Writing for Wikipedia 1-oh-1

Wikipedia is an enourmous collection of digital information that is available to anybody with access to the internet.  This weeks assignment has the ALES 204 class updating wikipedia ‘stub’ articles.  These stubs are entries that contain incomplete information and usually lack credible sources.  We are attempting to fix that, by updating these articles.  My biggest challenge with this assignment was the actual wikipedia coding.

After writing on my topic of tree topping my biggest challenge was formatting the references.  The online coding guide is very confusing, and not easy to follow.  I haven’t had very much exposure to computer programming, and had a very tough time trying to do the references.  Although I did manage to get the referencing done, it took a lot longer than just copying and pasting from the bibliography.  Luckily, there is something on the site that helped fix my references up once I had the basic information inputted.  

It is also very important when writing encyclopedia entries that you form your points on facts and not opinions.  It is very important to have a credible source from which you obtained the information.  This gives the article more credibility and increases your chance of obtaining the status of ‘good’ article (which is what we are striving for!)  I have learned a lot about both wikipedia, and writing unbiased encyclopedia entries.

From D. S. Ellerys' personal collection (2011)

Click here to view the article I wrote on tree topping.  Also feel free to leave a comment about the article or any challenges you have faced while writing encyclopedia style articles.  While walking my dog, I found multiple topped trees!  Here is the result of a topped Ulmus americana (American Elm),

From D. S. Ellerys' personal collection (2011)

and a topped Populus sp. (Poplar, below) around the university area.  These trees are both producing and abundance of suckers near the wound.

From D. S. Ellerys' personal collection (2011)

Check out a fellow classmates blog here.  He is studing in the field of sustainable agriculture which is a very important subject in a developing world.  Remember to consult a professional arborist before attempting to top or prune your trees, you could be cutting money right off the value of your property.  You may be surprised that trees add a considerable amount of monetary value to a property.

Thanks for reading!