User:A.anderson.20/sandbox

I am trying out my sandbox page with some bold text.

Paragraph: This helps you set the style of the text. For example, a header, or plain paragraph text. You can also use it to offset block quotes.
A : Highlight your text, then click here to format it with bold, italics, etc. The "More" options allows you t o underline, add code snippets, and change language keyboards.

Links: The chain button allows you to link your text. Highlight the word, and push the button. VisualEditor will automatically suggest related Wikipedia articles for that word or phrase. This is a great way to connect your article to more Wikipedia content. You only have to link important words once, usually during the first time they appear. If you want to link to pages outside of Wikipedia (for an "external links" section, for example) click on the "External link" tab.

Cite: The citation tool in VisualEditor helps format your citations. You can simply paste a DOI or URL, and the VisualEditor will try to sort out all of the fields you need. Be sure to review it, however, and apply missing fields manually (if you know them). You can also add books, journals, news, and websites manually. That opens up a quick guide for inputting your citations. Finally, you can click the "re-use" tab if you've already added a source and just want to cite it again. Insert: This tab lets you add media, images, or tables.
 * Bullets: To add bullet points or a numbered list, click here.

Ω The final tab allows you to add special characters, such as those found in non-English words, scientific notation, and a handful of language extensions.

Adding a citation.

Article Evaluation
I am looking at the article on Ice Hockey Equipment. My comment on the page is:

I agree that the History Section was a really good addition to the article, however I think it could still use improvement and expansion. For example, the history of hockey skates, essentials to the sport, is glazed over in two short sentences leaving the reader confused and unsatisfied with the explanation. I understand that a long history section might go off topic from the article's main purpose but it could still use some work to satisfy the reader. Also citations are needed to add credibility. A.anderson.20 (talk) 19:23, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Editing "Shoulder Pads" Article
Article:

Shoulder pads are a piece of protective equipment used in many contact sports such as American football, Canadian football, lacrosse and hockey.

The first football shoulder pads were created by Princeton student L.P. Smock in 1877. These were made of leather and wool and were thin, light, and did not provide much protection. Additionally, they were sewn into the players' jerseys rather than being worn as a separate piece of equipment. Allegedly Pop Warner was the first to have his players wear shoulder pads. When he was coaching at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, he was the first one to use pads made of fiber rather than cotton.

Most modern shoulder pads consist of a shock absorbing foam material with a hard plastic outer covering. The pieces are usually secured by rivets or strings that the user can tie to adjust the size.

Properly fitting pads are critical. Shoulder pads are fitted to an adult football player by measuring across the player's back from shoulder blade to shoulder blade with a soft cloth tape measure and then adding $1/2$ inch. All points of the pads should be checked to assure proper fit. Maintenance during football season includes monthly checks and replacing worn parts.

In terms of American Football, various styles of shoulder pads exist for different positions played in. Pads for a quarterback are lightweight and offer freedom of movement. Pads for linemen are designed with few flaps and epaulets, thus reducing the opportunity of being grabbed by the opposition. A player may have a preference for vinyl buckles or elastic straps.

Our Ideas:
 * Delete paragraph about rib protector (it goes off topic) - could instead add a link to it if we want (See also Protective equipment in gridiron football)
 * Expand history section (especially about Pop Warner) and add citations
 * Specify that American Football shoulder pads are being discussed in different areas
 * Indicate areas that need citations (Paragraph 1, 2 and 3 of the original article need citations)

For the article's talk page explaining our edits:
 * Deleted paragraph about rib protector (it goes off topic)
 * Added a link to a related article in the "See also" section
 * Expand history section (added info about LP Smock) and added a citation
 * Specified that American Football shoulder pads are being discussed in the last paragraph
 * Indicate areas that need citations (Paragraph 1, 2 and 3 of the original article) using an "Unreferenced section" tag
 * Rearranged the order of the article a little bit
 * Added a photo

Reflection
In reflecting on my experience with working with Wikipedia this term, one main thing I learned is that all Wikipedia articles are not created equally. In my previous experience, the Wikipedia pages that I had come across were generally quite informative and pretty much complete. However, after viewing articles throughout the term, such as the Sports engineering one in particular, it is evident that some pages are better than others. In approaching the critique of the article Shoulder pads my group and I first went through the article and basically copyedited. We made sure everything made sense, that the information was accurate and that citations were where they are needed. Then we looked further at the article to decide what bigger changes we thought were needed and what we wanted to add to improve it. In deciding what we wanted to add to the article we basically read through it and thought about what else we would want to see as a reader. It was valuable to my group that I have very little prior knowledge about shoulder pads and football in general as I was able to suggest things to add in order for me, and in turn other readers, to understand the article with no prior football knowledge.

Here is a summary of our edits: I feel that these are valuable additions to the article as they expand on areas of the article that needed more content, clarified a few things that were a bit ambiguous, made the overall flow a bit better and also pointed out more areas of improvement (i.e. citations). In comparing to earlier versions of the article, in general this version is a bit longer, has a larger history section and a slight rearrangement in structure.
 * Deleted paragraph about rib protector (it goes off topic)
 * Added a link to a related article in the "See also" section
 * Expand history section (added info about LP Smock) and added a citation
 * Specified that American Football shoulder pads are being discussed in the last paragraph
 * Indicate areas that need citations (Paragraph 1, 2 and 3 of the original article) using an "Unreferenced section" tag
 * Rearranged the order of the article a little bit
 * Added a photo

We did not receive any feedback in terms of our text edits, however the picture that we originally added was removed due to copyright issues. We thought that we had dealt with the copyright issues correctly, but apparently we did not fully understand what we were doing. In response to this, our new plan was to take a photo and upload it to the web ourselves to avoid copyright issues altogether.

In contributing to Wikipedia in general, I learned that everyone can have a valuable addition to the knowledge in the world around them. At first, I did not feel qualified to make edits to these articles but as the term went on I got more comfortable and my confidence increased and I saw that I could really make a positive impact. In comparison to assignments in the past, the Wikipedia assignment feels a bit more relevant and even important to the world around me. Generally school assignments are just read by the student, teacher and maybe some friends and family but this Wikipedia article is available to be read worldwide. This fact I think adds importance to the assignment and also shows the student that what they are doing can actually have an impact on the world around them. Wikipedia can be used to help improve knowledge on sports engineering as it is a valuable resource that is super easy to access and easy to read and understand. This allows anyone to be able to learn about the subject without having to have any prior knowledge. This is important because sports engineering is generally an under-recognized and appreciated field, especially in North America, as limited education programs and jobs are available. However, in my opinion, it is a fascinating and ever-changing field of engineering that is relevant to so many people worldwide, whether they are athletes, exercise enthusiasts or even spectators. Having Wikipedia pages on the subject can be valuable to simply educate the public of this amazing field of engineering.