Wikipedia page

At the beginning of the course we would like you to adopt and improve a Wikipedia page within the areas of conservation biology, ethnobiology, Hawaiian ethnobotany, Hawaiian native plants, ecology, or biological field methods. We are especially interested in a page where the definitions or references are not concise or are tangential to the topic.

You can either create a completely new page for a topic that does not yet exist or pick an existing page. Pay special attention to your adopted topic during the class so that by the end of the 6-week course you can create or update the Wiki page. The goal is to produce or enhance a page that will be useful to other people in the course and to the greater scientific community.

To do this you will need to do the following.

  1. Take a snapshot of the existing page to show the starting state. You can do this by saving the wiki page as an HTML file on your local computer drive.
  2. Sign up for a Wikipedia account here.
  3. Learn the Wikipedia style and content guidelines.
  4. Add at least 1000 words (about 2 pages of single-spaced typed 12-point text) to the page you have chosen. This will be recorded in Wikipedia history of edits for that page.
  5. Take a final snapshot of the page right after you finish your edits to turn in to show what you have done.
  6. Hopefully after the class you will feel an incentive to continue updating and maintaining the page you have adopted as you learn more about this subject and as the science advances.

Grading criteria

    • Includes assigned 1000 words 30%
    • Respects rules of Wikipedia community (not erasing all previous info, not including advertising, etc.) 30%
    • Accurate & well written 40%