Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Tarleton State University/Freshwater Biology (Fall 2020)

Freshwater Biology (a.k.a. Limnology) teaches on the biological and physicochemical characteristics of lakes, rivers, and wetlands. Students will spend the first part of the semester learning lab and field data collection techniques. To gain an appreciation of how these data are analyzed, interpreted, and disseminated, they will edit Wikipedia pages for reservoirs in Texas (the university’s home state). They will use resources including peer-reviewed literature, federal and state government reports, and informal literature to learn how to find and critically assess each resource. Another learning goal is public science communication. It also fulfills a need for Wikipedia because of the 200 Texas reservoirs, many articles remain as stubs or do not yet exist. My plan is for each student to individually edit two pages, one stub and one new (13 students for 26 pages total).

Week 9
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 10
Ecology

Environmental Sciences

Science Communication

Week 13
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

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

Week 14
Guiding framework

Week 15
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.

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

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 16
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!

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.