text where you want to reference a study, refer to the citation using the name you give it:

The study showed that X is an effective treatment.

Then at the bottom of the page, define the citation within the References section like this:

More help

 * View a video tutorial
 * Click "edit" on pages which are not locked (or "view source" on those which are) and:
 * Look at the "wiki code" responsible for creating the page. This may help you learn how to edit since the "code" is, in large part, pretty intuitive and easy to learn if you look back and forth between the article and the code responsible for it.
 * All edit pages have an "Help" link in the toolbar which can lead you to this page (and our link below to editing references).
 * Look at the formatting cheatsheet

Make a suggestion
Almost everyone working on MEpedia is sick, including bed-bound patients. Although we welcome suggestions please, please if you possibly can, create/edit the page yourself. It is very easy to add a new page or make an improvement - be bold! Together we are stronger as a community. If you REALLY can't edit the page, then you can go to the MEpedia suggestions page, click Edit, and add your suggestion to the list for someone else to consider implementing in future.

Implement a suggestion
If you want to contribute but aren't sure where to start, try looking at the MEpedia suggestions and consider implementing an improvement suggested by others.

Create a new article
To create a new article, simply search for the title of the article you wish to create. If a page does not already exist, you will see an option to create the page. Alternatively if you see a red link to the page, that means it does not yet exist. Just click the red link to create the page.

Once you have a blank editable article open, consider copying-and-pasting an outline into it for that type of article, so you have a set of headings to prompt writing. See MEpedia article outlines

Remember that articles must use strong citations. For example if you write "ME/CFS can be successfully treated with XYZ", you MUST provide a reference to evidence, ideally a high quality (randomized, placebo-controlled) published study. If there is no evidence, the wording must reflect this, for example "ME/CFS is sometimes treated using XYZ, but currently there is no good evidence for its use".

Expand a topic
Pages with blue links (as opposed to red) exist already, and can be proof-read, improved and extended. Remember statements need to be supported by the best available evidence or source, for example a published quote by a person, or a paper in a scientific journal.

Check our references
You can make sure facts are properly cited and references are in correct format.

We aim to serve a general audience, a research audience, and a patient audience. All entries should be cited and make clear to distinguish what has and has not been established by peer-reviewed research findings. Articles should aim to provide both a general overview of a specific topic as well as discuss its implications or applications in ME and CFS.

Correct typos
You can also copyedit existing articles for typos and edit for clarity.

Clean-up poor pages
Some pages are inconsistently formatted, too long, are presented badly, need partially rewriting, or suffer from other problems. Those pages are marked as needing clean-up, and are listed under MEpedia:Cleanup.

Mark pages as needing cleanup
If you see a problem with a page, it needs clean-up, and you are not able to resolve it, mark the page as needing cleaning by adding a marker like this including a description of the problem:

 

For more details see Cleanup.

Rules & Guidelines

 * MEpedia:Manual of Style
 * Editorial Guidelines
 * Science Guidelines
 * Category:Medical hypotheses

Other Resources

 * Help:Editing
 * Configuration settings list
 * FAQ
 * MediaWiki release mailing list
 * Localise MediaWiki for your language
 * Power user/editor tips
 * Categories browser