User:ProfGray/ExerciseAccountBasics

Religions of the Hebrew Bible Wikipedia Assignment 1
Due: February 4, 2015 before class starts (at least create account and user page)
Return to the course page

Students will be trained through Wikipedia's modules on WP essentials, e.g., WP principles, technical editing skills, and social collaboration.

Tip: Click the link above to go to the modules

Before you register

1. Keep in mind that Wikipedia is a non-profit organization providing a public service, therefore:
   1. Your writing for Wikipedia can have a real public impact
   2. Your participation will be a kind of (unofficial) service learning
   3. But... Any misinformation or inappropriate edits also have a public impact, so...
   4. Wikipedia will understandably clamp down on misconduct by students (or any other users)

1. "With great power comes great responsibility"
   1. The Wikipedia assignments offer marketable skills in social media use and technical writing
   2. This is Miami's first course in Wikipedia's Education Program, so make Miami proud!
   3. Your participation is voluntary and revocable
   4. Miami University regulations, including academic integrity, apply your Wikipedia course work
   5. Have fun!

1. Do not make any edits on Wikipedia without your username (during this semester)
   1. Any inappropriate edits might be traced to you or your computer
   2. Any good edits cannot accrue to your credit without your username
   3. N.B. Whatever you write on Wikipedia will remain accessible, usually to the public, even if you delete it from an encyclopedia article, because it stays in the "history" of that article's editing. (This is how a wiki works.)

Create your account

1. Best if everybody chooses a username that begins with their initials (to help us remember who we're interacting with)
2. No real names, you are expected to have an anonymous presence on Wikipedia during our course.
   1. (If you wish to use a real name, speak with the instructor before creating your account)
   2. Usernames do not change easily, so choose thoughtfully
   3. Usernames are case sensitive, so decide now whether to capitalize any letters
3. No misleading, disruptive, or offensive names. No shared accounts
4. How to do create the account?
   1. Go to this link to create an account
   2. Go to en.wikipedia.org
      1. Or go to www.wikipedia.org and choose English
   3. In the upper right corner is a link entitled Log In / create account. Click on the link and follow the directions listed to create your account. After you have created your username, you will be redirected to a page, where you should see “Login successful.”
5. Choose a strong password
6. You are REQUIRED to put your Miami email under the email option. If you did not do so, go to Preferences (email is entered at the bottom of the user profile).
   • Go to Preferences > Beta (a tab) and then check the VisualEditor choice.
   • Other preferences: Leave the signature blank. Appearance: use Vector; time zone: I recommend setting to America/Indiana/Indianapolis; and check the Education box at the bottom.
7. See: more info on usernames

Create a User Page

5 minutes or less!

• Create a User Page, so people know who you are. How?
  • Click on your newly created account name, which appears in red in the upper right hand corner of the Wikipedia page. You will then be redirected to your user page, which should have a header that reads “User:<Your Username>”
  • Read the message:
  • Find the link towards the upper right hand corner where it says “Create.” Click there!
    • you will be redirected to a page with a header that reads “Editing User:<Your Username>” with a large text box.
• In the large text box compose 2-3 sentences about yourself.

• For instance, create a link to your home town and describe one of its strengths. Your user page is a chance to show that real people write for Wikipedia.
• Indicate that you are a student.

• You might mention your interests, such as topics you might read (or write about) on Wikipedia.
• You can mention our Miami course about the Hebrew Bible.

• Scroll below and click “Save Page.” At this point the link containing your account name will change in color from red to blue indicating that a linked page now exists. In general, anything written by editors with identities is more trustworthy than information in red, throughout Wikipedia. Here is an example of a user page: https://en.wikipediaUser:ProfGray.

Create/modify another student's Talk page

Goal: Practice contacting and conversing with other editors, a key element of collaborative editing

How-to instructions:

1. Find another student -- see who has enrolled in the table at the bottom of the Course page.

• Try to find somebody who does not have a Talk page yet -- only a redlink for their Talk page

1. Create their Talk page by clicking on the red link and following Wikipedia instructions -- write them a little note and sign with four tildes: ~~~~

• Optional (somewhat advanced): add a welcome template to their Talk page, if you desire/can, such as {{subst:Welcome}}. For more info: Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome templates.

1. If everybody already has a Talk page, with blue links, then create a new section and write a brief message to the student

• How to create a new section? Look at the top tab for "New section" or "+" (a plus sign). Fill out the subject line and add your message in the message box

Create a Sandbox page

Goal: The sandbox feature of Wikipedia is a place where you can start and edit your contributions until you are ready to fully release them on Wikipedia. You will create a sandbox inside your user space. This sandbox will allow you to practice Wikipedia syntax and editing without being fully held to the standards in Wikipedia:Manual of Style. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style. You can work on your article in this space at first, but when assignments are due, put them in a fully visible Wikipedia article.

How-to instructions:

A. Easy method: How? Click on “Sandbox” on the upper right corner of Wikipedia. Follow directions, similar to creating your user page

B. Red link method.

1. Go to your user page (space you are in after you click on your Username) and click “Edit” (among the options on top right).

2. In the textbox go to the line after the sentences describing yourself and type My sandbox (surrounded by a set of "{{"). This will create a sandbox link with an illustrative picture.

3. Scroll below the box and click on "Save page" to save the changes.

4. Do what it takes so you show up on the course page: Education Program:Miami University/Religions of the Hebrew Bible (Spring 2015)

_{Source: This exercise based upon Wikipedia:USEP/Courses/Behavioral Ecology (Joan Strassmann)/2014 Creating Account}

ANOTHER VERSION When is it due? Wednesday, 4 February 2013, 10:15 AM - Allow about 2 hours, plus extra time if you get confused or distracted

What do I do? In this first unit, you will be introduced to Wikipedia, set up an account, your user page, and a pretend article in your "sandbox". If you get stuck editing Wikipedia, you can always ask a question at the Teahouse or at the talk page of Biosthmors, our online ambassador.

• Go through the online student orientation. Parts of this assignment will be completed while you are going through the training module. It is important that you also learn the basic rules of Wikipedia. Allow about an hour for this.
• Please read WP:STUDENTS. Allow about 10 minutes for this.
• Create an account on Wikipedia. .
• Enroll in the course on Wikipedia as follows:
  • Go to the course page.
  • Click on the "Enroll" tab at the top of the page.
  • Enter the Enrollment Token provided in your Syllabus and follow any other instructions.
  • Make sure that your User Name appears in the list of students at the bottom of the course page.
  • If it does not, check the top of the page to make sure that there is no statement indicating that you are looking at a cached copy of the page. If you are, click the link to update. This might take a few minutes
• Create your user page (so that your user name is no longer red like this). Make sure there is a link (see WP:CHEAT for basic linking advice) to the course page at the top. Your user page can be as simple as copy and pasting this: I'm editing Wikipedia as part of [[Education_Program:Saint_Louis_University/Signal_Transduction_(SP13)|this assignment]] and here's a link to [[User:Your user name/sandbox|my sandbox]]. This can take less than a minute, just fill in "Your user name" with your user name and feel free to personalize.

MOVE to next

• Create your sandbox with a pretend article. Practice using brief edit summaries for each edit. Make a first sentence with bold letters, like Wikipedia articles. Add a reference section. Cite a source. Add a picture. Add a section heading. Use a PMID and this tool (many are listed at Help:Citation tools) to create a formatted {{cite journal}} template. Put that in ref tags. See WP:CHEAT for help and here for more details on citing this way. This should take anywhere from 5 (for an experienced editor) to maybe 20 minutes (for a first-timer).
•  Remember to always make sure that you are logged in whenever you work on Wikipedia. This is the only way you can get credit for your edits!!'''

What will be graded? You should be enrolled as a Student on the course page, your user page should link to the course page, and your sandbox should contain at least one sentence with a bolded title, one formatted reference in cite journal format, and one possibly relevant picture. (5% of total project grade).

_{Source: This exercise based upon User:Biolprof/Signal Transduction Spring 2013 (section)}