Talk:Polistes canadensis
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This article was the subject of an educational assignment in Fall 2014. Further details were available on the "Education Program:Washington University in St. Louis/Behavioral Ecology (Fall 2014)" page, which is now unavailable on the wiki. You can help with this article:
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Peer Review
I fixed multiple grammar and wording mistakes within your paper. The writing style could certainly be improved in this article. I liked how you included background on the name of the species (how the name was created by Linnaeus who was misinformed that this species exists in Canada), because this is unique information pertaining to this species only. I think the colony cycle section could be expanded upon. At what periods during the year does the cycle take place? What are the stages within the colony cycle? I also looked at the sources you used and noticed some useful information that I wish you had included. For example, the Juvenile Hormone (JH) is very unique to this species (I have never heard of it before), so I wish you had added it to the behavior section. If you wish to expand upon this article further you can add this. I also thought you could have added more about the fact that this is a paper wasp. You do discuss what the nests are made of but how are the nests made and is this different from other species? Why is its common name the red paper wasp? A picture of the nest (if you can find one) might help the readers picture this wasp species in its natural environment. Overall, I liked your article and think that the content is pretty good. I also think the resources you used are scholarly and insightful. Probertsg (talk) 23:22, 30 September 2014 (UTC)
A few recommendations
(1) From Wikipedia, it says that the sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Remember whatever is not common knowledge needs to be followed by an inline citation.
(2) Include a picture so readers can see more clearly the species’ physical characteristics.
(3) Link more terms to other Wikipedia pages
- a.Under overview section, I would link hibernation, caterpillar, larvae and invertebrates.
- b. Under taxonomy and phylogeny, I would link Canada, Nicaragua, Brazil, and South America.
- c. Under description and identification, I would link thorax. Also, explain what ‘tergite’ is if you cannot link it.
- d. Under colony cycle and dominance hierarchy (and a few others), there are no words that are linked. Generally the
more words you link, the better your page will be to readers. (4)Italicize subgenus
- Under taxonomy and phylogeny, “ The red paper wasp is a member of the New World Polistes, which are found in the subgenus Aphanilopterus. Because morphological variation among the Aphanilopterus is small…”
(5) Break up long sentences to be more concise
- a.Under kin selection, this sentence is very long and can get confusing. - “While many female workers choose to care for their nestmates while waiting to become breeders in their original nests, for younger female workers, the benefits of direct fitness may be greater than the benefits of indirect fitness; these younger females can choose to leave their original nests for a more uncertain future (in terms of indirect and direct payoffs) to co-found a new nest.”
(6) It would be nice to include a section on how these species interact with humans. Are they considered pests? What are the stings like?
Elee715 (talk) 18:46, 1 October 2014 (UTC)
Suggestions and Comments
Three is me (talk) 04:37, 3 October 2014 (UTC) Your article contained a lot of interesting material. I fixed some grammar mistakes, and I also found several subject-verb disagreements in your sentences, so I fixed those as well. I also found a sentence that was worded very poorly in the dominance hierarchy section, so I reworded it. In addition, the last sentence in your division of labor section is very confusing and seems very out of place. I would recommend revisiting that section and seeing if the sentence should be relocated, rephrased to make the meaning clearer, or removed altogether. I also linked the article to the page for Argentina since many red wasps are located there. Furthermore, the tenses in the reproductive suppression section continually switched tenses, so I tried to make them all present tense. Lastly, I found a really nice picture of your species on flickr open source photography. I believe you can use it or one of the other pictures on the website, so I would suggest that you look there for a picture. Otherwise, good job on your article.
Article assessments
... should be independent. Sasata, could you have a look? [1] SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:43, 21 December 2014 (UTC)
- I'd need to look through the sources before I'd properly assess this (out of my topic area), and most of the sources I don't have easy access to. Some of the text seems a little suspicious (e.g. giving statistical data parenthetically in the text), and the article is severely underlinked, but the prose is generally ok and most of the basic encyclopedic information is there. Maybe a "C" for now, with upgrade to a "B" after source checking and copyediting? Sasata (talk) 21:45, 21 December 2014 (UTC)