Wikipedia:School and university projects/University of Manitoba Biology of Birds project (Fall 2011)

As a part of the fourth-year Biology of Birds (BIOL 4216) course at the University of Manitoba, students are assigned the task of improving or creating selected bird species accounts.

The main objective of this assignment is for students to learn how to obtain information on a particular species of bird. As many students (and professors!) use Wikipedia as a major source of information, a second objective is to illustrate the benefits and drawbacks of the wiki approach to knowledge-gathering.

This article is unofficial. Students are expected to obtain their information about deadlines, grading and assignment requirements from course handouts and emails directly from the instructor. If information provided by the instructor conflicts with this article, information given by the instructor takes precedence.

Students are encouraged to work in pairs.

Each student group will identify a bird species where the Wikipedia article is a "stub" or where they feel the information contained in the current article can be improved. They will email the instructor with the name of that article (if two groups choose the same species, the person who emails first will have priority). They will then be responsible for substantially improving the Wikipedia article for that species. Each article should have sections on "Description", "Taxonomy", "Habitat and Distribution", "Behavior" (subsections on "Vocalizations", "Diet" and "Reproduction") and "External Links".

There is no universal standard for how to make a Wikipedia bird article. A quick perusal of existing articles will show that some species have very extensive articles (e.g. Bald Eagle), whereas most are much smaller. The subheadings vary from species to species depending on what has been studied in detail for a particular species, or whether the species has a particular attribute that the writer wished to emphasize (“In art” or “Status and conservation”, for example). Nonetheless, virtually all articles include an introductory paragraph and sections entitled “Description”, “Taxonomy”, “Habitat and Distribution”, “Behavior” (with subsections within “Behavior” that include “Vocalizations”, “Diet” and “Reproduction”) and “External Links”. For the purpose of BIOL 4216, you will be expected to have those six sections and three subsections. Additional sections (or subsections) can be added as you wish.

Photographs and audio are not mandatory; if you do include photographs or audio, make certain you have permission to do so—otherwise include them as External Links. Read the Wikipedia Copyrights article. Not everything on the Web is free for the taking. Most images should not be copied without permission of the creator.

It is important to note that Wikipedia articles are not meant to be comprehensive, and should be accessible to the general public. Therefore, technical explanations should be avoided and jargon minimized. Any jargon that is used should be linked to the Wikipedia page for that jargon. It is also important to be succinct.

More details on how to edit a Wikipedia article will be given within a lecture in the second week of class. The first step will be to create an account, and students are encouraged to do so after the first class.

Students are required to submit the text to the class instructor, and have it approved, prior to adding the content to Wikipedia.

There is a list of bird species that only have stubs here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Bird_stubs

In addition, many Manitoban species have only single-section entries, and could easily be improved. These include: Least Flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, Nelson's Sparrow, Connecticut Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Redhead, Rough-legged Hawk, Red Phalarope, White-rumped Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, Purple Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Forster's Tern, Yellow Rail, and Blue-headed Vireo (and many more).

Information for the Wikipedia articles can be found in the Birds of North America accounts (for North American accounts; email the instructor if you have difficulty accessing those accounts), the Birds of the World series (in the reference section of the Science Library), or by searching Web of Knowledge, Zoological Record or Biological Abstracts using the Latin name of the species as a search term.

Students are reminded of the Wikipedia Five Pillars, and that their assignment will be partially judged by the adherence to those pillars.

Check out "Benefits for students of a Wikipedia Classroom project" |here.

Bird species chosen so far are:

Razorbill

Red-legged Cormorant

Common Nighthawk

Broad-winged Hawk

Common Ground-Dove

Blue-headed Vireo

Rough-legged Buzzard (Hawk)

Black Sparrowhawk

Le Conte's Sparrow

Cave Swallow

Bicolored Hawk

Spot-breasted Ibis