Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/York University/Applied Plant Ecology (Winter)

BIOL/ENVS 4095.30 Applied Plant Ecology

Due date: Friday 29 Feb 2020 midnight. Extension to 16 March 2020

This is the last day of February. You can tweet me the link to the articles that you edits using hashtag #biol4095.

WRITING PROJECT: LEARN TO CREATE OPEN ACCESS WIKIPEDIA KNOWLEDGE

For 5% of your overall mark. (This document Created 8-1-2014, updated January 2016 &amp; January 2020)

In this assignment, you will learn where web-based Wikipedia content comes from, and how to create web-based content yourself. You will also learn about Open Access, Metadata and discoverability.

I launched this assignment in 2014 with the help of Steacie Librarian, Mr. John Dupuis. I was inspired by the idea of the Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon projects aimed at getting more Wikipedia entries for Female Scientists (Twitter hashtag #WomenSciWP). Over the years, I have come to realize just what a useful exercise and project that this is for students!

Your task:

In this assignment, you will not be creating new Wikipedia pages, but rather adding to an existing page on an applied plant ecology topic of your choice. But it must be related to the list of student lectures that your groups will be giving in March.

For a handy online guide to Editing Wikipedia, see this excellent article by UofT graduate student, Ms. Farah Qaiser:

https://sisterstem.org/2019/03/07/wikipedia-editing/

Directions:

First, make a Wikipedia account. Please DO NOT use your real name for this and choose a username that is a pen-name of some kind. You could choose a username that is the Latin genus name of your favourite plant, tree, flower or fungus!

Next, find a relevant Wikipedia page that you will edit and improve and expand its content.

Next list the Wikipedia page name (title), and its URL link on the Moodle forum for the Wikipedia assignment that I will make for the course in the Introduction section near the Google calendar. Please also list your Wikipedia username. This allows me to view and review your edits and additions when I am in Wikipedia as an editor.

Please improve the page with a minimum of 250 words of text for which every statement must be backed up by a 3rd party reference. The assignment will include the name of the person, their Wikipedia page link, the new text and all of the references to back up what you say about the person’s life, research and significance.

During the class on Friday 24th January, 2020, I will introduce you to some Wikipedia editing basics.

Week 8
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.)

Some students already chose to write about a post at our course blog about your experience learning to become a Wikipedian. One of your open book final exam questions will be for everyone to go back to the page(s) that you edited for your Original Wikipedia assignment, and to add 5 references to the list, plus to write a blog post about what you have learned about being a Wikipedian. If you already wrote a blog post, you will write a second post -- kind of like a before and after doing the WikiEdu training modules, which are much more comprehensive than what I covered in lecture. Prof. Bazely

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 10
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

Week 11
If you already added all the citations and references you could find, then add 5 to another Plant Ecology Wikipedia article

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

Environmental Sciences

Films

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 12
Guiding framework

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

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 13
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 14
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.

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 15
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!

Please add a 6th blog post to our website for this mandatory final exam question

Week 16
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.