Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Washington University in St Louis/Behavioral Ecology, Biology 472 (Fall 2015)
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- Course name
- Behavioral Ecology, Biology 472
- Institution
- Washington University in St Louis
- Instructor
- Joan E Strassmann
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Biology
- Course dates
- 2015-08-24 00:00:00 UTC – 2015-12-04 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 54
Why take this course? This course is about understanding why organisms evolve to act the way they do. We focus on social behaviors and particularly on understanding conflict and cooperation. How do genetically distinct individuals cooperate while still favoring their own interests? We study things like the evolution of aggression, mating behavior, parental care, communication, and the complexities of living in groups and families. We will learn how natural selection operates on individuals in a social context. We study less material in more depth, with many videos. You will specialize in a certain area. In that area you will write for Wikipedia and teach high school students one Saturday. This class is a lot of work, a lot of fun, and you will never look at an animal in the same way.
What will you learn? This course is about how animals behave in their environment. You will learn to be skeptical and critical of logically incomplete arguments. You will learn how to formulate and evaluate hypotheses. You will learn to evaluate material for accuracy in data, in logic, and in conclusions. You will understand the nature of scientific evidence. You will learn to understand how natural selection operates, particularly on behavior. One of the most effective ways of learning is to teach and communicate the material you just learned. In this class you will learn to teach, to write, to collaborate, and to engage in the dialogue of Wikipedia.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 24 August 2015 | Wednesday, 26 August 2015
- In class - Wikipedia essentials
- Overview of the course
- Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
- Understanding Wikipedia as a community, its expectations and etiquette.
- Basics of editing
- Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
- Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
- Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
- Create an account and then 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.
- To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself on the user talk page of one of your classmates, who should also be enrolled in the table at the bottom of the page.
- Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.
Handout: Editing Wikipedia
Handouts: Using Talk Pages, Evaluating Wikipedia
Resources: Online Training for Students
- Assignment - Getting started
- Creating your Wikipedia account
Wikipedia Assignment 1: GETTING STARTED: CREATING YOUR WIKIPEDIA ACCOUNT, USER PAGE AND SANDBOX
When is it due?
27 August 2015
20 points
- Register for Wikipedia
Wikipedia allows for any user to create or edit an entry without registering, but registration is required for this assignment so that we can confirm that you created the entry. To create an account, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.
In the upper right corner is a link entitled Log In / create account. Click on the link and follow the directions listed to create your account. After you have created your username, you will be redirected to a page, where you should see “Login successful.”
- Create a User Page
You should also create a User Page, so people know who you are. Click on your newly created account name, which appears in red in the upper right hand corner of the Wikipedia page. You will then be redirected to your user page, which should have a header that reads “User:” In order to create your user page, click on the link towards the upper right hand corner where it says “Create.”
After clicking on the “Create” link, you will be redirected to a page with a header that reads “Editing User:” with a large text box. In the large text box compose 2-3 sentences about yourself, indicating that you are a student, and highlight your interests and areas of Wikipedia you wish to contribute. You can say that you are a Wash U student working in particular on pages about social wasps. You can also tell something else about yourself to inspire others to start contributing, or mention any other areas you might contribute on in the future. This is your chance to show real people write for Wikipedia.
Scroll below and click “Save Page.” At this point the link containing your account name will change in color from red to blue indicating that a linked page now exists. In general, anything written by editors with identities is more trustworthy than information in red, throughout Wikipedia. Here is an example of a user page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Agelaia.
- Put a photo of yourself on your page (Optional)
To put a photo of yourself on your page, when viewing your user page (by clicking on your account name at the upper right hand corner of the Wikipedia page) click on Edit near the top right of the page. Above the short description of yourself, input the following code:
{{Infobox person
| name = <your name>
| image = <photo_file_name.jpg>
| nationality =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation =
| salary =
| networth =
| children =
| website =
| module =
| module3 = {{User campus ambassador}}
}}
Put your name where it says and replace the with a file name you would like for your photo followed by a .jpg extension (e.g. CVern.jpg). Save your changes. When you view your user page, you will notice that the photo has not shown up yet. This is because you need to upload an (open source—e.g. a photo taken by yourself that you don’t mind sharing (see below)) image of yourself. To do so, click on the file name you just created in the infobox you just created. This will take you to a file creation page, where you can upload your photo. Before you submit, make sure to give some details on where the photo is from and provide licensing info through the licensing pull down menu below the “upload file” button (suggestion is Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0).
- Create a Sandbox (Click on “Sandbox” on the upper right corner of Wikipedia)
The sandbox feature of Wikipedia is a place where you can start and edit your contribution until you are ready to fully release it on Wikipedia. You will create a sandbox inside your user space. This sandbox will allow you to practice Wikipedia syntax and editing without being fully held to the standards in Wikipedia:Manual of Style. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:ManualofStyle. You can work on your article in this space at first, but when assignments are due, they must be uploaded to fully visible Wikipedia.
Instructions:
- Go to your user page (space you are in after you click on your Username) and click “Edit” (among the options on top right).
- In the textbox go to the line after the sentences describing yourself and type . This will create a sandbox link with an illustrative picture.
- Scroll below the box and click on "Save page" to save the changes.
- Enroll on this dashboard.wikiedu.org course page
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 31 August 2015 | Wednesday, 2 September 2015
- In class - Comfort levels with Wikipedia editing
- Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
Handouts: Choosing an article
- Milestones
All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 7 September 2015 | Wednesday, 9 September 2015
- In class -
- Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
- Assignment - Evaluate 5 Wikipedia pages
Assignment 2: Review of Wikipedia assignment
When is it due?
Thursday 10 September 2015
70 Points
- What exactly do I turn in? *
You turn in a Word document on Blackboard that contains your comments on five Wikipedia pages of different wasp, bee, or ant species, along with a link to one comment you posted on a Wikipedia Talk page. Remember to first write and sign the honor code at the top of the page.
In this assignment you will find and read five organism-based entries and evaluate them, as described below. You will also put something on the talk pages of each organism to get comfortable with adding information. It does not have to be too detailed.
Join the WikiProject Apidae
WikiProject pages are places to discuss the overall organization of knowledge in Wikipedia on a certain topic and to alert WikiProject communities about the importance of developing pages in a particular area. This is not the place to discuss details relating to specific changes you will make to a page if the overall categorization of the knowledge makes sense. According to the WikiProject Guide, a WikiProject is a group of editors that collaborate on encyclopedic work at collection of pages devoted to the management of a specific topic or family of topics within Wikipedia. It is not a place to write or discuss the details of specific encyclopedia articles, but a resource to help coordinate, organize, and share ideas about article writing.
Your contribution should make your aim clear to other Wikipedia editors. Keep in mind that other Wikipedia editors may access your user page to better understand your contributions.
Instructions:
- To begin, find a WikiProject that is relevant to your contribution. We have created one for bees, but there is also one for Insects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProjectApidae http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProjectInsects
- Since we are all working on bees, everyone should join the same project, the Apidae. Add your username to the list of participants for this WikiProject and any other you wish to join.
- All WikiProjects are different, but instructions for adding yourself to the project list of participants can usually be located by looking through the WikiProject page's outline. To add yourself to the Apidae WikiProject list, edit the participant list and add your username in alphabetical order.
- Once you are a member of the project, you should contribute to that project's discussion page to notify the community of your planned work.
- Write brief commentaries on 5 entries. You will post at least part of one of your commentaries on the corresponding Wiki page’s Talk page. These do not all need to be put on Wikipedia, unless you want to.
- Consider the criteria for Good Article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GACR#Criteria, and evaluate where this piece hits or misses the mark in answering the questions in the rubric.
- Look at entries on 5 wasps, bees, or ants.
- Each student should do five different species, but you don’t have to check around with everyone. Just choose independently. You should pick organisms that have fairly thorough entries to do this assignment. Here are some examples, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polistesexclamans, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polistesannularis, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ropalidiamarginata, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecitonburchellii. Do not use any of these examples to do the assignment, but you should look at them to get a feel for good work.
Write a paragraph evaluating the entry. Consider how complete the entry is. Note missing categories focusing on behavior of the kind that your chapter covers. Often a good way to tell what is missing is to compare different entries. Comment on the writing. Look at the Talk, History and Discussion sections and comment on what you see there. Do you agree with the comments? Do you agree with the importance ranking? Your comments on each entry will be about 200 words. Remember, you do not need to solve the problems you see, or do any research. The purpose of this assignment is to get you comfortable with looking at and evaluating Wikipedia entries in the area of your specialty. Details are expanded under grading rubric, below Turn in the document showing your work.
Submit to Blackboard. Deadline 10 September 2015 midnight.
When you submit your comment to Wikipedia, tell us with a link in your document.
Grading rubric
- 70 points in all, 14 points per organism, 5 organisms
- For each organism: Name the organism and give a brief overview of the entry
- 5 points: What are the strengths of this entry? What have you learned that is most interesting?
- 5 points: Name 3 general categories in the outline that are missing and could be included. Explain why for each.
- 4 points: Look at the talk page. Comment on the details here, including the ranking and importance of the article.
Full points will be given to entries in each category that are thorough, exhibit careful thinking, and tie to the material of the course. Your writing should be intelligible without going back to the original Wikipedia page.
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 14 September 2015 | Wednesday, 16 September 2015
- In class - Choose your bee
Sign up for your bee on the page. Be sure there is sufficient material. Upload to Wikipedia an open use image of your bee. Start the page if there isn't one already.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 21 September 2015 | Wednesday, 23 September 2015
- Assignment - Bees of Wikipedia
WikiProject Assignment 3
In this assignment you will add at least 7 scientific references and 1200 words to an existing Wikipedia entry, or begin a new one. Each person should do her own independent assignment. Only after they are done does the rest of the team check the work. This is not a group assignment. However you can talk with each other to help you decide what to work on.
When is it due?
Thursday 24 September 2015 11:59 PM
What is it worth?
It is worth 150 points out of the 700 total for the entire Wikipedia assignment.
What exactly do I turn in?
You turn in a document on Blackboard named Wiki25September with the following:
- Your name.
- The honor code.
- Names of others in your group (one or two names), and what they did on your paper.
- Your topic, including chapter in Davies, Krebs, West, specific topic, and organism.
- Links to your Wikipedia entry, which should be live on Wikipedia.
- A paragraph describing exactly how you exercised your fact checking, writing, or Wikipedia expertise. If asked, you should be prepared to provide further documentation on this, so save copies of edited work or similar. (20 points).
- Paste into the document your 1200-word entry along with the 7 references (150 points).
What do I do?
In this assignment you will further use your expertise in behavioral ecology to improve Wikipedia. Focus on the entry of a single organism under the Vespidae WikiProject that you have chosen. We provide a list of likely wasps, but you are free to choose others if there is enough information on them. The organism that you choose should have information in the literature on how it exhibits the kinds of behaviors discussed in your chapter. You should discuss what exactly the animal does that is of interest and why they have evolved to do it. Remember to follow the general format of Wikipedia with lots of headings.
- If you are starting a new article, write an outline of the topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia lead section of 3–4 paragraphs in your sandbox. Wikipedia articles use \"summary style\", in which the lead section provides a balanced summary of the entire body of the article, with the first sentence serving to define the topic and place it in context. The lead section should summarize, very briefly, each of the main aspects of the topic that will be covered in detail in the rest of the article. If you are improving an existing article, draft a new lead section reflecting your proposed changes, and post this along with a brief description of your plans on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check that page often to gather any feedback the community might provide.
- Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your lead section and fix any major issues.
- Continue research in preparation for writing the body of the article.
- We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
- A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
- Check to see if there is an explanation of the edit on the article's talk page. If not, (politely) ask why it was removed.
- Contact your instructor or Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.
Handout: Moving out of your Sandbox * Demo uploading images and adding images to articles. * Share experiences and discuss problems.
Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia
Should I add headings in the Wikipedia entry?
Yes. Wikipedia prefers relatively short chunks of text, 200 to 600 words. Headings are key to helping readers navigate through the page. You should also be sure to keep the outline at the beginning of the entry up to date, reflecting any new headings you have added.
Can I change areas of the Wikipedia entry on this organism that are not behavior?
Yes, you can change anything you like on this or other organisms. You may add things that are missing like geographic distribution, diet, taxonomy, appearance, or links to Wikimedia photos, for example. Your goal is to provide a complete Wikipedia entry on your wasp, with focus on the behaviors of your chapter, but other behaviors are welcome if you come across cool things in other areas. Anything you add should follow the Wikipedia principles, hold a neutral tone, and be well referenced.
Can you give me some examples of good work on Wikipedia in this general area?
OK, here are a few. The entry for the monarch butterfly is pretty good. One of my students, Ben Ong, brought the piece on the American white ibis a lot of the way towards being a Good Article, then a Featured Article. I want all of you to reach the standards of Good Articles, given here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GACR#Criteria.
How do I get a draft of the assignment from my partners so I can serve my role as Wikipedia expert, writing expert, or fact checker?
Ask them for their assignment. Give them your assignment so they can do their role. Leave time to do this before the final deadline, because you will have to revise your entry according to their comments, or get help uploading the work. You might consider having a last session together so you can contribute your role efficiently and chat with them as you do it. Teamwork works well with frequent face-to-face contact.
Do I have to actually change something on Wikipedia?
Yes. Add your modifications to the appropriate page. Include the course banner. Briefly describe what you have done on the talk page for your topic.
Do I have to include images of the organism?
Yes, and these must not be taken from any source that is not Creative Commons licensed. The best way to be sure is to search for images on Wikimedia and then use only those with clear licensing as Creative Commons and available. You can also ask me and I might have an image you can use, but then you would have to deal with getting it up there with CC permissions.
Please look at the original source of your photo and make sure it fits in with the correct commons licenses allowed for Wikipedia (see link below). Also make sure that you license it correctly when you upload to Wikipedia.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT AND WILL AFFECT YOUR GRADE. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing
Can I delete stuff that is already there in the article?
Yes, you should delete anything that is incorrect, or is not referenced. You should also delete anything that is under copyright and taken improperly. Be sure you explain you deletes in the talk page.
Can I copy information that I find from another source?
No, that would be plagiarism. You can neither copy content entirely, nor just change the words around while keeping the general structure and ideas of another person. If you do this, the penalty will be severe, in accord with Wash U rules. If you detect plagiarism in any work already up on Wikipedia, or by a classmate, let the honor council for your section know, or you can tell me or a TA.
Outline for Wikipedia pages on Apidae
This is a general outline that all pieces we write for Wikipedia on social bees can follow. All entries need not have all categories, and you may add sub headings to some categories, but use these headings and order of topics when possible. In all cases it is crucial to write in complete sentences structured into paragraphs. You may add more information than is in this rough outline. It is not a formula, just a general guideline. Remember that everything you put here must have a scientific reference. If there is a category you have no information on, or they don’t do it, leave it out. Remember to include a lot of behavior! Put it together in such a way that the outline Wikipedia does happens.
This is not a formula. Your writing must flow well and make sense! Every fact must have a reference!!!!
Right hand box: On the right of the page should be the standard Wikipedia information for species, a photograph with the appropriate license, information in its systematics, distribution and conservation status. The scientific name for the species is also followed by the person’s name that named it and the date. Here is a good example that has all the necessary information, black-throated blue warbler, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-throatedbluewarbler. If you can’t easily find a map of range information or can draw one, leave this out.
Use the bolded headings as actual Wikipedia headings along with additional ones you derive if you go into particular detail in a given area. A general rule is you should have a header for about every 200 words. If something is not bolded, put the content without a heading. Do not use numbers.
Main page:
- Name of organism, scientific and common
- Descriptive overview
- What is it, where does it live and nest, what does it eat, fun fact, just a few sentences
- Taxonomy and phylogeny
- What is it, what are its relatives, family tree,
- Description and identification
- What does it look like and how can you identify it?
- workers (most commonly seen)
- queens
- males (drones)
- What do its nests look like?
- nest structure (number of combs, envelope); material (paper, mud etc.)
- how big are they and where are they built?
- Distribution and habitat
- what kinds of habitats does it live in?
- where does it build its nests?
- is it rare or common?
- Colony cycle
- Colony initiation – how is a new colony started?
- is it tied to time of year
- how many females, queens, or swarms?
- Colony growth
- how fast does the colony and nest grow?
- what is the time of developmental stages from egg to adult?
- how big does the colony get in nest size and number of bees?
- Colony decline
- is it seasonal? when?
- how long do colonies live?
- what happens at the end of the season?
- are males or future queens produced first?
- Relationship of colony cycle to nesting cycle (do one group of bees build more than one nest at a time or in a season skip if nest and colony is the same)
- Behavior
- dominance hierarchy
- division of labor
- reproductive suppression
- communication
- among adults
- cuticular hydrocarbons
- visual recognition
- with larvae
- drumming
- with potential predators or parasites
- mating behavior
- male/male interactions, leks, displays, aggression
- female/male interactions, mate choice, courting, mate number
- Kin selection – overview of the nature of cooperation within families
- genetic relatedness within colonies
- what is genetic relatedness within various classes (include info on variation and sample sizes)
- queen to worker
- worker to worker
- worker to female and male larvae
- how is genetic relatedness determined?
- kin recognition and discrimination (how are relatives recognized? Genetic and environmental cues)
- costs and benefits of sociality (do larger colonies do better, is there life insurance advantages, or fortress defense advantages?)
- worker queen conflict
- conflict over sex ratio
- worker policing
- conflict over egg laying
- matricide
- Life history and survivorship curves – overview
- colonies
- workers
- queens
- males
- Mimicry and camouflage
- Are the bees in a mimicry group? Discuss.
- Are the nests camouflaged? How?
- Interaction with other species
- Diet – what does it eat?
- Predators – what eats it? (birds – summer tanagers, for example; robber flies)
- Defense – how does it defend its nest (aggression, hiding)
- Parasites – What parasites does it have?
- individual parasites like strepsiptera
- nest parasitoids like chalcid or ichneumon wasps
- Disease – What diseases, bacteria, viruses does it have?
- Commensals – Are there commensals in the nests?
- Mutualists – do other species get protection by nesting near bee nests?
- Human importance
- Agriculture as pollinator, hunter of pest insects
- Stings – medically as stinging hazard, scare, allergy
- History and art as figure in human culture
- References – this should be automatically constructed from all the places you cite something
- External links – What other sites might a reader like to visit? Include research pages of main people working on a species
Grading rubric: 150 points
- 10 points: Describe how you fulfilled your role (writing, Wikipedia, fact checker) for the others in your group. Be specific.
- 10 points: Describe what others in your group did for you (writing, Wikipedia, fact checker) and how you responded to their advice.
- 5 points: Complete right hand box with taxonomic info and photo(s)
- 5 points: Overview
- 10 points: Taxonomy and Phylogenetics
- 10 points: Description and Identification
- 10 points: Distribution and habitat
- 10 points: Colony cycle
- 80 points: Sections behavior through humans add a least 8 thoughtful sections according to your chapters from KDW or what you find of interest (max 10 points each). You must add at least 7 references and 1200 words
- 20 points: Bonus for 5 extra sections and exceptional completeness (extra credit)
Work getting full points will be carefully referenced, clear, well written, and detailed.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 28 September 2015 | Wednesday, 30 September 2015
- Assignment - Peer review of 3 entries
WikiProject Assignment 4: Peer review of 3 entries
In this assignment you will review 3 entries by other students that are not in your group.
When is it due?
Thursday 1 October 2015 11:59 PM
What is it worth?
It is worth 60 points out of the 700 total for the entire Wikipedia assignment.
What exactly do I turn in?
You turn in a document on Blackboard named Wiki10Oct.doc with the following: * Your name. * The honor code. * Names and links to the 3 entries you review. You must choose them by signing up on the main course page. Edit “Reviewing Submissions” under the “Timeline” section on the Wikipedia course page. We have an example up there of how you should add your name. * A clear description of what you have changed, what we should look for.
What do I do?
By now you should be fairly comfortable with editing on Wikipedia. This is your chance to help out your fellow classmates, and shine yourself. It is also a chance to read more broadly than your single chapter, even if it is just out of the textbook, or Mockingbird Tales. Use your expertise to read your classmates’s entries. Feel free to add material, edit material, and put comments on the talk pages. It is hard to give a specific rubric as to what you should do, because you will encounter variable entries. What you should do is improve them. You can do this by adding material that is missing, by editing the writing or organization to make it more clear, and by contributing to the talk page. Look again at the criteria for Good Articles, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Goodarticlecriteria, and think about where this one meets the mark or falls short. Of course, besides these criteria we have specific interests in improving the behavioral side of the entries.
Should I add headings in the Wikipedia entry?
Yes, if necessary. Headings are valuable and your perspective may point to additional headings that may be needed. Just be sure that if you put more in, you also add them to the outline at the beginning.
Can I change areas of the Wikipedia entry on this organism that are not behavior?
Yes, you can change anything you like on this or other organisms. You may add things that are missing like geographic distribution, diet, taxonomy, appearance, or links to Wikimedia photos, for example. Anything you add should follow the Wikipedia principles, hold a neutral tone, and be well referenced. Remember, the more words we add, the more likely our class will shine among all Wikipedia classes.
Do I have to actually change something on Wikipedia?
Yes. Add your modifications to the appropriate page. Include the course banner (see the bottom of the course Wikipedia page for directions), if it is not already there. Briefly describe what you have done on the talk page of each of the articles you peer review.
Grading rubric
60 points in all, 20 points per article, 3 articles
For each article: * 5 points: Contribute to the Talk page. This can be comments about the article and/or explaining what you changed in the article. * 15 points: Make meaningful comments and changes to help improve the article.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 5 October 2015 | Wednesday, 7 October 2015
- In class - Discussion of reaction of Wikipedia community to our posts
Look at your entries and see if anyone has posted on them. Look at and discuss the comments on the talk pages from your fellow classmates.
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 12 October 2015 | Wednesday, 14 October 2015
- Assignment - Second major contribution
Assignment 5: Second major contribution
Now you are experienced, this time should go more smoothly. Look at the instructions for Week 5 and follow them. You may write on a new bee species or expand the old one. 150 points. Due15 October at midnight.
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 19 October 2015 | Wednesday, 21 October 2015
- Assignment - Peer review 3 entries of different students from before
Assignment 6: Peer review 3 entries of different students
This is the same as before but commenting on different students from before.
Follow the instructions from Week 6.
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 26 October 2015 | Wednesday, 28 October 2015
- In class - Group suggestions
How are we doing? What will it take to make your article shine?
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 2 November 2015 | Wednesday, 4 November 2015
- Assignment - Respond to comments on both your big projects
WikiProject Assignment 7: Revise and link
When is it due?
Thursday 5 Nov. 2012 11:59 PM
What is it worth?
It is worth 100 points out of the 700 total for the entire Wikipedia assignment.
What exactly do I turn in?
You turn in a document on Blackboard named Wiki13Nov with the following: * Your name. * The honor code. * Names and links to the 10 entries that you visit and change, adding links to your entry as appropriate, also modifying the text as needed to make the link relevant. * A clear description of what you have changed, what we should look for. * A sentence or two on your opinions of the Good and Featured articles you have looked at. * Three new articles you think should be nominated for Good Article, can be from the class or elsewhere. Please do not nominate them yourselves, just let us know which ones and why. You can modify those articles to bring them up to Good Article status. They may need help in areas not directly relevant to behavior, for example. By now you should be familiar with reading the refereed literature. This is where improvements should come from.
- What do I do? *
- With this assignment, you keep modifying and adding to your previous work. You add links. You evaluate other work.
- You also make it more part of the fabric of knowledge by visiting other sites and adding links to your entry at the other site. Do this for 10 entries, so you will have those 10 links into your site. Apparently there are not likely to be 10 entries that are close to your material that are Good Articles or Featured Articles, so just find 10 other articles that can link to your area. They can be animals close to ones you wrote about, or topics. So, you could all put a link to your page from the Behavioral Ecology page, or the Evolution page. Do the same for Parental Care, Parent-Offspring Conflict, or Sexual Selection. The important thing is to add links from elsewhere to your page.
- Find 5 articles as close as possible to your area that are Good Articles, or Featured Articles. Learn what they have that yours does not. Write a paragraph for Blackboard that describes what you have found. Here is a list of all the Good Articles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Goodarticles/Naturalsciences#Biologyandmedicine
Here is a list of the Featured articles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_articles/
Check out in particular these: * cattle egret: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CattleEgret/ * ruff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruff/ * whit-winged fairywren: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-wingedFairywren/
But your article will have much more behavior than these do.
In particular it might be useful to look at Good Articles and Featured Articles on animals.
- Now you are more experienced as to what a Good Article is, fix your entry so it meets the GA standards. This may well involve adding content that is not behavior. This is fine. Here is the link to what a Good Article is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Goodarticles/ Here is the link for a Featured Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featuredarticles/
- Please do not nominate your entry for Good Article if you feel it has reached this stage, but let us know if you think it should be nominated.
- Find 3 other articles (from class or not) that you think should be nominated for Good Article. Write a few sentences on why they should be nominated. Make any changes to make them fit GA status.
Grading rubric
- 20 Points: Names and links to 10 entries that you linked your article to, with description of where you added your link.
- 40 Points: Description of what you changed in your article.
- 20 Points: Your opinions on the 5 Good and Featured articles you looked at.
- 20 Points: Names, links and reasoning of 3 articles you think should be nominated for Good Article status.
Week 12
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 9 November 2015 | Wednesday, 11 November 2015
- In class - Strive for perfection!
Mostly we are working on the high school presentations, but don't forget your Wikipedia articles!
Week 13
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 16 November 2015 | Wednesday, 18 November 2015
- Assignment - Final contributions
WikiProject Assignment 8
In this assignment you will put the final touches on your entry, responding to all comments, pushing it towards Good Article, or even Featured Article status if you have passed Good Article. You will also visit the talk pages and other of your colleague’s pages, helping the entire class achieve their best possible work.
When is it due?
Thursday 19 November 2015 11:59 PM
- Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.
Handout: Polishing your article
What is it worth?
It is worth 90 points out of the 700 total for the entire Wikipedia assignment.
What exactly do I turn in?
Wiki20Nov * Your name. * The honor code. * Links to your Wikipedia entry. * Links to the Wikipedia entries of your colleagues that you modified or commented on.
What do I do?
In this assignment you continue to modify your entry, responding further to reader comments. You may want to add links, references, headers, images, polish the entry, and work hard to meet the needs of getting it to GA status. You should also help your colleagues by commenting further on their articles, helping them attain GA status. Look back through all the comments, do some more reading, bring the piece up to your highest possible level.
What if other Wikipedians have taken down or totally changed my entry?
Look at why they did this. If it is because there were serious problems with it, fix them. If it is because the others felt the material did not fit, and you disagree, argue with them. Get help from others in the class to participate. Do your best to keep your material up there, even if modified. Try to understand what is going on. Ask us. You can also work on modifying and expanding what others have put up. I do not think this will be a big problem if you have worked on an animal for which there is little information and done it properly.
Should I add more headings in the Wikipedia entry?
Yes, if necessary. Wikipedia prefers relatively short chunks of text, 200 to 600 words, it seems. Headings are key to helping readers navigate through the page. You should also be sure to keep the outline at the beginning of the entry up to date, reflecting any new headings you have added.
Why are links so important? Where should I add them?
You should add links both in your piece and in other pieces so they link to your piece. But don’t add links to very general things only marginally related to your topic. If your animal occurs in Europe, for example, do not put in a link on the Europe page. It will cause an uproar. The Wikipedia community is very vigilant. But the internet is all about links, so the more appropriate ones you put in, the better. It is how we get around, besides basic searches.
Grading rubric
- 35 Points: Link to your first Wikipedia entry with explanations of what you changed and what comments you addressed.
- 35 Points: Link to your second Wikipedia entry with explanations of what you changed and what comments you addressed.
- 20 Points: Links to other Wikipedia articles you commented on and an explanation of what you commented and/or changed.
Week 14
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 23 November 2015 | Wednesday, 25 November 2015
- In class - Look back on your work and make more changes as needed
- Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.