Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Colgate University/The Evolution and Ecology of Sex (Fall 2019)

In this course we'll be learning about what sex is, how it started, and why it sticks around.

The information available in public access sources is often limited by what people volunteer to write about. This means there is lots of information on sex in large, cute, animal creatures (800+ words on bonobo sexual behavior) but very little on other creatures (&lt;20 words on slime mold sex), which have equally fascinating reproductive lives. Furthermore, often evolutionary processes which are equally at work in plants and animals, protists and bacteria, birds and bees, are often only referenced for charismatic mega-fauna.

Wikipedia is the first stop for information for everyone from undergraduates to law makers. Making information available that is representative of the diversity in the natural world is an important task. You'll take on one small piece of this communal task during the course of this class. Enjoy!

Week 2
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Exercise
Evaluate an article

Thinking about sources and plagiarism

Week 4
Brainstorm potential topics / Find some sources

What's a content gap?

Ecology

Environmental Sciences

LGBT+ Studies

Science Communication

Species

Week 5
By the end of the week, have a list of at least 5 potential topics that interest you. This should include two options from the class list and three of your own. Two options may be a specific species for which there is little or no information regarding its reproduction.

Exercise
Add a citation

Week 6
Submit a list of the final ranking of your potential topics. For your new suggestions, include a sentence about what you might add to the wikipedia page. I'll optimize topics across the class and let you know what your term-project topic is.

Week 8
Thinking about Wikipedia

Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have questions using the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Everyone has started reading and annotating their sources and drafting notes for their article.

Week 9
Nominating your article for Did You Know

Week 10
Guiding framework

Week 11
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
 * Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.

Exercise
Add links to your article

Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

Week 13
Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the &quot;mainspace.&quot;

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 14
It's the final week to develop your article.


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
 * Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Week 15
Guiding questions

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.