User talk:MeganTolley5

Hello I was here

Welcome!
Hello, MeganTolley5, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place  before the question. Again, welcome! Nikkimaria (talk) 16:30, 4 October 2012 (UTC)
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Topic
Hey Megan. By "zebra gum" do you mean "fruit stripe"? I'm not sure the plastic balls deserve an article independent from ball pit. The main Hot sauce article is already quite long, but a brand of hot sauce is a possibility for an article assuming the brand meets notability guidelines for products and has secondary, reliable sources available about it. Nikkimaria (talk) 15:07, 11 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Okay. Indy Scream Park doesn't appear to have an article yet, so obviously has the most scope for addition of content. The zoo also needs some TLC. However, your references are all the homepages for these attractions - while that's great for basic information, you'll want to base the bulk of your expansion on sources independent of the topic (ie. newspapers, magazines, etc). Nikkimaria (talk) 14:18, 16 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Hey Megan. What I meant by that was the zoo article is in need of expansion and improvement - it has some basic lists of animals but no description or sourced information on the displays. Much of the material already present needs citations and updating. Nikkimaria (talk) 17:40, 25 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Help:Table has some advice on making tables, but probably the easiest way is to use the table button in the toolbar above the edit window. As to organization, try looking at already well-developed zoo articles to see how they do it: Phoenix Zoo, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Edinburgh Zoo and Prospect Park Zoo are all good examples. Nikkimaria (talk) 18:20, 6 November 2012 (UTC)
 * I'd say the drop-down bar is fine as-is, if that's okay with you - the list is still there, just minimized. Nikkimaria (talk) 04:52, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

Student orientation: how to edit Wikipedia
Hi! I hope you're excited to edit Wikipedia as a part of your class this semester! Since this is likely a new way of completing an assignment and the community norms and expectations are new to you, we've created this awesome orientation for students. It covers a lot of the basics of editing Wikipedia and ways you can use your coursework to improve the encyclopedia. It takes 1-2 hours to complete, and I believe this thorough introduction will save you time in the end. It will help you figure out how to create content that sticks and can serve as a reference throughout your editing. I hope you'll take a look and see what you can learn about the work that goes into creating good articles. Good luck with your assignment, and thanks for editing! JMathewson (WMF) (talk) 23:41, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

Indianapolis Zoo
Hi, I am the coordinator of WikiProject Zoo, and I watch all of the zoo articles. I would like to thank you and other members of your class for your edits on the Indianapolis Zoo. I reverted your first table edits because we don't generally use tables in zoo articles for listing animals. In fact, we generally discourage even the long lists that are currently in the article in favor of prose discussing the exhibits, with animals in each exhibit listed as part of the description. There are several reasons for this, including that articles are primarily prose and therefore should not be dominated by lists (see Embedded lists), these lists are almost never cited properly (see WP:CITE), if you try to include all animals, these lists are essentially impossible to keep up to date, and finally, the article is about the zoo, so what is important is a description of the exhibits, not just a list of animals (you can usually get a more up-to-date list of animals on the zoo Website anyway). Some editors will simply delete such long lists, but I usually just turn them collapsible so they don't dominate the article.

A good part of this project for the class would be to increase the descriptive text for the exhibits, roll the animals into the prose, and then take away the collapsing list. You can see examples of how this is done if you look at San Diego Zoo, Denver Zoo, and many others. Thank you again for participating. Don Lammers (talk) 13:40, 10 November 2012 (UTC)