Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Cornell University/BioEE1610 WIM (Spring 2022)

This course covers introductory topics in ecology and the environment. Students will be contributing to an article in the field of ecology.

Week 1
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.

Week 2
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

Below are some resources for finding articles on Wikipedia related to ecology and the environment:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ecology (Links to an external site.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Ecology (Links to an external site.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Ecology (Links to an external site.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Environment (Links to an external site.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Environment

Your additions must be  at least 600 words  and use a  minimum of 5 scholarly references. These references can also be used as citations for your scientific paper, as appropriate. The Wikipedia article can relate to the topic you choose to write your scientific paper about or another ecological principal that you find interesting. The article you choose should relate to a broad ecological question or concept . Thus, articles on a particular organism or taxonomic group may not be appropriate.

Your topic could be something like &quot;Topic X in System Y&quot;. For example, you may choose to talk about coral disease in sea fans, biodiversity of a certain genus of frogs, predation behavior of a group of sharks, etc.

You probably won't be updating a whole article. Rather, you can contribute significantly to a sub-section of an article!

For example, if you chose a specific species of ant that you were interested in, you may find several peer-reviewed papers about the foraging behavior of that ant. Then you can write about those papers in the &quot;Diet&quot; section of the article about that ant species.

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

Ecology

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 3
Guiding framework

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.

Week 4
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

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.

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 5
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!

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