Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Saint Louis University/Evolutionary Biology, 3010-02 (Fall 2015)

Week 1

 * Overview of the project
 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
 * Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.

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Handout: Editing Wikipedia


 * Create an account and then complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
 * Create a User page.
 * To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.

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Resources: Online Training for Students

Week 2

 * Basics of editing
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
 * Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
 * Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments

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Handouts:, Evaluating Wikipedia

Comment on the article found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymorphism_(biology)

What did you learn? How do you see this article tying into evolutionary ideas we will learn in class? What did you like about how the article was constructed, what would you do differently? Were there certain sections that stood out as particularly strong? particularly weak? What made them stronger or weaker? Feel free to make some small edits to the article.

Pick 5 topics you would be most interested in focusing on. Assignments will be based on your choices.

Week 3
Annotate article on polymorphism and evolution.

Week 4
Discussion on what you have learned so far. Positive or negative experiences? Common experiences among students? * Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.

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Handouts: and

Week 5
Propose 4 references on the talk page to get feedback. One must be trusted internet source other than Wikipedia

Annotate 1 of the articles you chose that got positive feedback on the talk page. Email annotation to Dr. Fowler-Finn.


 * Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to your organism or topic.

Week 6

 * Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
 * Q&amp;A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.

Annotate an additional 2 articles that received positive feedback on the talk page.

Week 7
Handout:


 * Place your article in main space.
 * Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Week 10

 * Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Which ones you are responsible for will be assigned on the class dashboard. Leave suggestions directly on the article's talk pages. Comment on the structure of the article, its relevance to evolutionary biology, the overall organization, and other major edits you would propose.
 * Copy-edit the two reviewed articles. (i.e. provide grammatical and spelling edits if needed - do so directly in the article itself).

Week 12

 * Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback directly on the article's page. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.

This will be your second graded draft. Feel good about the work you have done and progress made so far!


 * Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved on the talk pages. Come up with your own improvement goals for each article for next week.
 * Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.

Week 13

 * Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.
 * Add additional reference to bring the number of references to 4+
 * Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.

What is published on December 10 by 10AM will be graded as your final project for the class. Congratulations - feel good about your contribution to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia!

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Handout:

Week 14
Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.