Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/University of Arizona/(SGP) UofA Geo Club (Spring 2015)/course page

This project page is a resource for students within the University of Arizona Geology Club. Geo Club students are participating in a program with Wiki Ed aiming to encourage extracurricular editing through student projects. Students will be asked to make contributions to articles related to Geology on Wikipedia. On this page please find links to our online resources, trainings, and more.

For questions, contact Samantha at samantha@wikiedu.org.
This Course Page may change. Check back for updates as Spring semester continues.

Editing Projects[edit]

Stub page lists (lists of articles that are short and can use improvement)

Geology stubs

General Editing Ideas & Resources

Dripping Spring Quartzite Wikipedia page
Category:Geology stubs The Wikipedia page for Tombstone,_Arizona has a red link to Pinal Schist, a basement rock mentioned in Leon Silver's PDF below.
Bedrock_mortar needs more information and photos.
Riparian_zone page needs updated sources, could also use addition of Arizona examples.
Can add a reference and link to Kartchner Caverns on the Sinkhole page.
Fault_gouge needs work.
Illite
Speleothem has some red links for types of stalagmites.
Speleogen & Speleogenesis are stub articles.
Speleology could use some updating!
Soda_straw

Editing Resources

GEOPHYSICAL STUDIES AT KARTCHNER CAVERNS STATE PARK, ARIZONA
PRECAMBRIAN FORMATIONS AND PRECAMBRIAN HISTORY IN COCHISE COUNTY, SOUTHEASTERN ARIZONA

Photos[edit]

Timeline[edit]

Pre Work[edit]

To be completed before Feb 27th

If you haven't already, create a user account.
1. Take a moment to look at Wikipedia's username policy and consider how anonymous you would like to be on Wikipedia. You need not use your real name, although many Wikipedians choose to do so. Try to pick a fun username—at least one you'll remember.
2. When you've chosen a username, click "Create account" at the top right of any Wikipedia page and follow the instructions.
3. Adding an email address to your account is strongly recommended; this allows you to send and receive emails with other editors. (Your email address is not revealed when other users contact you.) You can also receive email notifications whenever pages you are interested in get changed, if you wish. And if you forget your Wikipedia password, you can have it emailed to you — but only if you add your email address to your account!
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 listing a few sentences about yourself.
Click the "enroll" button on the top left of this course page.
Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Ask Samantha for comment.
Find one or two personal photos you've taken on any topic - maybe a great photo of a mountain range, a dog species, a tourist destination - and bring to the workshop. Review the Creative Commons Share-alike info to make sure you are comfortable sharing your photos on Wikipedia Commons. You will not be forced to upload photos, but the tutorial will be easier if you bring one with you to practice on.

Milestone

All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.

Workshop Agenda[edit]

February 27th, 400pm

Welcome!
Meet the Wikipedia community!
Basics for editing with Wikipedia
Demo making an edit & uploading images
Field Trip Preparation
Q&A session with Samantha and a Wikipedian about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.

Fieldtrip[edit]

Saturday, February 28th 8am-4pm

Wiki Ed will host a field trip for interested Geo Club students. The field trip provides a set editing goal of improving the Wikipedia page for Kartchner Caverns State Park and any accompanying geologic facts or phenomena. On the trip we will take photos, gather resources, and have fun! learning about a topic we're passionate about. We will prepare for the field trip during the Friday workshop by finding resources such as newspaper clippings and journal articles about Kartchner Caverns that we can contribute to the article page. As a group, we will debrief before and after the field trip about what information we think should be included in the Wikipedia page and practice our editing skills by contributing that information.

Tentative Agenda

8am depart from U of A campus
940am Rotunda tour
1115 Lunch
Hike Foothills Loop Trail or The Guindani Trail
2pm depart for U of A
Back to campus by 3:30pm

Kartchner Caverns State Park Website

Follow up workshop, field trip debrief[edit]

date TBD

Discuss the fieldtrip & our progress on articles relating to their field trip.
Answer any editing questions for personal projects.
Add final touches to your Wikipedia article!

Milestone

All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.
Students have gained professional development in their field, as well as media literacy, editing, proofreading & research skills!
Students continue editing!

Resources[edit]

Selecting your article[edit]

Before selecting the topic you will research, remember to review this guideline for selecting an article. Most important points:

To begin, check the available literature in your course work, class readings, or academic journals. Are there important people, things, theories, or events that aren't developed very well on Wikipedia? Search Wikipedia with a few different search terms to be sure.
Try to choose a "stub" or "start-class" article to expand.
Verify your topic's notability.
Search Wikipedia to see if this content already exists.
Make sure you have enough reliable sources to cite your contributions.
Work with a relevant WikiProject whenever possible.
If you're still stuck, check out our Choosing an Article handout for more ideas.

Tips for personal Wikipedia projects[edit]

To prepare: Critically evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the club, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's talk page. Don't forget to add your article to the class’s course page. Reach out to Samantha for questions.

Start small!
1. Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia topic of your choosing.
2. If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox before moving it to the live page.
3. If you are improving an existing article, write a summary version reflecting the content the article will have after it's been improved, and post this along with a brief description of your plans on the article’s talk page. Once you've interacted with any common editors, and made any suggested changes, you're ready to move your edits live!
Using your Sandboxes
1. How to use a sandbox for existing articles: When you start to revise larger chunks of an existing article, it's a good idea to draft your first significant edits into a sandbox. Don't copy the whole article, just choose the small piece you want to work with. Trying to rewrite an entire article in a sandbox can be annoying to editors who work on that article. Other editors will keep making good edits or expansions to that article while it's in your sandbox, which you'll kick out if you just copy and paste! Focus on small chunks of the text you want to edit instead. It's polite to use the talk page of the article to link to your sandbox when you copy things over. That way editors can see what you're up to, and post suggestions to the talk page before you start. Once you are happy with your sandbox draft, you can place another notice on the talk page of the article with a link to the sandbox, explaining what you've done and asking for comments on it once you've added it to the main page.
2. In general, the sooner you move out of a sandbox, the better. Then, watch the Talk page for your article. You may receive more feedback on your edit once it "goes live" compared to when it is in your sandbox.
Using your Watchlist
1. When you add an article to your watchlist, you also watch the corresponding Talk page, so if someone responds to your article edits on the Talk page, it will show up on your watchlist.
Finding & Contributing Sources
1. Compile a bibliography of relevant research and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on to help keep track.
2. Look for news clipping, journal articles, and more.
Help eachother!
1. Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your short starter article and fix any major issues.
2. Select two articles that you will peer review and copy-edit.
3. Follow through!