Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Bentley University/EXP 201 011 (Spring 2016)

Students learn to question unreliable sources actively; to write and contribute to a knowledge base that the world uses everyday; to analyze and interpret information for fairness, accuracy, and reliability.

Student	Assigned	Reviewing
Brayton benj
Hazard glor
JimLennon23
Mhooley96
Webb tyle
Morganaburke
Mones jana
ChrisCrupi
Damico Seba
Kmak16
Giles will
Thomas.aramony

Timeline

Week 1

Course meetings

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

In class - Wikipedia essentials

Overview of the course
Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.

Assignment - Practicing the basics & weekly trainings

Create an account and join this course page.
Complete the introductory training modules. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
Create a User page.
To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.
Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.

Handout: Editing Wikipedia
Handouts: Using Talk Pages, Evaluating Wikipedia

In class - Wiki Course Support: Adam Hyland

Adam's contact info:
post to his talk page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Adam_(Wiki_Ed)
email: wikiedu.org adamwikiedu.org

In class - Bentley Research Librarian Support: Macee Damon

Macee's contact info:
bentley.edu mdamonbentley.edu

Milestones

All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.

Week 2

Course meetings

Monday, 15 February 2016 | Wednesday, 17 February 2016

Assignment - Exploring the topic area / using Wiki portals

Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
A Wiki portal gets you to a subject area. The individual articles are more like topics.
Explore the directory of portals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Portal/Directory
Here's how to get you to various types of things WP wants people to write (as will the "What can you do?" sections of many portal pages).
WP: Missing articles
WP: Requested articles
WP: Translation (section two — articles needing translation)
Some articles (like Fence Cutting Wars) contain navigational templates at the bottom with links to related articles, organized for readers rather than the community of editors. These can be useful in finding specific narrow subjects related to a broad topic.

Scroll down to have a look at the Things you can do box on this portal:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Business_and_economics

or

Check out possibilities for women's issues that need coverage:

WikiProject:Women in Red

Handouts: Choosing an article

Assignment - Finalize your topic / complete weekly training modules

Research the two topics you selected on Wikipedia. What do you see? Is the article well developed and could it use improvement?
Finalize the topic article for your assignment by 2/25; submit topic article & proposal to Google folder as : "Topic.proposal"

Week 3

Course meetings

Monday, 22 February 2016 | Wednesday, 24 February 2016 | Tuesday, 23 February 2016

In class - Using sources

Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.

Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism

[[../../../training/students/sources|
]]

Assignment - Start researching!

In preparation for the annotated bibliography, compile a bibliography of 3 reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.

Assignment - Submit one page topic proposal with question

Based on your portal searches and Wiki article, identify a reasonable Wikipedia topic. submit your topic proposal. For example, last week's news about gravitational waves is not only unreasonable for probably impossible to research. Choose something you know about already.

I encourage you to work in your own discipline/major so you have some solid ground to work from. Familiarize yourself with the thinking about what makes a Wiki article "notable."

Write a one-page proposal that identifies your research topic article and then proceeds to explain your choices to the class: How did you decide on this article/revision/addition you chose? Why should Wikipedia accept it (using the reasoning outlined in their standards)? Does it meet the standards of non-triviality, quality, credibility, and NPO (neutral point of view) -- be specific in your explanation. Use your growing knowledge of Wiki protocols state why your proposed article makes a contribution to existing articles on the Wiki platform. It would not be sufficient, for example, to state: because such an article doesn't exist. Better to use your proposal to state why you think your topic has been overlooked.

State your current research question at the top of the document. That is, a question about your topic that you believe needs to be answered -- but that you cannot yet answer.

Submit to Google folder as "Topic.proposal"

Week 4

Course meetings

Monday, 29 February 2016 | Wednesday, 2 March 2016

In class - Discuss the article topics

Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.

Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/sandboxes|Sandboxes and Mainspace
]]

Assignment - Annotated bibliography draft due (4 sources)

Think about doing research as having encounters with the texts you locate; how they engage, influence and change your thinking about your topic. Using the Wikipedia protocols for reliable sources, locate 4 sources for the first draft of your annotated bibliography. Use the sample format on the Purdue Owl to write the 3 distinct sections for each source: summary, critical assessment, reflection. It is important that you consider sources that present differing perspectives. Examples will be provided on the Course Schedule.
Submit to Google folder as "AnnotatedBib.1"

Week 5

Course meetings

Monday, 7 March 2016 | Wednesday, 9 March 2016

Assignment - Drafting starter articles/Improving existing articles

If you are starting a new article, write an outline of the topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia lead section of 3–4 paragraphs in your sandbox. Wikipedia articles use "summary style", in which the lead section provides a balanced summary of the entire body of the article, with the first sentence serving to define the topic and place it in context. The lead section should summarize, very briefly, each of the main aspects of the topic that will be covered in detail in the rest of the article. If you are improving an existing article, draft a new lead section reflecting your proposed changes, and post this along with a brief description of your plans on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check that page often to gather any feedback the community might provide.
Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your lead section and fix any major issues.
Continue research in preparation for writing the body of the article.

Milestones

All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 6

Course meetings

Monday, 21 March 2016 | Wednesday, 23 March 2016

In class - Moving articles to mainspace

We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
- Check to see if there is an explanation of the edit on the article's talk page. If not, (politely) ask why it was removed.
- Contact your instructor or Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.

Handout: Moving out of your Sandbox

Assignment - Moving articles to mainspace

Move your sandbox articles into main space.
- If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article.
- If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow the instructions in the "Moving out of your sandbox" handout.
Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Assignment - Annotated Bibliography Final (7 sources)

Taking first draft comments into consideration, complete your annotated bibliography with 3 additional sources that address weak spots and source range/perspective. The final version: no less than 7 sources, annotated with 3 distinct sections per source.

Submit to Google folder as "AnnotatedBib.final"

Week 7

Course meetings

Monday, 28 March 2016 | Wednesday, 30 March 2016

In class - Lightning Talks and Building articles

Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
Share experiences and discuss problems.
Rehearse & time 3-4 minute Lightning Talk (see Course Schedule).

Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia

Assignment - Choose articles to peer review

Select two classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you will peer review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)

Week 8

Course meetings

Monday, 4 April 2016 | Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Assignment - Complete Lead section and first page of article

Read Nancy Sommers' article on case studies of revision strategies, posted on Bb.
Make notes about your ongoing research process in preparation for your Reflection essay
also post writing to folder as "Research.1 & Research.2"

Week 9

Course meetings

Monday, 11 April 2016 | Wednesday, 13 April 2016

Assignment - Complete "Research. 3": (total 750+ words)

Assignment - Due: 2016-04-11

** Listen to BBC Interview with Jimmy Wales, "Newsroom" clip, and Neal de Grassi Tyson clip for discussion
- Also post writing to folder as "Research.3" and your Sandbox

Assignment - Peer review and copyedit

Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.

Assignment - Address peer review suggestions

Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.

Week 10

Course meetings

Wednesday, 20 April 2016

Assignment - Complete "Research.4 " (1000+ words);

Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.
Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved.
peer review & revisions

Assignment - Continue improving articles

Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.
Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.

Assignment - Final article

Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.

Handout: Polishing your article

Week 11

Course meetings

Monday, 25 April 2016 | Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Assignment - Reflection Paper (1250 words); Final Presentations begin

Write an essay that reflects on all of your learning during the research process
See Course Schedule for incremental due dates; final essay due May 6 posted to folder as "Reflection.final." Please keep your drafts intact, with my margin comments. For final work create a "clean" copy of the document, and rename it.

Week 12

Course meetings

Monday, 2 May 2016

Milestones

Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.