User talk:Waterbug42

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Hello, Waterbug42 and Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions to this free encyclopedia. If you decide that you need help, check out Getting Help below, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by using four tildes (~~~~) or by clicking

if shown; this will automatically produce your username and the date. Also, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field with your edits. Below are some useful links to facilitate your involvement. Happy editing! Shyamal (talk) 16:18, 24 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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Wiki link[edit]

Thank you for wiki linking some of the information I wrote. I was wondering how and who linked those for me! Thanks! JeOs24 (talk) 23:06, 19 March 2012 (UTC)JeOs24[reply]

Online volunteer[edit]

Hi Dr Timpte, my name is Shyamal and I have registered as an online ambassadors for your "interdisciplinary applications of biology" course. I look forward to learning from and assisting in the research assignments and contributions from your course participants. From the other side of the world (UTC +5.30). Shyamal (talk) 16:27, 24 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

HI! Its Candace between friends :), nice to meet you Shyamal! I am a bit behind and overwhelmed this semester but I think this project fits my class. the capstone assignment for this class has been to write a 30 page research paper (in a group of 3-4 students) examining a federal or state law from the perspectives of economic, social/ethical, political and technological in an effort to bolster student understanding that their biology education reaches far beyond the classroom and into areas they've not thought about. I have had students examine: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, adding polar bears to the endangered species act, drilling in the ANWAR (one that looks like it is heating up again with Exon's latest deal with Russia), the Patriot Act and Obama's health care act.

Until we get to the capstone project, I have the students examining various issues. First we're examining ethics of human research using the Tuskegee untreated syphilis study, next we will examine land use and conservation using a case study in which the government seizes land for ecotourism (and think about the reality of ecotourism as biologists!) Then, there are several issues in their text to which they can choose to study for weekly debates and discussions.

I have used wikis in other classes and this group of students thought adding to the body of knowledge in Wikipedia would be fun! Soooooo, we need to find articles that they, as biologists, could research policy, economics, technology (of course can be biology) and expand their horizons a bit.

I have gotten stalled on designing the syllabus for the course and finishing the details as I started to look for places for them to plug into and enhance.

I gratefully appreciate any/all help, suggestions, thoughts and editings!! Waterbug42 (talk) 13:26, 1 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Candace, nice to hear about the progress of the course. I guess the choice of topic is entirely that of your class and my involvement will mainly be in guiding you and your students in the mechanics of editing on Wikipedia, managing within its guidelines and helping you polish content according to existing norms and styles.

There is a tendency for new articles to be created for courses and these can sometimes get nominated for deletion under rules like WP:NOT and WP:OR. In the rare few cases, the chosen topic may form an acceptable article on Wikipedia and have a clear structure and boundary. Given the nature of your theme, it may be good to be prepared for situations where the research topic that the students identify will not neccessarily be a single article on Wikipedia and instead be best considered as a series of enhancements to parts of multiple pre-existing Wikipedia articles. It is therefore good that their final 30-page research is given primary emphasis for grading as it allows an original synthesis, something that Wikipedia disallows. I am sure your on-site/campus ambassadors can guide you on most of these issues.

You can write either on my talk page or yours, no rule or standard etiquette there. Good luck! Shyamal (talk) 15:03, 1 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Shyamal, thanks for the warnings about articles that would be nominated for deletion, exactly my concern. So I am brainstorming on sites to direct my students to check out the possibilities. Would it be appropriate to, for example, add a section to the Food Safety Act on its impact on children, for instance? or a section discussing the Endangered species act, the economic impact of listing the polar bear? I myself am trying to discern between what is "issue" and what is encyclopedic appropriate content. I definitely need some help sorting out sites for this class where they are not strictly to be biology but applied science, research and writing. thanks! Waterbug42 (talk) 16:49, 2 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, a section in a pre-existing article that is supported by reliable sources would work. I am unable to find any information on the US Food Safety Act you mention (or is it this?) although there is a Food Safety Act 1990 referring to UK law. You could actually include the economic impact - in the conservation status section of Polar Bear, but the typical expectations for encylopedia users is a worldwide view - so it would be nice if you can also include coverage of Canada, Greenland (Denmark), Norway and any other polar-bear countries. Shyamal (talk) 05:35, 3 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi[edit]

Hi Candace, welcome to the Global Education Program! Annie Lin (Wikimedia Foundation) (talk) 23:01, 31 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Let's Talk![edit]

Hey, Dr. Timpte! I am talking on your page! I am very interested in this wikipedia project. It should be fun to see what everyone comes up with. See you on Monday!Aendicot (talk) 14:58, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Amber, you need to start your talk page too! thanks. Waterbug42 (talk) 00:14, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Tracking contributions[edit]

Once you know the Wikipedia user names of your students - you can then click on their user page and on the left side panel you can see the contributions of the user. As for contributions to a specific article, you can see the article history and view edits. Maybe there is a way to consolidate all your student contributions in one page. Shyamal (talk) 13:16, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Your contributions[edit]

Hi, I noticed you created Nscraft:Natasha Craft and Aendicot:Amber Endicott. What are you trying to do here? Are you trying to create user and user talk pages for registered users Nscraft (talk · contribs) and Aendicot (talk · contribs)? —KuyaBriBri^Talk 17:10, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Talkback[edit]

Hello, Waterbug42. You have new messages at Kuyabribri's talk page.
Message added 17:40, 22 September 2011 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.[reply]

—KuyaBriBri^Talk 17:40, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikepedia project[edit]

Hey,Dr.Timpte I made it to your page. This might actually be fun. Bytheway, it's Erinah L3asiim3 (talk) 18:50, 25 September 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by L3asiim3 (talk • contribs) 18:17, 25 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Erinah, I think it will be fun to have meaningful writing that the world can see! CT Waterbug42 (talk) 19:25, 25 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi![edit]

Hi Professor! Just trying to say hi for the class assignment. :) Tookie Stalker (talk) 20:14, 25 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Possible topic idea[edit]

Was just wondering if this debate might be within your course scope http://www.macalester.edu/news/2011/06/davis-generates-debate-with-essay-on-invasive-species http://www.cec.org/Storage/49/4117_Perrault-etal_en.pdf Shyamal (talk) 05:10, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And this http://www.unutki.org/news.php?doc_id=174 http://www1.american.edu/ted/turmeric.htm Shyamal (talk) 05:29, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Definitely interesting papers and they would make for good discussion in our classroom! I will check out related wikipedia pages to see what there is in these areas. Thanks for the suggestions! (sorry for the late reply, I taught or had meetings all day yesterday.) Waterbug42 (talk) 12:08, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Dr. Timpte!!! when I went into the wiki page the article that I am working on did not appear. However when I log in it did.. why is that? Kmacz89 (talk) 14:34, 21 November 2011 (UTC) Ok Dr. Timpte, I am having difficulties editing the portion in history for the HPV page. I just paste on paragraph but its not showing? I don't understand Kmacz89 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 14:50, 21 November 2011 (UTC). I will check it out. However for the class participation I don't know if my editing is showing? Kmacz89 (talk) 15:03, 21 November 2011 (UTC) Karen, is this your page? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPV_vaccine? Did you hit preview to make sure you liked your edit and then hit save to save your contribution? CTWaterbug42 (talk) 15:06, 21 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I was away. Will check the contributions as soon as I can. Shyamal (talk) 04:53, 24 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Leaderboard / dashboard[edit]

Hi Candace, Actually I have been having a hard time tracking the contributions of your class. It would indeed be nice to have a table of all their contributions in one place and I am afraid I do not know how it can be made nor have I seen something along those lines that can be modified to suit the purpose. I am still trying to get a grip on the work being done and to add to it but it certainly is a tricky task when intent of edits are not entirely clear and have to be read between the edits. Shyamal (talk) 03:12, 30 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have tried to add a little tracking aid to your user page. To get the best out of it, do also go to the "My preferences" on the top right menu and in the "Gadgets" section (to the right) check the option under "Browsing" called "Navigation popups". Once you save this, you will be able to just hold the mouse over the "contribs" link and get a quick display of the recent edits. Your browser needs to have JavaScript enabled for this. Hope this helps. Shyamal (talk) 04:55, 30 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Referencing[edit]

I took a fancy to Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and worked it up a bit and have introduced a variation in the reference citation method there. Perhaps you could get the students to examine it and use that method if they find it easier. Shyamal (talk) 10:32, 30 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks!! I will show that in class this morning. I think they are a bit intimidated as to what to add and what edits to make. Hopefully they will get some good work done this week. I really appreciate your help! Waterbug42 (talk) 12:55, 30 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ok so, I got tired of citing this same website several times so I made a bulleted list and cited it once in the section subtitle. IS this ok? Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by L3asiim3 (talk • contribs) 00:32, 6 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I wrote this earlier but I forgot the tidies. So I created a subtitle that says "Sale or cultivativation" and I cited the entire section there. Is this acceptable or must I cite individual sentences? Thank you L3asiim3 (talk) 01:40, 6 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Another course![edit]

Hi Candace, as long as it centers around biology I guess I should be able to help out. Shyamal (talk) 04:53, 12 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have signed up as an online ambassador for this semester for Interdisciplinary Application of Biology. I am in Australia, so My interaction will be happening in your overnight. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:34, 21 January 2012 (UTC) Awesome!! Glad to have your help! Thanks. I plan to get my students moving into Wikipedia very soon. Waterbug42 (talk) 22:04, 21 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Have added myself too but will be away from 24 Jan to Feb 10 and a bit weak on activity during the early part of the course. Shyamal (talk) 02:57, 22 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you so much!! No problem on missing the early part. Looks like I still need one more ambassador since there are 48 students. Waterbug42 (talk) 17:13, 23 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Interdisciplinary Application of Biology[edit]

Hey Dr. Timpte this is Jeffrey Johnson. I just wanted to let you know that I am signed up here on Wikipedia. I hope this works correctly. I also put my name under the students list on the course page. Please let me know if there is anything I need to change. Thanks!! (Jjohns18 (talk) 16:41, 24 January 2012 (UTC))[reply]

Talking![edit]

Hi Dr. Timpte, This is Castle Russomano. Just talking for the biol 4700 assignment. This stuff is more complicated than it looks!--Crussoma (talk) 04:11, 25 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Biology 4700[edit]

Hi Dr. Timpte, this is Heimy. I'm browsing around Wikipedia... this looks kind of complicated. You made sound so easy, so I am going to try to do my best to do this project. (Hrojas01 (talk) 19:22, 25 January 2012 (UTC))[reply]

Biol 4700[edit]

Hey Dr, Timpte This is marleny I am trying to pick a subject and get added to the class page, I am writing through here in hopes that this will work it will register me to the page.--Mespinos (talk) 22:35, 27 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

wiki page[edit]

Dr T, I am attempting to navigate my way around wiki but I seen to be having difficulty with my talk options. I am trying again and hoping that you get this correspondence.Nkhudgens (talk) 21:39, 30 January 2012 (UTC)nkhudgens[reply]

need help with Wiki[edit]

Hi, ZDr. Timpte. I still can't figure out how to use this page and where to search for an article. Please help. Thank you. Galina. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gshikula (talk • contribs) 03:07, 1 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Dr T. I am trying to get the hang of this!Nkhudgens (talk) 20:40, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Eugenics Board[edit]

Thanks Dr. Timpte for your input and review. Nkhudgens (talk) 19:56, 22 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Ambassadors update[edit]

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