First off, Wikipedia requires solid information from reliable primary sources. To made a Wikipedia post, one must first read and evaluate many primary articles. All information and quotes taken from the article and posted on Wikipedia must be sourced and documented. Most information from articles is irrelevant and cannot be added to Wikipedia posts. The author must first filter out all required information and avoid adding excess information that might confuse the reader. Only information that ties well with your topic should be added.
I personally expanded an Acid Rain Wikipedia post. I added a header for soil acidification and added information. I built on the topic of acid deposition, by linking acid rain to soil acid deposition. I talked about nutrient leaching due to acidic precipitation and expanded on the damage caused my acid rain on plants and vegetation. I read the post prior to my edits and noticed no one elaborated on soil acid deposition. I saw a few quote about soil but no one went into detail. Therefore, I added my own section with a lengthy paragraph on soil acid deposition. I also read many articles on soil leaching and the damages caused my acid rain, and cited them. Afterward, I read over my edits and made sure they were top notch and published my post.
After editing, I went back to re-edit and fix up my post. I realized I did not have enough citation, compared to other posts in the same page. I search up more article pertaining to my topic and cited them. I added a few more citation into areas where there were continuous sentences with no citation in between. I made sure the citation matched well with my writing and fixed or removed any that were irrelevant. I also realized that other post on the acid rain page included many images, and that I was lacking visual aid. Therefore, I added an image of a diagram of soil acid deposition and posted it. This was the worst part of my Wikipedia edits, because most of the images I wanted to use could not be uploaded due to copyright laws. I had no choice but to go with images Wikipedia provided. Though the diagram visual aid I got from Wikipedia was not the best to use with what I wrote, I looked through quite a few images until one tied well with my post.
I learned quite a few things from editing on Wikipedia. It isn’t as simple as I previously thought. It is more like a school project done on something like google docs. Your edits are monitored and if your information is misleading or inappropriate, it will be removed. Wikipedia is a free platform for exchanging information and knowledge. If used right and used to it’s full potential, Wikipedia can be an excellent source for reliable information.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 