Wikipedia:WikiProject United States Public Policy/Courses/Spring 2011/Public Policy Making (Ellen Rosell)

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POL4422 Public Policy Making

MSCX 337 (The Inferno)

Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM

The Description of the Course

An introduction to the processes by which American public policy is formulated, implemented, and evaluated and to the roles of policy analysts in solving various public problems.

Student Learning Objectives:

To define, explain, and correctly use terms and concepts used by the political system and its participants in the United States to develop, implement, and evaluate public policy.
To explain the models for public policy analysis models and their differences.
To identify the decision making activities in the policy-making process.
To research public policy issues by applying the appropriate analytical policy analysis model, terms, and concepts.
To improve communication skills: oral, written, listening, and computer.
To demonstrate understanding of public policy concepts and models and research and communication skills by writing articles for Wikipedia.
To enhance interest and participation in politics and government as knowledgeable citizens.

The Overview of the Assignments

This describes the assignment. It is intended for both students and Wikipedians, to explain in broad strokes what the students will be doing on Wikipedia, and what related assignment activities will happen outside of Wikipedia.

The Timeline of the Assignments

BY 26 January 2011 Every student must

Read available at POL4422 Blackboard > Course Documents
- "Wikipedia: Five pillars"
- Welcome 2 WP Wikipedia
- Introduction to free licenses
- WP's Plagiarism Handbook
- Evaluating WP Article Quality
Browse
- Wikipedia Manual of Style available at POL4422 Blackboard > Assignments

26 January 2011 Class Visit Campus Ambassador – Introduction to Wikipedia

Discusses basics of editing.
Discusses anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good & bad articles.
Provides tips & recommendations for best articles to work on for the class assignments.
Shows students how to contact Online Ambassador mentors.
Provides handouts:
- "Creating an account" handout
- "Evaluating Wikipedia Article Quality" brochure
- “Referencing on Wikipedia” handout
Answers questions

BY 31 January 2011 Every student must

Create a Wikipedia user account
Create a User page
Add you name to the course page’s list of students
Practice the editing features of Wikipedia by leaving a message for team members on their user talk pages.

BY 9 February 2011 Every student must

Critically evaluate one existing Wikipedia article related to policy by leaving suggestions for improving it on the article's discussion page and emailing suggestions to Dr. Rosell.
Research and list 3-5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your team’s main project. Send the list to your team captain and to Dr. Rosell.
Ask your Online Ambassador mentor for comments regarding your article selections.

9 February 2011 Class Visit - Campus Ambassador

Introduces students to IRC, the online chat system where students receive live support.
Discusses Wikipedia sandboxes and Wikipedia culture/etiquette.
Answers questions.

21 February 2011 Every team must

Decide which article to work on and list it on the course page.
Compile a bibliography of relevant sources and begin researching the topic.

23 February 2011 Class Visit - Campus Ambassador

Discusses Wikipedia sandboxes and Wikipedia culture/etiquette.
Provides HANDOUT:
- "Moving article from sandbox into main space."
- "Did You Know nominations."
Answers questions.

21 March 2011 Due from every team

Post 1st draft of the team’s article, five (5) paragraphs, with citations in your Wikipedia sandbox.
Email 1st draft to Dr. Rosell.
Begin working with Online Ambassador mentor to polish your 1st draft article and fix any major transgressions of Wikipedia norms.
Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.

23 March 2011 Class Visit - Campus Ambassador

Discusses article ratings on Wikipedia and how to get there.
Discusses uploading images onto Wikipedia articles.
Answers questions.

28 March 2011 Due from every team

2nd Draft of team’s article.
Email 2nd draft to Dr. Rosell.
Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

4 April 2011 Due from every student

Peer-review two teams' articles using the Quantitative Metric.
- Email the Quantitative metric and suggestions and comments for each article (2 articles overall)to Dr. Rosell.

4-11 April 2011 Teams

Revise your article based on peers' feedback.
Nominate your article for "Good Article" status.
Prepare for article for in-class presentation.

11 April 2011

Team presentations of articles

13 April 2011

Team presentations of articles

18 April 2011

Team presentations of articles

20 April 2011

Team presentations of articles

25 April 2011 Due from every Team

Final version of article.

The Links of Usefulness

Dr. Garrett's UserPage

Wiki Cheat Sheet

Printable wiki markup cheat sheet

Chat Room for Help

The Anatomy of an Article

What is a good article?

Evaluating Wikipedia Article Quality

Stages of Article Development

Referencing on Wikipedia

Getting Help from a Wikipedia Ambassador - use the IRC channel #wikipedia-en-classroom

About the Sandbox

Wikipedia Etiquette

Moving Items from your sandbox

Did you know

How to create a link to a picture file in Wiki Commons:

File:TonyGarrett.jpg|thumb|200px|right|This is me -- You would normall put double brackets around the first and last part of this[]. I only did so it would not upload the picture to the page. You must put the name of the file exactly has it appears. The last part is a short description of the picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources

The Students of the Course

This is a list of the students in your class (or rather their Wikipedia usernames), along with their Wikipedia articles (which students will select at the appropriate time).