Wikipedia:USEP/Courses/Plate Tectonics (Alex Webb)

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Course information

 * University: Louisiana State University
 * Course title: Plate Tectonics
 * Professor: Alex Webb
 * Campus Ambassador: Becky Carmichael
 * Online Ambassador: Graeme Bartlett
 * Course start date: August 20, 2012
 * Assignment due date:

Course description
This course will help students
 * learn the basics and new developments of Plate Tectonics theory;
 * learn approaches to solving plate tectonics research questions; and
 * learn to develop, pursue, and communicate research questions visually and in on-line formal communication.

Previous Semesters
Fall 2011 Plate Tectonics

Timeline
The instructor reserves the right to modify this timeline at any point during the semester to better serve the needs of the class.

Student usernames
Student usernames should follow the ExampleUser format below.

Articles
This table will list each article that a student is working on, and which other students will be peer reviewers for the article.

Grading
The class will be graded out of 800 points.
 * Two Exams (100 points each)
 * Pop Quizzes (50 points)
 * Homework Exercises (150 points)
 * Field trip participation and good citizenship (40 points)
 * Wikipedia project (360 total points)
 * draft page (80 points)
 * initial live page (100 points)
 * course-end modified page & report on modifications & learning experiences from draft to course-end page (120 points)
 * and feedback efforts for classmates’ pages (60 points)

Student resources
For on-wiki help, please refer to this student orientation and this brief resource page.

Printable guides
These printable PDF documents have instructions related to the basics of Wikipedia.


 * Wiki markup quick reference – This one-page quick reference (included in the Welcome to Wikipedia brochure) helps you to remember the most frequently used wiki markup codes.
 * References – This handout explains why references are important, what the expectations for sourcing on Wikipedia are, where to place references, and the basics of adding "ref" tags.
 * Reference formatting – This handout explains in more detail how to create footnotes for citing sources, and how to cite the same source multiple times.
 * How to get help – explains the recommended way to get help and feedback. It also includes a glossary of additional help resources you can avail yourself of.
 * Plagiarism – explains what plagiarism is on Wikipedia&mdash;including "close paraphrasing"&mdash;in addition to why and how to avoid it.

On-wiki tutorials

 * Tutorial - General introduction to Wikipedia
 * Article wizard - Walkthrough of the requirements for articles, including notability and sources
 * Picture tutorial - Explains how to insert pictures into Wikipedia articles using wikitext
 * Graphics tutorials (advanced) - advice about advanced image editing

Analyzing your contributions

 * Wikipedia article traffic statistics – a tool for charting how many hits any given article gets, great for comparing different kinds of articles at different times, e.g., Genetics (in the school year) vs. (in the summer), or YouTube (with weekend spikes) and Simpsons (with spikes when new episodes come out). Students can also use it to see how many people are reading their articles over the course of the class (and beyond).
 * Edit counter – a tool for charting how many edits you've made over time, which types of pages you've edited, and which pages you've edited most.

Topic specific items
The category Category:Plate tectonics is like a tag that is likely to be used on many of the articles of interest or to be written by participants. Changes in the articles in the category can be found in

A project WikiProject Geology has been organized for Wikipedia editors interested in Geology. People can sign up and discuss how to work together on the topic.

On the Wikimedia Commons there are images already drawn in these categories: Commons:Category:Plate tectonics Commons:Category:Maps of tectonic platesCommons:Category:Cratons Commons:Category:Maps of past tectonic plates Commons:Category:Laurasia and Gondwana Commons:Category:Earthquakes and many subcategories Commons:Category:Mid-ocean ridge Commons:Category:Mid-Atlantic Ridge Commons:Category:Ocean topography Commons:Category:RiftsCommons:Category:Orogeny Commons:Category:Oceanic trenches Commons:Category:Structural basins Commons:Category:Subduction Commons:Category:Structure of the Earth Commons:Category:Structural geology. Since these images are free, it is possible to use them as a starting point to make a derivative.

Immediate help
Looking for immediate help from a Wikipedia Ambassador? Click the big purple button on the right.

Enter your Wikipedia username, fill out the CAPTCHA, and click "Connect" to enter chat. Then explain what you need help with.

If no one replies within about 3-5 minutes, try this help channel instead.