Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Memorial University/Animal Behaviour (Fall)

This third-year course will introduce students to the integrative study of animal behaviour. Lectures will emphasize how an animal's behaviour adapts it to its environment, why different species behave in different ways, and why, within species, there are behavioural differences among individuals. Lectures will cover a broad range of topics, including historical perspectives on animal behaviour, the four levels of analysis in animal behaviour research, the genetic and physiological mechanisms underlying behaviour, the development of behaviour over an individual's lifetime, animal learning and cultural transmission, animal personality, and adaptive behaviours concerning sex, death, and food. The Wikipedia assignment will allow students to explore a topic of their choice in Animal Behaviour, and to develop a Wikipedia article on that topic.

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.) Complete the two training modules, which, together, are worth 5% of the overall Wikipedia grade.

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Exercise
Evaluate an article

Complete the two training modules, then complete the assignment by evaluating a Wikipedia article about animal behaviour. Make your evaluation in your sandbox under a heading entitled &quot;Article Evaluation.&quot; You should address the article's content, tone, sources, and talk page, as stipulated in the assignment; howevere, you do not need to address every question mentioned in the assignment within each of these categories, as some questions may not be relevant. Make your comments specific and constructive, and avoid simply saying that 'everything looks good.' Write in full sentences; spelling and grammar are important in this assignment, as they are in all assignments. Remember to include the name of the article in your evaluation.

Thinking about sources and plagiarism

Exercise
Add a citation

Week 5
What's a content gap?

Exercise
Choose a topic

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

Week 6
Finalize your topic / Find your sources

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

Species

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

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.

Thinking about Wikipedia

Week 9
Guiding framework

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

Week 10
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.

Nominating your article for Did You Know

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 11
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

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.

Week 12
Guiding questions