I signed up for Wikipedia using the username Abominablemystery to edit the Slime Flux page. I was interested in this page because I had previously come across pictures of this plant disease online which piqued my interest, however the Wikipedia article was a complete stub.
When I first logged onto the student dashboard, there were modules I had to complete to help me which explained a variety of things such as how to use the Wikipedia editor and how to correctly cite sources while being careful to avoid plagiarism and copyright violation.
After the modules, I took to Google Scholar to begin researching my topic. When I began to write my article on Slime Flux, I used the basic visual editor to create the new heading “Causes” right below the summary which someone else had previously written. Because I wasn’t supposed to use too many references for this exam assignment, I explained only the main cause. I also listed various bacteria which have been associated with the disease. I used the built in “cite” button on the visual editor to enter in the article details. Sometimes the cite button could automatically generate a citation by collecting webpage information, which was extremely convenient. I also created hyperlinks to other Wikipedia pages on certain terms like “xylem”, “fermentation”, and the various species of bacteria that I listed. This was created using the convenient link tool on the visual editor which automatically finds Wikipedia pages that have titles matching the terms I selected.
After I finished, I reviewed my work. When I submitted, I wrote down what changes I made to the page, which is now visible in the “View history” tab of the page. Overall, the process was easy and went smoothly.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 