Wikipedia:WikiProject AP Biology 2011



Past Projects: WikiProject AP Biology 2010, WikiProject AP Biology 2009 and WikiProject AP Biology 2008



A high school class in North Carolina – Croatan High School in Newport, North Carolina – will contribute to Wikipedia until January 15, 2012. The long-term goal is to write biology related articles and bring them up to featured article status (or, good article status). This is done as part of an Advanced Placement Biology course. The lead editor is Jimmy Butler. This project is a followup performance of our 2008, 2009 and 2010 efforts. The 2008 Wikipedia AP Biology Project was marked with much success. Our efforts in 2009 Wikipedia AP Biology Project, were less broad in scope; yet, none-the-less generated two FA articles; strangely, both on turtles! The 2010 Wikipedia AP Biology Project posed an even greater challenge, with only 8 contributors.


 * The entire class will begin by making minor edits to a variety of biological topics in an effort to build confidence before tackling a single article in pursuit of FA.
 * The time frame will continue to be one semester; however, I plan to insert more deadlines that are linked to grades to reduce procrastination.
 * The final grade will be based on their portfolio, containing the student's contributions – content research, interaction with the Wikipedia community, content contribution via direct edits, formatting, images, as well as the dreaded citation formatting. This portfolio will be reviewed in a conference setting, giving the student the opportunity to justify the grade they desire.
 * There will be no connection between the student's grade and FA or GA status. I will be evaluating contributions, not outcome. This marks a dramatic change and hopefully reflects a more equitable form of evaluation. FA status will hopefully be an outcome of our efforts; however, it will not define student success.

Feel free to discuss this project. Please notify me of any concerns, especially if they involve the behavior of my students on Wikipedia. With a little patience, this should be an inspirational experience for all.

Goals / Motivation

 * To improve Wikipedia's coverage of selected articles in Biology.
 * To submit these articles to Wikipedia review processes, such as peer review, good article nominations and featured article candidates.
 * To increase the number of featured articles in this area.
 * To introduce students to the concepts of "reliable sources" and how to properly cite them.
 * To develop the social skills necessary to navigate through the world of academia while attempting to build consensus.
 * To improve upon writing skills – emphasizing the need for efficiency for clarity and accuracy.
 * To develop some basic computer skills and confidence with technology (despite popular opinion – many students are computer illiterate).
 * To master the "comma", and "semicolon"; as well as those, other annoying; little grammatical – tools (that) I too: struggle with.
 * And as an added bonus, to become an expert on a biological topic. Yes, I am now one of the world's leading authorities on the "bog turtle"!!!!

The dreaded “Research Paper” is a standard hurdle in most AP Programs. It is rightfully included, because many college courses require such publications to validate the students. As a consequence, I have graded literally hundreds of papers with the same enthusiasm as my students have proclaimed when creating them. In the end, the students were rewarded for their effort or destroyed because of their incompetence; some were even caught by the highly feared Turnitin.com anti-plagiarism software. The papers themselves merely contributed to our overly bloated landfills. Hence, my excitement over this new approach to constructing a scientific document. Rather than researching for a paper that is destined to the circular bin, let us contribute to the world-wide data base for others to benefit.

Featured Articles (criteria)



 * Featured Article Candidates:

Good articles (criteria)

 * Greater Scaup
 * Quoll
 * Spotted eagle ray
 * Hog Island sheep
 * Boletus bicolor
 * Bluespotted stingray
 * Olympic marmot


 * Good article nominations:


 * Former Good article nominations:
 * Sand tiger shark

Templates
Please place this template in the discussion page of any article that is being worked on as part of this project. It will help the community identify the work carried out by AP Biology 2011. Simply copy and paste into the article's talk page somewhere near the top:

Planning and resources
Some information on planning and resources for the AP Biology 2011 Project.

Stages

 * Start. Get familiar with Wikipedia. Make some trial edits, however minor.  Demystify the process.  Leave behind any sense of intimidation.  As Wikipedia puts it, learn to be bold.  Learn basic editing skllls.


 * Plan. But minor edits alone won't get us much closer towards Featured Article status.  We need to have a sense of what more needs to be done, and an overall plan for the article.  Look at models and guidelines (e.g. guidelines for articles about novels) on how to write good and feature articles.  What sections are required?  What will be the article structure?  What information is needed?


 * Share. We will need to divide up the tasks that we've identified in the planning stage.  Who is going to do what and when?


 * Research. This is vital.  A Wikipedia article is worth nothing unless it comprises verified research, appropriately referenced.  This will entail going to the library, as well as surfing the internet!


 * Assemble and copy-edit. As the referenced research is added to an article, we need to ensure that it does not become baggy and disorganized, though there will be moments when it is obviously in a transitional stage.


 * Informal Review. First, informal reviews among ourselves and consultation with members of the FA-Team.


 * Good article nomination. There is always a backlog of articles to be reviewed, so nominate early.


 * Further Informal Review.


 * Peer Review.


 * Feature article nomination.

There's no precise order for everything. (Wikipedia doesn't care if you skip everything and go straight for a FA nomination: as long as the article satisfies the criteria.) There's always the need for small, incremental change. But over the course of the project we're looking for radical change, in some cases seeking to create a featured article from scratch. So we need also to be methodical.

And it may turn out that not all articles will be submitted to Featured Article Review. But this should still be our goal!

NB see also what Wikipedia has to say about article development.

Whenever you edit, make sure that you are signed in. Also, add four tildes ~ to the end of all comments you make on talk pages. This will let people know who is talking.
 * Talk pages

Style guides
To get past the stumbling blocks of GA and FA, articles will have to conform to the Wikipedia style guides. The three largest barriers are:
 * Layout – this guide describes heading and sub-headings.
 * Lead section – the all important abstract at the head of an article.
 * Manual of Style – the collection of rules.

Secondary style guide are specific to different projects. Articles must conform to these also. Conflict between any of these is inevitable and troublesome; editors simply have to work out conflicts through consensus.
 * Manual of Style (medical articles) – collection of rules for medical articles.
 * Manual of Style (writing about fiction) – collection of rules for fiction.
 * WikiProject Novels/Style guidelines – mostly lay out issues for articles on novels.

You can always ask for help at:
 * The Help Desk

Resources

 * Getting started
 * The perfect article
 * Assessment
 * Article development
 * Peer Review
 * Good article criteria
 * Guide for nominating good articles
 * Good article review cheatsheet
 * Good article nominations
 * Featured article criteria
 * The differences between good and featured articles
 * How to satisfy Criterion 1a
 * Biology stubs (a list of articles that might be worth working on)
 * Biology featured articles



Mentors

 * My deepest appreciation to those who are willing to offer the students assistance on this AP Biology project. It is my intent for the students to be responsible for the lion's share of the content as well as the necessary citations. Formatting, writing style, general organization, and grammar are the areas in which guidance would be greatly appreciated. It's a fine line between assistance and enablement!! I personally like the idea creating a list of concerns and allowing the students to address the problems. I'm confident a balance can be achieved that assures this is a learning process for the students and that they will feel a sense of accomplishment when the project ends.
 * I trust that the students will conduct themselves in an appropriate manner and at no time will their behavior be problematic. They do understand that their actions reflect on the class and school and they are being held accountable. Should any concerns arise, please contact me through the email option. I am very excited about the prospect of my students working with the brilliant and dedicated members of the Wikipedia community. This is an incredible learning opportunity for which I am most grateful. Please note, some of them are rather nervous and have considerable self-doubt. In time, they will overcome ... just a little patience!


 * There will be no formal "pairing" of students with mentors; it seemed to have a natural flow during the 2008 Project, dependent on the topic and personalities of the authors. Feel free to introduce yourself and offer assistance on their user pages or the article talk pages as the topic list develops and they begin to edit.

Articles from prior AP Biology Projects
These articles were adopted by the AP biology class 2008–2011 as either stubs or poorly written start class articles and were elevated to the status listed below.

Featured Articles

 * Banker Horse
 * Bog turtle -Main page "Today's featured article/August 30, 2010"
 * Loggerhead sea turtle -Main page "Today's featured article/January 4, 2012"
 * Macaroni Penguin
 * Osteochondritis dissecans- Main page "Today's featured article/August 18, 2010"
 * Phagocyte- Main page "Today's featured article/August 6, 2009"

Good articles

 * Atlantic blue marlin
 * Bluespotted stingray
 * Boletus bicolor
 * Endomembrane system
 * Greater Scaup
 * Hog Island sheep
 * North American River Otter
 * Olympic marmot
 * Osteitis fibrosa cystica
 * Pudú
 * Quoll
 * Solar urticaria
 * Spotted eagle ray