Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of British Columbia/MICB 301 Microbial Ecophysiology (Fall)

Ecophysiology is the study of how the environment, both physical and biological, interacts with the physiology of an organism. It includes the effects of climate and nutrients on physiological processes, and has a particular focus on how physiological processes scale with organism size.

Week 1
Welcome to your Wikipedia project's course timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for your course. Be sure to check with your instructor to see if there are other pages you should be following as well.

Your course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the &quot;Get Help&quot; button on this page.

To get started, please review the following handouts:


 * Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia


 * 1) Completion of online training – 20%
 * 2) Assignment 1: Critique of an article- 15%
 * 3) Assignment 2: Choosing an article- 15%
 * 4) Assignment 3: First Draft of the Wikipedia edits - 5%
 * 5) Assignment 4: Peer Review- 15%
 * 6) Assignment 5: Final Draft of the Wikipedia edits – 30%

Late assignments will be penalized 10% for every day that they are late.


 * Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (To avoid hitting Wikipedia's account creation limits, this is best done outside of class. Only 6 new accounts may be created per day from the same IP address.)
 * It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online trainings you'll need to take. New modules will appear on this timeline as you get to new milestones. Be sure to check back and complete them! Incomplete trainings will be reflected in your grade.
 * When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s Talk page.

Week 2
Now that you’re familiar with Wikipedia, it is time to evaluate and critique Wikipedia articles. In this assignment, you’ll evaluate a Wikipedia article, and make suggestions for improvement. Complete the online module ‘Evaluating Articles and Sources’

Read one of the following Wikipedia articles (chosen from your class material) and complete a critique of the article (250 words max.)


 * Peptidoglycan
 * FtsZ
 * Bacterial circadian rhythms
 * Response regulator
 * EnvZ-OmpR
 * Heterotroph
 * Phototroph
 * Anaerobic respiration
 * Microbial fuel cell
 * Chlorosome
 * Mixotroph
 * Microbial loop

During your evaluation of the Wikipedia article, please consider the following questions to help guide your critique:


 * Are there appropriate and reliable references for each fact?
 * Is the article material relevant to the article topic? Is there information that you think don’t think belong in the Wikipedia article?
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that is heavily biased towards a particular position?
 * Where is the information cited? Are these appropriate sources? Are there any biases with the sources?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Check a few citations.  Does the hyperlink bring you to the right page? Is there any evidence of close paraphrasing or plagiarism?
 * Is there any missing information that can be added or out-dated information that can be updated?
 * Check the “talk” page? Has any conversations been started by the Wikipedia community about the topic?

Please write a critique of your choice (from the list above) on your own sandbox (through your own user's 'talk page'). Be sure to declare the article of your choice at the top and sign your critique with four tildes  — ~ ~ ~ ~.

A marking rubric for critiquing a Wikipedia article can be found in the 'Wikipedia Module' of Connect.

Optional: Please write a reflection (in 2-3 sentences) about your experience in evaluating the Wikipedia article (i.e. What did you learn? What was hard/easy?). Be sure to separate this from your critique in your user's 'talk page'.

Week 3
Now that you are well equipped to critically evaluate a Wikipedia page, please choose a topic that is relevant to the course material taught in MICB301. As a reference, please consult your class syllabus for ideas of topics. You are not required to create a new topic. Simply, you are editing an existing topic that requires significant improvement.

As a tip, choose topics with high notability, meaning there’s significant coverage of the topic with reliable sources. This topic must be related to the course material and should be a topic of your own interest. The best topics are the ones flagged by the Wikipedia community and mention the need for verification or corrections to the Wikipedia page. This can be found at the top of the main page or in the ‘talk’ page. For more information on choosing your topic, please read Editing Wikipedia (page 6).

You can also browse the Stub categories on Microbiology here to find an article that you may be interested. However, be careful when choosing these topics, as some of them may not contain enough sources to add more to these article pages. Remember, these topics must be relevant to the course material.

Choose your topic; briefly critique on a section of the article (based on what you learned last week) and identify areas of improvement that you can make. Explain why the topic merits the attention for your edits (Is this an article of high notability?). Identify areas of improvement. What content will you add and how will this addition improve/expand the content of the Wikipedia article?

Provide this evaluation (max. 350 words) on your own sandbox's ' talk page' (similar to Assignment 1).

Be sure to sign off with four tildes  — ~ ~ ~ ~.

Tips:


 * Choose a topic that is unbiased and has a fair of amount of literature coverage (you must add 3 citations to the article when you make edits to the article)
 * Focus on 1 part of the article that you want to edit (do not try to edit everything on the article).
 * Write concisely

Week 4
For this week, you will familiarize yourself with editing your Wikipedia article. Start by adding citations and then follow-up by making small changes to improve your article in your Sandbox. Your edits will be your first draft.

Be sure to sign off with four tildes  — ~ ~ ~ ~.


 * Consult Editing Wikipedia (page 8-9) on how to structure your sentences to Wikipedia’s style of writing.
 * Complete the online module ‘Plagiarism’
 * Reflect on your evaluation of the Wikipedia page in Week 3. How can you add to your article to improve it?
 * You should add 3 new citations to your article (please keep in mind to write concisely,  more words don't necessary lead to well-written document).
 * You should always cite your writing to a reliable source, using the skills you learned from the online training modules.

Instructions:

Please review your 'Sandboxes and Mainspace' online training to make use of your sandbox.

To make the peer review and marking easy for accessing, please do the following:


 * Copy the section with the subheading from your Wikipedia article in which you will be editing onto sandbox with the subheading.

–Title it: Original- “article name”

–Do not make edits to this one as it will help with distinguishing the original article     from your edits.


 * Make another copy of the section with the subheading

–Title it: Edit- “article name”

–Make your edits here.

Week 5
How did you do last week? Does your edits meet the evaluation requirements of a Wikipedia page? Does your newly added material address the deficiencies of the previous Wikipedia page? Is the material you added relevant to topic and is neutral? Are the sources relevant to the material? Well, how would you know what you did well and what you need to improve on? Get a second opinion from a peer!

This week, you will do a peer-review of your classmate’s edits. You will be assigned a classmate for peer review.


 * Complete the online module ‘Peer Review’
 * Peer review your classmates’ draft. Provide at least 3 items of positive feedback on what your fellow classmate had done well; and at least 3 suggestions for further improvement.
 * Leave your suggestions on the ‘talk’ page of Sandbox.
 * When reviewing your classmate’s Wikipedia page, please make corrections to any spelling and grammar errors in the writing. Pay attention to the style and tone of the writing.

Please note: The Wiki Ed Dashboard automatically tracks the comments you left on your peers Sandbox &quot;talk&quot; pages under your username on the Students tab. Your peer will be able to look at these comments. The instructor will have access to your feedback as part of your evaluation for the completion of the peer review. The feedback on your own article page will also be used to evaluate whether they have been incorporated into your next edits of your Wikipedia article.

Week 6
It’s time to reflect on your feedback and improve your article! Remember, your job is to improve the article page such that the writing is better sourced and more cohesive than before. The achievement of this goal will require significant additions, changes, and revisions depending on the previous shape of the articles and the feedback you received from your peers.


 * Consult Editing Wikipedia (page 14) on your feedback.
 * Read your feedback and decide whether the suggestions provide valid reasons for further edits. Reach out to your instructor or your Wikipedia Content Expert if you have any questions.
 * Be sure to acknowledge feedback from your classmate in the ‘talk’ page.
 * Make additions, changes, and revisions to your writing and sources if necessary.  Keep in mind the 3 citations limit.
 * Pay attention to the style and tone of your writing. Does it meet Wikipedia’s standards?
 * Consult Editing Wikipedia (page 15) for a final review
 * Copy and move your changes to the mainspace. Consult Editing Wikipedia (page 12-13)