Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Montgomery College/Principles of Biology II (Spring 2017)
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- Course name
- Principles of Biology II
- Institution
- Montgomery College
- Instructor
- Robin Vaughn Hirshorn
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Biology
- Course dates
- 2017-01-25 00:00:00 UTC – 2017-05-12 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 20
BIOL 151, Principles of Biology II, is a four credit lecture / lab course that is the second course in a two-semester sequence intended for natural science majors. The course examines life at the level of the organism and covers evolution, systematics and taxonomy, biological diversity, ecology, and behavior. Laboratory classes will provide exercises and observational material to support concepts discussed in lecture.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 1 February 2017
- In class - Introduction to Wikipedia project
Welcome to your Wikipedia project's course timeline! This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for your course.
This page breaks down writing a Wikipedia article into a series of steps, or milestones. These steps include online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia.
Your course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Content Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the "Get Help" button on this page.
The following handouts will serve as useful resources as you work on these assignments:
- Assignment - Practicing the basics
- Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link that is posted on our Blackboard course page.
- Learn more about Wikipedia by completing the below 2 Wikipedia trainings. Be sure you are logged in when you complete these trainings! If you look at the top right corner of the website, there should be a link for "log out," not "log in". After you complete the training, it should say "complete".
- The Wikipedia Essentials training will introduce you to Wikipedia and its 5 pillars, and it will briefly discuss plagiarism and copyright topics.
- The Editing Basics training will discuss how to edit articles, work in your Sandbox, edit coding, use talk pages, add sections to pages, and use your Watchlist.
- Milestones
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 8 February 2017
- Assignment - Evaluating articles & sources
Complete the below Evaluating Articles and Sources training to start thinking more critically about Wikipedia articles. This training will discuss plagiarism and copyright issues in greater depth, elements of good and bad Wikipedia articles, and what constitutes a reliable source.
- In class - Critique an article
Today in class, you will work in groups to think critically about Wikipedia articles. You'll evaluate a Wikipedia article that will be assigned to your group, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's Talk page.
- As you critique your assigned article, consider the below questions (but don't feel limited to these):
- Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
- Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
- Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
- Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
- Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
- Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
- Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
- Choose at least 2 questions relevant to the article you're evaluating. Leave your group's evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Rhirshorn (talk) 15:58, 12 April 2017 (UTC).
- In class - Your Article Topic
- In class, you will choose a taxon (e.g., ferns, insects, bacteria). For this semester-long assignment, you will write a Wikipedia article on a native Maryland species from your assigned taxon. A pdf file listing all available taxa and links to sites that list which species from each taxon are found in Maryland will be posted on our course Blackboard site.
- In addition, you will choose 3 potential Wikipedia articles that you can tackle, and post links to them on your Wikipedia user page. It is alright to list an article that does not already exist. For articles that already exist, check the Talk page to see what other Wikipedians might be doing. Each article must be on a species found in Maryland, from the taxon that you were assigned.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 15 February 2017
- Assignment - Finalize your topic / Start your research
- On the Students tab of our Wikipedia page, assign your chosen topic to yourself.
- Complete the "Prepare-Organize-Combine" assignment that was handed out in class to learn more about your topic and keywords that pertain to that topic.
- In your sandbox, write a few sentences about what you plan to contribute to the selected article.
- Think back to when you did an article critique. What can you add? Post some of your ideas to the article's talk page, too.
- Focus on adding natural history, ecology, and conservation biology information about your species to the article. For example, in what habitats is this species found? Which niches does it occupy? How does it interact with other species within this habitat? What role does it occupy within the broader ecosystem? Is there anything especially interesting or unique about its natural history or ecology that you discovered? What is the conservation status of this species? What human actions affect this species, and how do they affect it? Are there any particular conservation threats that it faces?
- Be sure to also read through the "Editing Wikipedia Articles on Species," which is posted on our course Blackboard site.
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 1 March 2017
- Assignment - Find your sources
- Complete the "Find an Article" assignment that was handed out in class, as you find and then summarize information found in a popular science magazine article about your topic.
- Complete the "Web Source Evaluation" assignment via our course Blackboard site, as you locate one reliable web sources and one unreliable or questionable web source about your topic.
- Post your current bibliography in your sandbox.
- Be sure to complete the below training, to learn more about how to work in your Sandbox and (for later) how to move this work to the main space of a Wikipedia page.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 22 March 2017
- Assignment - Article rough draft
You've picked a topic and found your sources. Now it's time to start writing. Put your work in your Sandbox User Page for now.
- Identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article.
- Write a complete rough draft. If you copy and paste the material you plan to add to the Wikipedia article into a Word document, with double line spacing, 1-inch margins, and 11 point Calibri font, your writing should be 2-3 pages long.
- Be sure to state where you plan to add your work into the Wikipedia article.
- Include at least 3 reliable references in your draft; at least one reference must be an article found in a popular science magazine, and at least one reference must be a reliable web source.
In addition to placing your work in your Sandbox User page, please print TWO copies of your rough draft. You may simply copy your work from Wikipedia, paste it into a Word document, and then print it. These two copies will be given to your peers, so that they can review your work.
- Milestones
Everyone has finished writing their article drafts.
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 29 March 2017
- Assignment - Peer review and copy edit
- First, complete the "Peer Review" online training, which will discuss things to look for during your peer review, and how to conduct your review.
- On the Articles tab, find the two articles that you signed up to review during class, and then assign them to yourself in the Review column.
- As you conduct your peer review, make spelling, grammar, and other suggestions on the HARD COPY drafts that you received in class.
- Then, leave top-level suggestions in the SANDBOX TALK PAGE, for the sandboxes that your fellow students are working on. Other editors may be reviewing your work as well, so look for their comments in your talk page as well! Be sure to acknowledge feedback from other Wikipedians. Pay attention to the tone of the article. Is it encyclopedic? Also, think back to characteristics of good Wikipedia articles. In what ways could this article be improved?
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles.
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 5 April 2017
- Assignment - Respond to your peer review
You should have some feedback from other students and also your instructor. It's time to work with that feedback to improve your article!
- Return to your draft or article and think about the suggestions. Decide which ones to start implementing. Reach out to your instructor or your Content Expert if you have any questions.
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 12 April 2017
- Assignment - Continue improving your article
Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on suggestions and your own critique.
- Review the information in Editing Wikipedia for further suggestions, such as to see how to create links from your article to others, and from other articles to your own.
- If you'd like a Content Expert to review your draft, now is the time! Click the "Get Help" button in your sandbox to request notes.
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 19 April 2017
- In class - In-class presentation
- Present about your Wikipedia editing experience, and what you learned about Maryland species in your assigned taxon. Your powerpoint or Prezi presentation should be about 5 minutes long, and it may not include videos. Please upload your presentation to our course Blackboard site ahead of time.
Week 12
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 26 April 2017
- Assignment - Final article
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 Content Expert at any time!
- How long should your final article be? If you copy and paste the material you plan to add to the Wikipedia article into a Word document, with double line spacing, 1-inch margins, and 11 point Calibri font, your writing should be 2-3 pages long.
- Be sure to state where you plan to add your work into the Wikipedia article.
- Include at least 3 reliable references in your draft; at least one reference must be an article found in a popular science magazine, and at least one reference must be a reliable web source.
- Assignment - Move your final article to Wikipedia
Once you've submitted your final paper to your Wikipedia Sandbox, the last thing you need to do is to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the "mainspace."
** Do not move your work to Wikipedia until your instructor has approved it.
Editing an existing article?
- NEVER copy and paste your draft of an article over the entire article. Instead, edit small sections at a time.
- Copy your edits into the article. Make many small edits, saving each time, and leaving an edit summary. Never replace more than one to two sentences without saving!
Creating a new article?
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 13, and follow those steps to move your article from your Sandbox to Mainspace.
- You can also review the [[../../../training/students/sandboxes|Sandboxes and Mainspace]] online training.
- Milestones
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.