Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Simon Fraser University/Introduction to Applied Ecology (Fall 2022)

This course provides an introduction to the field of ecology, considering topics like population, community, and food web ecology. The course examines these topics specifically in terms of how they are relevant to applied management problems, such as endangered species, protected areas, and ecosystem-based management. In this course, students will evaluate and improve articles related to these topics, and specifically develop the ecological information on articles about protected areas.

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.)

Week 3
For these exercises, you will be asked to evaluate a Wikipedia article. I suggest you choose one of the following, which have to do with topics we have discussed in the course already:


 * Sunflower sea star
 * Sea star wasting disease
 * Woolly mammoth
 * Endangered species
 * IUCN Red List
 * Vancouver Island marmot
 * Belt transect
 * Quadrat
 * Mesopredator
 * Life history trait
 * Population viability analysis

In this exercise, you will make a small edit to the article you previously evaluated. This edit should be no more than one sentence, and you can do either of the following:

1) Find a sentence in the Wikipedia article that does not have a citation after it, and add a citation, either from the source suggested below or by searching for one online; OR

2) Add a new sentence to the article based on the source suggested below or another appropriate source of your choosing.

Suggested sources for improving some of the previous articles:


 * IUCN Red List Assessment for the Sunflower Sea Start (available in Canvas)
 * &quot;Densovirus associated with sea star wasting disease and mass mortality&quot;, Hewson et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
 * &quot;Collapse of the mammoth-steppe in central Yukon as revealed by ancient environmental DNA&quot; by Murchie et al., Nature Communications
 * &quot;Ten Bridges on the Road to Recovering Canada's Endangered Species&quot;, by Kraus et al., FACETS journal
 * &quot;Quantification of Extinction Risk: IUCN's System for Classifying Threatened Species&quot;, by Mace et al., Conservation Biology
 * &quot;Timing and causes of mortality in the endangered Vancouver Island marmot (Marmota vancouverensis)&quot;, by Bryant &amp; Page, Canadian Journal of Zoology
 * &quot;Laikipia Plateau: What is a Mesopredator?&quot; by Anne-Marie Hodge, Scientific American

Week 4
You will choose articles and groups in your tutorial section on Wednesday, September 28. Complete this prompt AFTER you have done so in your tutorial section.

Ecology

Environmental Sciences

Science Communication

Species

Week 5
You should start gathering sources, making a plan, and drafting your Wikipedia article this week. A first draft is due on October 13 at midnight - this is so that your classmates can provide you with a peer review of your work. Your first draft does not have to be perfect, but it should have an outline with most of the sections filled in, even if some of them are bullet points. If you have not completed a first draft by then, (1) your peers' feedback will not be helpful to you, and (2) you will make it difficult for your classmate to get a good grade on the peer review assignment. So for all of your sakes, please have a first draft by the deadline!

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Week 6
Guiding framework

Your peer review has a hard deadline of October 18 at midnight so that your classmates can discuss your feedback as a group in the tutorial section the next day.

Week 7
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 8
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 9
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!

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

Week 10
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.