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Welcome to The Wikipedia Adventure!

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Hi Ashleyatnyu! We're so happy you wanted to play to learn, as a friendly and fun way to get into our community and mission. I think these links might be helpful to you as you get started.

-- 00:01, Tuesday, February 5, 2019 (UTC)

Welcome!

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Hello, Ashleyatnyu, and welcome to Wikipedia! My name is Shalor and I work with the Wiki Education Foundation; I help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment.

I hope you enjoy editing here. If you haven't already done so, please check out the student training library, which introduces you to editing and Wikipedia's core principles. You may also want to check out the Teahouse, a community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to helping new users. Below are some resources to help you get started editing.

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  • You can find answers to many student questions on our Q&A site, ask.wikiedu.org

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on my talk page. Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 21:47, 11 February 2019 (UTC)Reply


Genetically modified food

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Hi! I just wanted to give you a head's up that this article is more closely monitored than some of the other articles out there, for a few reasons. The first is that the topic of genetically modified food tends to be a controversial one that garners much debate, so it needs to be more closely watched to ensure that the best, strongest sourcing is used and that the article remains neutral. The other is that the topic is health and science oriented, so there needs to be extra care used when deciding which source to include and how things should be written. As such, if you find that your material has been altered or removed, definitely make sure that you discuss the changes with the other editor, either on their talk page or on the article's talk page.

I would like for you to review the training module on health, science, and psychology topics, due to the article topic area. Something I do need to caution you on is that the source you used in the article is a study, meaning that it's a primary source for any of the claims and research conducted by its authors. In order to use it as a source you'll need a secondary, independent source that covers the study, like a literature review that covers the study.

Here are the reasons for this: the first is that as the study is a primary source, the claims and research haven't been verified, reviewed, or received commentary from an uninvolved reliable authority. While no true scientist or researcher would deliberately falsify data to give a specific viewpoint (although sadly it has happened), it's entirely possible that any given study will have shortcomings that may end up invalidating its data or making it an imperfect source for its own claims. Keep in mind that the publisher doesn't actually fully verify the study - they only review it to ensure that there aren't any obvious issues that would immediately invalidate it. Another issue is that studies are, out of necessity, very limited when it comes to scope. They can only survey a set amount of people or possibilities, meaning that the data is only truly applicable for the people surveyed under those specific circumstances. For example, people in California may respond very differently to the idea of genetically modified food as opposed to people in say, Florida. Even then, results could differ depending on multiple things, like their socioeconomic status, level of education, or culture.

That said, it does look like it could have covered in places like this, so I'd definitely review this to see if and how it's mentioned. What you're going to be looking for in articles like this is specifically a literature review section, which it looks like it has. (We can use literature reviews in studies, but not studies by themselves as sources.) I'll tag your instructor FULBERT to see if he has any additional input. Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:11, 25 February 2019 (UTC)Reply

This is a standard message to notify contributors about an administrative ruling in effect. It does not imply that there are any issues with your contributions to date.

You have shown interest in genetically modified organisms, commercially produced agricultural chemicals and the companies that produce them, broadly construed. Due to past disruption in this topic area, a more stringent set of rules called discretionary sanctions is in effect. Any administrator may impose sanctions on editors who do not strictly follow Wikipedia's policies, or the page-specific restrictions, when making edits related to the topic.

For additional information, please see the guidance on discretionary sanctions and the Arbitration Committee's decision here. If you have any questions, or any doubts regarding what edits are appropriate, you are welcome to discuss them with me or any other editor.

Please understand that I'm not accusing you of doing anything wrong, at all. But the issues explained by Shalor also lead to some formal rules that apply to GMO topics, and you need to be aware of them before any problems come up. Again, please understand that this is purely informational. Happy editing! --Tryptofish (talk) 18:31, 25 February 2019 (UTC)Reply