Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Northern Arizona University/Writing in the Biological Sciences 002 (Spring 2020)

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Course name
Writing in the Biological Sciences 002
Institution
Northern Arizona University
Instructor
Alison Singer
Wikipedia Expert
Ian (Wiki Ed)
Subject
Biological Sciences
Course dates
2020-01-14 00:00:00 UTC – 2020-04-30 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
24


This course provides students with practice in biological writing for both technical and non-technical audiences, with the goal of fostering development of effective communication of scientific information by majors in the biological sciences. Students will be working in groups to develop Wikipedia articles on topics of their choosing in the biological sciences.

Student Assigned Reviewing
Tegan267
Cayleyp399 Ephedra viridis, Mesquite
Tmdvoss Desert horned lizard
Betelgutierrez
Mollypiersall
Samstanek
Miklo231
Ephraim Kamel
Bexhirsch
TarynBaber1031 Desert horned lizard
Casiahg
GloriaMarquez98
MariaMeacham Symbiobacterium thermophilum
MaineyMike Biomedical sciences
Kelesarasa
Hcr42
FelishaKVargas
Haydenbirt Desert horned lizard
Bp597
OTsosie

Timeline

Week 2

Course meetings
Tuesday, 21 January 2020   |   Thursday, 23 January 2020
In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment

Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:

Week 3

Course meetings
Tuesday, 28 January 2020   |   Thursday, 30 January 2020
Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 4

Course meetings
Tuesday, 4 February 2020   |   Thursday, 6 February 2020
Assignment - Add to an article

Exercise

Add a citation

Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia

Exercise

Evaluate an article

Week 5

Course meetings
Tuesday, 11 February 2020   |   Thursday, 13 February 2020
Assignment - Choose possible topics

Exercise

Choose a topic

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

In class - Discussion

What's a content gap?

Week 6

Course meetings
Tuesday, 18 February 2020   |   Thursday, 20 February 2020
Assignment - Review the rules for health topics
Guide(s) for writing articles in your topic area

Ecology

Environmental Sciences

Genes and Proteins

Medicine

Species

Week 7

Course meetings
Tuesday, 25 February 2020   |   Thursday, 27 February 2020
Assignment - Start drafting your contributions

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Week 8

Course meetings
Tuesday, 3 March 2020   |   Thursday, 5 March 2020
In class - Discussion

Thinking about Wikipedia

Milestones

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 9

Course meetings
Tuesday, 10 March 2020   |   Thursday, 12 March 2020

Week 10

Course meetings
Tuesday, 24 March 2020   |   Thursday, 26 March 2020
Milestones

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

Assignment - Peer review an article

Guiding framework

Week 11

Course meetings
Tuesday, 31 March 2020   |   Thursday, 2 April 2020
Assignment - Respond to your peer review

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Resources:

  • Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
  • Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.
Assignment - Continue improving your article

Exercise

Add links to your article

Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia

Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace."

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Week 12

Course meetings
Tuesday, 7 April 2020   |   Thursday, 9 April 2020
Assignment - Polish your work

Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 13

Course meetings
Tuesday, 14 April 2020   |   Thursday, 16 April 2020
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 Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Week 14

Course meetings
Tuesday, 21 April 2020   |   Thursday, 23 April 2020
Assignment - Reflective essay

Guiding questions

Milestones

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.