User:Lakhdeep97/sandbox

Article Evaluation:
Environmental science is the page I looked at while completing this assignment. I forgot to click publish page before closing my browser so I am redoing it.

Some of the images for example one referring to the Earths atmosphere and the open pit mine were distracting as they did not provide the reader with any information but were just used for aesthetics. I recommend changing those images with other more relevant images that pertain to the article.

Many of the sources are more than 10 years old. These sources can be replaced with newer sources and this could also lead to changes in the information discussed on this page. Since science is an ever changing field, there are probably things that are missing due to these older references.

The references are few but are neutral.

The talk page seems active as they have many subtopics they are trying to work on to improve the quality of the content on the page. The page is rated as Class C and part of three WikiProjects. The way the topic is discusses in the article is not different from how it is presented in class.

The question I will be leaving on the talk page: How can we find more relevant images for the page that do not distract the readers but supplement their understanding of this field.?

Citation
I added a citation to an article, Kirpan, to a statement made about rules and regulations of wearing a kirpan in Canada. The citation number is [16] and it links to this webpage

Copy-edit
I copy edited my assigned article Loss on ignition for grammar and other small errors before the assignment was due.

My sandbox for my article
This is the link to my other sandbox User:Lakhdeep97/new sandbox

I have successfully moved it to the actual article! I don't know if someone will delete my stuff but I did put my stuff on there.

Peer Review
User:KHorton98 received the following feedback on their talk page:

Hey, I enjoyed reading your working on the Future effects of heat waves. The work was well written in a scientific manner and provided good insight into the future implications of GHG emissions on the intensity of future heat waves. Having said this, the section needs transition words to link the sentences together. It feels kind of choppy with many discrete facts and statements which if done right could be made into one compelling and easy to read paragraph. You kept a neutral tone throughout this subsection which is excellent. Other than having to work on making it flow better, you have done great work.

User:Acostadc received the following feedback on their talk page:

Hey, I found your topic to be very interesting and was looking into it myself initially also. I saw that you have some content at the bottom of your sandbox for what you want to add to your article. Here is my feedback for it, I like how it is very neutral but the flow of sentences and the sentence structure needs to be improved. The second sentence of the first paragraph feels like a run on sentence and is hard to understand because of this. I also recommend that when you are citing facts that you have a number of sources for the list of facts for the readers to know if these findings are one of one or if they have been replicated in other studies also. I see how you mention the implications on natives, you could touch on this by citing the current findings of what they are experiencing and the implications of what you stated on their well being. Other than this, you are on the right track, these small changes and additions will surely make your article more enjoyable. Cheers.

Reflective Essay
The Wikipedia assignment was a unique experience for me as it allowed me to choose an article which I found interesting and work on it throughout the semester to improve it. I had not realized how easy it is for someone to help improve an article on Wikipedia and that editing is actually encouraged on the webpage. Through this course, I learnt about the talk pages, which allow individuals to discuss ideas about the article before implementing them to the article itself. These talk pages also function as a conflict resolving tool through which contributors can bring up conflicts in some component of the article and work to fix them. Another great tool was leaving edit summaries after each session, this meant that every time I made a change, other contributors including my partner knew what changes I had made to the article to avoid confusion. At first, when I was assigned this assignment, I was lost about which topic I wanted to take on as my semester-long project. As I explored the learning modules in the Wikipedia course, I learnt about the unique ratings each article has and how to understand if an article needs reworking. This helped me narrow my decision to ultimately Loss on ignition article which was in poor shape and needed more references and sections. Initially, I read the article to understand what was already established and what aspects I could contribute to. I found that the page lacked a sufficient number of references for all the content that was described within it hence, I decided that I would reword the article and add more references to it. Additionally, the article was very small and consisted of a couple of small paragraphs which gave a very general overview of the Loss of Ignition concept. To tackle this issue, me and my partner, Jessop, decided to add sections pertaining to the general overview, general procedure, safety, and other uses of LOI to make the article more useful to readers.

The first few edits that I and Jessop made to the article were mainly grammatical changes to the sentence structure to improve flow and make the available information easier to read. Over the course of the semester, as we began to research into the topic and create summaries of what we had learnt from each paper/website, we got together and purposed our summaries to specific planned sections for the article. I contributed to the improvement of the general overview section, I had also found instructions on safe use of LOI equipment and had found other uses in different industries for this technology. Since the general overview of the article was initially very lacking and not well supported by research papers, I decided to add more relative content to the article with concrete sources for readers to reference for additional information. I began by writing out the general use, why it is used, what kind of technology it is, what is needed to perform LOI and who generally would use this technology as my first edit to the article. My next edit to the article was the safe use of LOI, this is because the previous article did not have any information about what kind of PPE equipment is needed to safely perform LOI. I did research figure out that asbestos gloves, removal of jewellery and etc. is regarded as safe practice when performing LOI and added that to the page. Finally, the initial article listed general uses of the LOI technology into which I further researched and included a separate section with details regarding other uses in different sectors. All of these edits allowed me to add more useful information to the page, make it easier for readers to find information regarding the technology and allow readers to easily access original referenced material for their own use.

During the Wikipedia project along with working on my own article, I also gave feedback to other classmates to help them improve their own work. This process was very simple as I navigated to their sandbox and then created a new section in their talk section with any constructive feedback I had to offer. This process allowed me to reflect on my article at the same time and see if I was making similar mistakes in my article and if I could use ideas from my classmates to further improve my article. The main issue I found in the articles I reviewed was the lack of flow within the article. All the sentences were blatant facts and were not connected to one another using transition words. This made reading these articles tedious and I gave feedback to classmates on how to potentially improve the wording of their article so that readers have an easier time reading their work. I did not receive any peer review feedback so I cannot comment on what I did to improve my article in light of the issues brought up by my classmates.

My overall experience using Wikipedia has been phenomenal, from using Wikipedia for years for information to contributing to sharing information has been a humbling experience, to say the least. I also gained some useful skills in using Wikipedia, such as looking at the articles rating before using information which is a good indicator of the quality of the article. I have also learnt that the talk pages are a hidden gem on Wikipedia where one can find discussions about aspects of the article which one may not agree with and gauge what had been done about it. This assignment was very unique as I have mentioned before as it allowed me to pick my own article which interested me and work on it throughout the semester to improve it. With the correct information being summarized and displayed on Wikipedia, it can be easily disseminated to the greater population through the use of simple words making even the most difficult of topics reader friendly. Often times, the general population is not reading scientific journals to find the latest findings in a particular field, Wikipedia, however, can be used as a tool for summarizing the results and findings from these key articles into simple english which is easy for the average reader to understand. In some way, this information will allow the population to make more educated decisions in life and help them spread knowledge about a topic they are fascinated by. The possibilities are truly endless with the correct implementation and use of Wikipedia articles.