Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that allows anyone to search for information on a variety of topics. These topics range from people, plants, animals, companies, organizations and more. Though unfortunately it has gained a reputation of being considered to be unreliable because anyone can edit the articles that are posted. For this class I decided to edit the article about forest ecology. I noticed that the article had a notice at the top of the page stating that it needs more citations from reliable sources to be verified. The article itself is short compared to other related articles such as regeneration ecology, mountain ecology and others. Also, the article currently has 13 references. Only five of these references are from after 2010. Since it has been over a decade, I know that there is a lot more information that could contribute to this topic.
The process of creating a Wikipedia account is not difficult at all. You insert a username that is not shared by anyone else, create a password, add an email to verify the account and do a CAPTCHA security check. Afterword’s, you can edit your profile or follow the steps on Wikipedia’s suggested edits tab to (though I think this is here to help new Wikipedian’s learn to properly edit and eventually make articles). Our professor wanted us to make sure that we create a pen name or keep ourselves anonymous. I decided to use the same name as I have on my biology Tiktok account. I’m certain I can change it later if I don’t like it.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 