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Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Northwestern/Conservation Genetics (Spring 2017)

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Course name
Conservation Genetics
Institution
Northwestern
Instructor
Jeremie Fant
Wikipedia Expert
Ian (Wiki Ed)
Subject
Conservation Genetic concepts
Course dates
2017-03-27 00:00:00 UTC – 2017-06-09 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
15


In this course we will learn how basic evolutionary and genetic principles guide policies about the conservation and management of wildlife, game, and plant populations. We will read and discuss current research in the primary literature including both molecular and quantitative genetic examples and compare them to different institutional policies that deal with conservation genetics. We will examine case studies of current practices, including: managing genetics of native and ex situ and zoo populations, reintroducing and restoring plants and animals to the wild, selection in harvested populations, evaluating genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation, creating habitat corridors, measuring genetic diversity, and responses to climate change. To synthesize new concepts we will create/edit appropriate wikipedia pages

Some Notes to consider • Good candidates for articles are topics with plentiful sources, but weak coverage on Wikipedia. 

# All should have conservation focus.

• For Example - 

# Look for conservation articles which don’t have genetics mentioned

# Or ones which lack good examples (No plant/fungal/inveterbrate examples)

• Avoid: 

# controversial topics

    # broad, general topics

# well-developed topics without much room to improve

# topics that don't have enough sources to work from.

Timeline

Week 1

Course meetings
Monday, 27 March 2017   |   Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Assignment - Practicing the basics
  • Create an account and join this course page.
  • Complete the introductory training modules. 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 to another student on their user talk 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. 
  • Review Pages 1-6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook for help. 
Milestones

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

Week 2

Course meetings
Monday, 3 April 2017   |   Wednesday, 5 April 2017
Assignment - Exploring the topic area
  • 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

Week 3

Course meetings
Monday, 10 April 2017   |   Wednesday, 12 April 2017
Assignment - Choosing your group article
  • Consider the topic your group is working on and see if there are room for improvements in the current page given your readings. 
  • While you read, consider some 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?
    • Check the "talk" page - what conversation is the Wikipedia community having behind the scenes about how to represent these topics? 
    • Is the article locked? What is the article rated? 
    • Take notes in your sandbox during the process. 

Week 4

Course meetings
Monday, 17 April 2017   |   Wednesday, 19 April 2017
Assignment - Assignment
Choose your articles
  • Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing.
  • Select one group assignment and one personal assignment and assign them to yourself on the Students tab above. 
  • Create PDF of current page - Describe your choices and planned edits to your instructor for feedback. 
  • Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
  • Take notes in your sandbox during the process. 

Week 5

Course meetings
Monday, 24 April 2017   |   Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Assignment - Draft your article(s)
  • 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.


Copyedit
Read through it, thinking about ways to improve the language, such as fixing grammatical mistakes. Then, make the appropriate changes.

Creating a new article?

  • Write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section." Write it in your sandbox. 
    •  A "lead" section is not a traditional introduction. It should summarize, very briefly, what the rest of the article will say in detail. The first paragraph should include important, broad facts about the subject. A good example is Ada Lovelace. See Editing Wikipedia page 9 for more ideas. 


Improving an existing article?

  • Identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Make notes for improvement in your sandbox. 

Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9

  • Reiterate:  neutrality, media fluency, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.
  • 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.
  • Keep reading your sources, too, as you prepare to write the body of the article.


In class - Discussion on WIKIPEDIA & Public Discourse on Conservation (SW+JF)
  • We will discuss how to talk about science and conservation.
  • We will give you some suggestions to help minimize Jargon, keep it concise and digestible

Week 6

Course meetings
Monday, 1 May 2017   |   Wednesday, 3 May 2017

Week 7

Course meetings
Monday, 8 May 2017   |   Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Assignment - Assignment
Peer review
  • First, take the "Peer Review" online training.
  • Send articles out for peer review (original and edited) and assign the topics you're reviewing to yourself on the Reviewing column of the Students tab. 
  • Two classmates in your group, who will review you articles to help with content & copyedit:  editing should focus on specific improvements and constructive feedback.
  • Peer review your classmates' drafts. Leave suggestions on on the Talk page of the article, or sandbox, that your fellow student is working on. Other editors may be reviewing your work, so look for their comments! Be sure to acknowledge feedback from other Wikipedians. As you review, make spelling, grammar, and other adjustments. Pay attention to the tone of the article. Is it encyclopedic?

Handout: Polishing your article

Week 8

Course meetings
Monday, 15 May 2017   |   Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Assignment - Assignment
Copy-edit other work.

Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.

Week 9

Course meetings
Monday, 22 May 2017   |   Wednesday, 24 May 2017

Week 10

Course meetings
Wednesday, 31 May 2017
In class - Assignment
Submit Portfolio
  • Address peer review suggestions. Read Editing Wikipedia pages 12 and 14 for help.
  • Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.
  • Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify. 
    • Read Editing Wikipedia page 12 to see how to create links from your article to others, and from other articles to your own. Try to link to 3–5 articles, and link to your article from 2–3 other articles. 
    • Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.

Move your work live
Once you've made improvements to your article based on peer review feedback, it's time to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the "mainspace." 

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?


Wikipedia portfolio – upload a pdf of the edited pages. 

  • One group assigned page
  • One individual page. 
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