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= **Welcome to the Plant Scavenger Hunt Wiki!** = Please take some time to familiarize yourself with the wiki process over at the Introduction to Wikis page.

For your Wiki username, please use a clearly identifiable nickname. If you want to choose a name that is not clearly you, please email me and your group members with that name. This will help everyone be able to identify each other easily, which is important when communicating online. Also, in order to give you credit for your hard work, I need to know who you are!

**Group work--or, Why the Wiki?**
Group work--you probably love it or hate it! Many people have anxiety over working in groups, for various reasons. However, group work is an important part of your education. Group work allows us to learn from each other, to collaborate and share ideas, and to learn important communication skills. No matter what your intended career is, being able to work with others in a group is an important skill that will allow you to succeed.

Wikis can be a really effective way to work in groups. Some of the advantages of wikis over the "old" way of doing group projects are:


 * __**No ego trips!**__ The finished product is a website containing contributions from all members of the group. This finished product is the most important part of your grade.
 * __**Everyone gets credit for THEIR contributions**__. The "history" portion of the page allows me (and you) to check to see who contributed what parts of the wiki. Therefore, everyone will be held accountable for their own contributions, and will be graded accordingly. Gone are the days one person doing all the work for a group grade!
 * **__No need to juggle schedules!__** You can work on the wiki on your own time--your group partners will see what you've done when they log on. You don't have to try to work around the class, work, and social schedules of 5 people in order to be able to work together.

**Things to keep in mind:**
As I said, wikis CAN be really effective. How effective they really are depends on you. Remember the following as your group works on the wiki:


 * You will use this wiki as a place to organize your information
 * The best wikis will include relevant **__visuals__**, such as __**photos**__ **or** **links** as appropriate. Wikis that are just text will be graded at a "C" level or below--you should at least include a photo of your plant. One is needed, 2-4 is good, more may be overkill for the scope of this project. It's up to you!.
 * This is to be __group work__. Each lab group will have its own page. You can decide how to organize the work after that. Each person might be responsible for one plant, or you might all choose to share all the work. The best wikis usually have the following dynamic:
 * One person acts as the "leader" for each section. It is their responsibility to organize the information contributed by everyone into the final format, BUT...
 * __**Everyone should be sure to read and edit EACH section!**__ The best wikis tend to be the ones that have the most edits. It is your responsibility to make sure all the information is correct.
 * You do __not__ have to ask the group for permission to put something up on the wiki. Just go ahead and put it up there! This leads me to the next point...
 * **__What if someone puts something on the Wiki that I think is wrong?__** Disagreements might happen; in fact, this sort of thing happens on the most famous Wiki, Wikipedia, all the time. Here's what you can do:
 * Make the change on the main page, and notify the group. This is best for minor changes, or things you are very certain about.
 * Start a discussion on the "discussion" page
 * Changes or additions should be made as soon as possible. This will keep the project rolling

**Bad idea jeans*;or, things you should not do:**

 * Do __**not**__ put this off until the night before it is due! It will be impossible to put together a good wiki that way.
 * Do **__NOT__** plagiarize. Plagiarism includes cutting and pasting from a website, copying information from a text, and failure to give proper citations. Any of these will result in a grade of F for the wiki.
 * Do __**not**__ rely solely on email, texting, etc., for your main communication on this. Remember, you get credit for working together--so I need to be able to see your discussions. Post your questions and comments in the "discussion" section of your group page.
 * Do __**not**__ be shy about adding content. Even if it gets changed by someone else, if it is a thoughtful contribution, it will add to the quality of the final product.
 * Do **__not__** feel bad if someone changes or edits your content. This is not about judgment; you're all working together to make a quality product.
 * Do __**not**__ be afraid to ask questions, either of your group, other students, or Dr. Abler. There's no shame in being a novice!

*//Am I showing my age with this reference? For the uninitiated, see here: [|SNL - Bad Idea Jeans] //