Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Rice University/Poverty, Justice, and Capabilities (Fall 2015)
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- Course name
- Poverty, Justice, and Capabilities
- Institution
- Rice University
- Instructor
- Dr. Diana Strassmann
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities
- Course dates
- 2015-08-25 – 2015-12-25
- Approximate number of student editors
- 23
This course provides an introduction to the study of poverty, justice, and capabilities. The course considers theory and economic policy oriented towards improving human well-being in the US and internationally. Readings address material deprivations and inequalities, including links to racial and ethnic disparities, gender, sexual orientation, health status, education, human rights, and political freedoms.
Wikipedia Assignment Overview:
Wikipedia has increasingly become the first resource many internet users consult whenever they encounter an unfamiliar topic. This reliance on Wikipedia is simultaneously exciting in its potential to democratize the availability and production of knowledge and troubling given evidence of systemic bias in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Systemic_bias) and the possibility that inaccurate, and even malicious, information will be spread and reinforced through the site.
This semester you will have the opportunity to intervene in this social phenomenon by participating in the construction and revision of Wikipedia sites relevant to the themes of this course. For this assignment, you will propose and either (1) carry out a substantial revision of an existing Wikipedia article by rewriting it and creating additional sections, or (2) expand a “stub” for a topic that is not sufficiently covered on the site, or (3) create an entirely new article. Since new sections added to existing articles receive far more traffic than completely new articles, which can be orphaned in Wikipedia, you will need to provide a justification if you propose to create a new article rather than revise or expand upon an existing one.
Through this assignment, you will have the opportunity to educate readers about the topics discussed in class and be part of a worldwide conversation about these issues. You will also join the Article Talk page and WikiProject pages related to your entry, and participate in the discussions on these sites.
[The assignments, milestones, and other course features are under construction/revision; please check back for revisions.]
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 25 August 2015 | Thursday, 27 August 2015
- In class - Wikipedia Assignment Overview
- Overview of the course
- Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
Handout: Editing Wikipedia
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 1 September 2015 | Thursday, 3 September 2015
- In class - Topic Ideas
- Basics of editing
- Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish among good and bad articles
- Understanding Wikipedia as a community, expectations and etiquette.
- Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
- Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
Resources: Using Talk Pages, Evaluating Wikipedia, Contributing to Wikipedia: Overall Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria, Choosing an article
- Assignment - Creating an Account & User Page
Due 9 pm Tue, Sept 1
Access and review Editing Wikipedia
Join the course page:
- Go to the Course Overview
- Click "Join course" and enter the passcode.
- You will then be prompted to register for Wikipedia by creating a user account. (If you already have a Wikipedia account, just log in). ( Note: Although users can create or edit entries without an account, registration provides users with more legitimacy.)
- Click "okay" to authorize dashboard.wikiedu.org.
- You will then be redirected to the course page
Create a user page:
- Go to En.Wikipedia.org, and make sure that you are logged in. If so, your newly created account name will be in the upper right hand corner. It will
appear in red until you have added content to your userpage. - Click on your userid, and you will then be directed to your user page, which should have a header that reads "User:".
- Click on the link towards the upper right hand corner of the Wikipedia interface that says "Create." After clicking on the “Create” link, you will be redirected to a page with a header that reads "Editing User:" with a large text box.
- In the text box compose some sentences about yourself. You may for example, highlight your interests and some areas of Wikipedia to which you wish to contribute. For example, you may wish to look at the user pages of some former students. In the Wikipedia search bar, click
User:Leejohnson898, User:Weatherby551, User:Twoods158. For the future: Be sure to continue to develop your Wikipedia user page over the course of the semester, and update it later as your life circumstances change. - 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.
- Go to En.Wikipedia.org, and make sure that you are logged in. If so, your newly created account name will be in the upper right hand corner. It will
Take the Online Student Training Module
- Wiki Ed has created an online training module meant specifically for university students as an introduction to Wikipedia editing. Complete this training
module now and refer to it over the course of the semester. The training module is found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Training/For_students.
To get credit, be sure you are logged into Wikipedia and have already added your user name to the course page.
- Wiki Ed has created an online training module meant specifically for university students as an introduction to Wikipedia editing. Complete this training
Find your Sandbox
- To go to your Sandbox, click the link on the upper right hand side of the page titled “Sandbox.” This will lead you to a user page called Special:MyPage/sandbox. You can practice Wikipedia editing in your sandbox until you are ready to begin editing in the Wikipedia mainspace. --- Resources: Online Training for Students
- Milestones
All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.
- Assignment - Practicing the basics
Due 9 pm Thu 3 Sept
- To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself on the user talk page of one of your classmates, who should also be enrolled on the students tab of the course page. Make sure you are logged into Wikipedia before making any postings!
- Explore topics related to the course 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. Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
- Review pages 4-7 of Evaluating Wikipedia and Contributing to Wikipedia: Overall Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria. These resources will give you a good, brief overview of what to look for in other articles, and what other people will look for in your own.
- Evaluate an existing Wikipedia article relevant to the course, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's talk page.
- A few questions to consider:
- Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
- Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
- Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily slanted toward a particular position?
- Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
- Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
- Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
- Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 8 September 2015 | Thursday, 10 September 2015
- In class - Using sources
- Discussion of close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
Resources: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism, Contributing to Wikipedia: Overall Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria, Choosing an article,
- Assignment - Proposed topics
Due 9 pm Thu 10 Sept
Choosing your topic is the earliest decision you need to make for this project. Careful selection of a workable topic will help you complete this assignment efficiently and make a valuable contribution.
- Begin with the following activities:
- Carefully review the document Contributing to Wikipedia: Overall Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria
- Browse through Wikipedia and review examples of good or featured articles on topics related to the course
- Review Choosing an article. Note, however, that the "Don't" bullet, discouraging students from reworking entire articles does not apply to this course, as many articles related to our subject matter are of such low quality that reworking is needed.
- Think carefully about possible topics that might interest you. You have the option of revising an existing entry, creating a new one, or some combination that may involve adding to one or more articles and creating a new entry. New articles are discouraged unless a clear parent article already exists that has been well developed.
- Research three topics or articles that you will consider working on as your main project. Review the talk pages of any existing topics for a sense of other contributors who are working on these topics and what they are doing.
- Topic titles should not sound like research papers or contain an argument. Since Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, all articles should reflect points of view and facts that have already been published. Additionally, article titles with two topics connected with the word “and” are generally discouraged in Wikipedia.
- For each proposed topic:
- supply a few sentences to explain your interest and possible revisions;
- note whether you would like to rewrite/add to an existing article, expand an existing stub, or create an entirely new entry;
- if you are proposing a new article, describe the parent article and its quality; and
- for your top two choices, list at least ten new references to scholarly sources you would add in revising/creating the article. List at least five new references to scholarly sources for your third choice.
- You may include references to newspaper, magazine, website, and blog sources, but these will not count toward the required number of scholarly references. All references need to be presented as formal full citations (do not simply provide links). Rank the topics in your order of interest. If approved, one of these topics will become your final topic.
Submit to OwlSpace:
- Submit a copy of the info to the relevant assignment tab on Owlspace. For full credit, the file you submit must also contain the following features:
- File name: [LastName] WikiTopics.docx
- Document must include:
- your name
- page numbers
- be doubled-spaced
- be carefully proofed
- preferred font - Baskerville, size 14 *labelled with correct filename
Additionally:
- List the topics you are considering plus the references to your user page, along with your sentences expressing interest, etc. Make sure you are logged into Wikipedia before making any postings!
- Post a comment on the Talk pages of any articles you might consider revising or on a related Talk page if you are considering creating a new article. For instructions on posting to Talk pages, see Using Talk Pages.
- Check out the WikiProjects affiliated with articles that interest you and read what other contributors have suggested for new and revised entries. You can find the affiliated WikiProjects on the Talk page of an article. Consider posting a query on a WikiProject talk page, particularly if you are interested in starting a new article.
- Note: If a topic you might consider working on is controversial (for example, the article on Microcredit/Microfinance or Female Genital Mutilation), Wikipedia may restrict changes to the site or others may quickly reverse your changes. Highly trafficked pages may be changed by other users frequently, leaving it difficult for you to make a unique contribution. Additionally, if someone is actively curating the page, possibly preparing it for submission as a good or featured article, he or she may not welcome someone jumping in and making wholesale revisions. Please avoid such topics. Also avoid very broad topics, since these are difficult to research and cover comprehensively.
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 15 September 2015 | Thursday, 17 September 2015
- In class - Wikipedia culture and etiquette
- Review Wikipedia culture and etiquette.
- General discussion of topics and issues students have encountered.
- Assignment - Add to an article
Due 9 pm Tue 15 Sept
- Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class. Make sure you are logged into Wikipedia before making any postings!
- Milestones
- All students have received feedback on topics. One-on-one meetings are available for all students.
- Milestones
All students have written on one or more Wikipedia Talk Pages and have added content to an article in the Wikipedia mainspace.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 22 September 2015 | Thursday, 24 September 2015
- Assignment - Proposal
Due 9 pm Fri 25 Sept
Overview
- The proposal should be a typed plan (a minimum of 500-700 words, not including references, describing the work you propose to do. The proposal should not be a draft of your proposed new or revised article and should not contain paragraphs intended for your article.
- The purpose of the proposal is to persuade readers of the merits of your planned changes or new article and it should demonstrate how your article will differ from or improve upon any existing or related articles. To receive full credit for your eventual overall Wiki contribution, you will need to create a substantial amount of new material. The proposal, therefore, needs to clearly indicate the work you plan to contribute. You will need to do enough research to clearly explain the motivation behind your planned changes. Be sure to include all the required proposal components described below.
- Planning Your Proposal: Questions and Suggestions
- In planning your proposal, consider the following questions and suggestions:
- Carefully read the comments you received on your topic assignment, including suggestions of references, reconceptualizations of your topic, title, etc. If you’ve been told your topic is too broad (or too narrow), alter your plan as suggested. Overly broad topics are discouraged since these are difficult to
research and cover comprehensively. - You will have the option of revising an existing entry, creating a new one, or some combination that may involve adding to one or more articles and creating a new entry. New entries are generally discouraged unless a clear parent entry already exists.
- Issues to consider if you are considering creating a new article:
- If your proposed topic does not have a clear parent topic that has been developed beyond a stub or start class article, you should instead develop or revise/expand the parent topic instead.
- Post a query to one or more relevant project groups.
- Find one or more active Wikipedians who have contributed to a related article or to the relevant project group, and seek out their advice.
- Prepare to be flexible in response to the feedback you receive.
- Issues to consider in planning a revision to an existing article:
- Are all parts of the existing entry clearly relevant to the topic?
- Does the entry present any unsubstantiated opinion as though backed by legitimate research? Can you identify any parts of the entry that should either be removed or require further support through citations?
- Does the existing article present all of the legitimate, research-backed approaches to a particular issue?
- Are there important subtopics that are not discussed?
- Rather than planning to provide missing citations, first consider whether your research would suggest emphasizing different points or an alternative structure, possibly deleting some of the unsupported claims.
- Does the existing article appropriately link to other Wikipedia sites? Are there any links that you could add?
- Issues to consider for both new and revised articles:
- Identify the relevant subtopics for your proposed contribution and all of the legitimate, research-backed approaches to the topic.
- Narrow the number of subtopics that you will create. (If some important subtopics are beyond the scope of what you can realistically include, you can note additional subtopics meriting further development on the Talk page.)
- Your proposal should acknowledge and adhere to the standards required by Wikipedia for creating and updating articles. Be sure to carefully review the previously provided information and resources.
- Writing your proposal
- Your proposal should include each of the following items and use proper grammar, style, and organization:
- Identify your topic (or topics). What is the name of the article (or articles) that you plan to revise or create? [Note: avoid titles with the word “and,” topics that do not have a clear parent article or titles that sound like arguments or research paper titles.]
- Explain why your topic needs to be revised, expanded, or added to Wikipedia. This explanation should be about the existing representation of the topic (or lack thereof) on Wikipedia and should not include paragraphs that would more appropriately go in the Wikipedia article. Include an argument for the relevance (“notability”) of this effort. Why should we care about this subject? What makes it interesting or important?
- Compare the current article or your planned contribution(s) with one or more specific Wikipedia articles you identify that have been assessed as B class, Good, or Featured and explain what would need to be done to bring your article to an improved status.
- If you are planning to propose a new entry, please provide substantial justification for why this would be better rather than expanding/revising an existing entry, given that new sections added to existing entries tend to receive far more traffic than completely new entries. You will need to show that the relevant parent article is well developed.
- All proposals should cover the concepts necessary to a critical understanding of the issues; related theoretical and policy debates, and a detailed analytical plan for the material you plan to add.
- Provide a detailed outline using the track changes feature of Word to show the sections you will be revising and creating. If you are creating a new article, your outline will comprise all the sections of the proposed article. If you are contributing to an existing article or articles, include an outline that shows existing sections to be kept or deleted and proposed new sections, clearly distinguishing among the two. An example of a sample outline is available under resources in Owlspace.
- In a separate section of your proposal, describe the planned work, and include detailed explanations of what you will include in each of the sections you will be adding or revising. (If you plan to contribute to more than one article, be sure to explain what you will be contributing to each.) Include a substantive list of scholarly references expected to support each proposed section that you will be contributing to. The references should be organized by parts of the previously listed outline, with references listed for each major topic. Provide a minimum of two (and preferably more) scholarly references for each section you plan to add. References from news sources are permitted, but these are not a substitute for the minimum number of scholarly references required per section.
- Note: References should include material from outside the syllabus as well as relevant course readings. These will need to be listed following an appropriate documentation format such as Chicago style (including author, year, and page number). You may also use the APA style or the citation style preferred by the main umbrella Project Group for your contribution. MLA and other styles that do not emphasize the use of inline citations with publication dates should not be used. Note that once you start adding to specific articles, you should adhere to the referencing style preferred by a main related Wiki Project Group associated with the article.
- Describe (i) the links to other entries that you plan to add, and (ii) links you will add from those pages to yours. To what existing Wikipedia pages will you add information about your page to increase traffic?
- If you anticipate any potential difficulties, please describe these.
- Your proposal should include each of the following items and use proper grammar, style, and organization:
- Submit your completed proposal to the relevant assignment tab on Owlspace. For full credit, the file you submit must also contain the following features:
- File name: [LastName] WikiProposal.docx
- Document must include:
- your name
- page numbers
- be doubled-spaced
- be carefully proofed
- preferred font - Baskerville, size 14
- labelled with core t dilename
Examples:
- Examples of successful proposals from previous classes are available in Owlspace.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 29 September 2015 | Thursday, 1 October 2015
- In class - Communicating with the Wikipedia Community and Initial Drafting
- We'll discuss a variety of details relating to getting started, and share experiences and discuss problems.
- Assignment - Update your User page and Article Talk pages
Due 9 pm Tue 29 Sept
- While you are waiting to hear back on your proposal, begin updating your user page and the talk pages of the article(s) you propose to contribute to.
- Add the Talk and Article pages to your watch list, and check regularly to see if anyone offers advice on your previous postings
- Engage with any feedback you receive.
- Check out the WikiProjects affiliated with your topic. You can find the affiliated WikiProjects on the Talk page of an article.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 6 October 2015 | Thursday, 8 October 2015
- In class - Building articles
- Discussion topics include: *Writing in your sandboxes vs. in Wikipedia's main space, and moving between the two.
- A general reminder: Don't panic if your work is overwritten or disappears.
- 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 the Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.
- A general reminder: Don't panic if your work is overwritten or disappears.
Resources: Moving out of your Sandbox, Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia
- Milestones
- All students have received feedback on proposals. One-on-one meetings are available for students.
- Assignment - First steps
Due 5 pm Fr 9 Oct
- Once your proposal is approved, add your article topic(s) to the course page. Remove other proposed topics from your user page unless you plan to work on them at some future date. If you plan to revise or expand an existing Wikipedia article, post a more detailed description and the rationale for your proposed changes for community feedback on the Talk page of the article. *Make sure you have logged into Wikipedia before making any postings!** Check back on the talk page often and engage with any responses.
- If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox. Then post on the Talk page of the parent article to your topic or to another one that is closely related to your topic, along with a brief summary of your plans and directing readers to your sandbox.
- Begin polishing your short starter article and fix any major issues.
- Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.
- Move your sandbox work into the main space, .
- If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edits 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. (Exceptions may be made in the case of articles that have not been changed over a substantial period of time.)
- 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.
- Milestones
- All students have started editing/writing articles on Wikipedia.
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 13 October 2015 | Thursday, 15 October 2015
- Assignment - Articles to peer review
- sign up on Dashboard
- You will be asked to peer review the articles of 2-3 of your classmates in your section . On the students tab of the course page, add your username next to the articles you have been assigned to peer review (i.e those in your peer review group).
- Assignment - Complete initial Contribution
Due 5 pm Mon 19 Oct
- Your initial contribution should be a minimum of 700 words, not including references, but note that if it appears you are using language designed to increase word count, your edits will likely be reverted.
- Review advice
- First, carefully consider the suggestions you have been given, both to your proposal when it was reviewed and graded, and any responses by Wikipedia editors to your contributions to the Project, Talk or your User page. As you write, be sure to continually check the article’s Talk page and any WikiProject Talk pages you have contributed to for user feedback and suggestions.
- Review information
- Review the various informational documents and links you have been given, particularly those relating to citations and avoiding plagiarism.
- Continue writing!
- Make sure you are logged in before you write.
- Consider saving after every sentence, so if an editor doesn’t like one of your points, only that sentence will be reverted.
- Be sure that every assertion in your article is supported with a citation (and carefully review the information on citations referenced above). In-text citations that include the name of the scholar making the claim are superior to simple footnotes.
- A good practice is to include a reference after every sentence. This is especially important for health-related articles.
- To easily create citations, click on the word “Cite” at the top of the editing box. It will give you a drop-down menu of citation templates for books, journals, websites, and news. You can select a template and it will give you a form with all of the needed fields, and will then format the information for you. If you name the references where the template says “Ref name,” you can re-use them later by clicking on “Named references” and selecting whichever one you want. You put
- Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article. When changes are complete, press the “Save page” button. (Be sure to provide a brief explanation of each change in the space provided.) Overwriting entire articles or large sections is more acceptable for articles that are not actively being edited by other Wikipedians (no substantive new edits in several months). If you plan substantial deletions and overwriting to an existing page, make sure that you have written on the article's Talk page to explain the problems with the current page, described your planned revisions, and given other Wikipedians time to respond.
- New article tips
- For new articles, consider using Wikipedia’s Article Wizard. The Wizard is a tool designed to help users creating articles for the first time. The Wizard is a six-step process that will ensure that you are ready to create a new article.
- The easiest way to post a new article on the Wikipedia Mainspace is to log into your account and then type the name of your topic into the search box on the upper right-hand side of the page. If no article exists, you will be prompted to create one. Be sure to search for similar topics as well as articles about broader ideas that may already cover the topic you want to write about.
- Do NOT simply copy and paste your text from your sandbox to the article or there will be no record of your work history. Follow these instructions for how to move your work.
- When changes are complete, press the “Save page” button.
- Be sure to include your citations and references when you create your article or it may be deleted swiftly.
- If your contribution disappears, don’t panic and also don’t try to force your contribution back on
- 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 one of the course’s online volunteers and let them know and also let me know
- General tips
- Your article should include a number of short sections (many of which you may have included in your proposal). Headings allow a reader to jump around and find the information they want easily. (When you include a heading, a table of contents will be automatically generated when you post to Wikipedia.) Wikipedia allows the creation of article headings with relative ease.
- Include links in your article. The linking infrastructure is what helps users navigate to and discover new information and will prevent your article from being orphaned and therefore unread. To add a link, double-bracket the word. For example, Capabilities Approach would link to the capabilities approach page. A link to a page that doesn’t exist will appear red. (Some of these instructions may change with the new visual editor.)
- Good Wikipedia articles contain illustrations that help explain the topic visually. Illustrating Wikipedia
- Click the “watch” button for both the article and talk page for each article you contributed to. As before, be sure to continually check the article’s Talk page and any WikiProject Talk pages for user feedback and suggestions.
- Getting help on Wikipedia: While the online volunteers are good sources of help and advice, there are lots of other ways to get quick help on Wikipedia. Review How to Get Help for useful advice: How to get help. Additionally, there are live tutorials on a variety of topics, which you can find at Tips and Resources
- Submission Instructions
- You do not need to submit your WikiWork since I can access it via the dashboard
- However, you must submit the following documents to Owlspace by the deadline and email them to those in your peer review group:
- A narrative description of the contributions you have made along with links to the page(s) you have created/changed. [Label the file: LastName]InitialContributionDescription.pdf (or .doc/.docx)]
- An outline of your article, showing with track changes the sections you have edited, deleted, or added. [Label the file: LastName]InitialContributionOutline.docx)]
- All posted documents must include:
- your name
- page numbers
- be double-spaced (except the outline, which may be single-spaced) *baskerville font, size 14
- be carefully proofread
- be labelled withcorrect filename:
- Optional: Submitting a Did You Know hook to Wikipedia.
- This optional assignment can help draw traffic to your page and increase the “hits” it receives. Only new articles or articles that have greatly increased the word count of a previously existing article are eligible. “Did you know” hooks must be submitted within 5 days of the creation of a new article or fivefold expansion (usually from a stub) of an existing article. Submitting a DYK hook requires that you engage with other Wikipedia editors in a discussion that will likely result in requests for improvement to the article.
- To nominate your article, follow the instructions in Did You Know process
- Or you may read the full guide to Did You Know nominations at: WP:DYK
- You may also review a quick guide at User:Rjanag/Quick DYK 2 for step-by-step on screen instructions.
- Search Template talk:Did you know on Wikipedia. Click on “How to post a new nomination.”
- Follow the on screen instructions in the yellow and orange form.
- Create a nomination subpage.
- Write the nomination using the DYK template Template:NewDYKnomination
- You will need to write a good hook -- the “Did you know” fact for your article (see below for details). To write a good hook:
- Remember to begin the hook with "... that", to end it with a question mark, and to link the article title within the hook and make it bold.
- The hook should be fewer than 200 characters.
- The hook should refer to established facts.
- The hook should be neutral.
- The "Did you know?" fact must be mentioned in the article and cited with an inline citation since inline citations are used to support specific statements in an article. Many submissions fail to meet one or both of these criteria.
- List the nomination page at "Template talk:Did you know" by finding the appropriate date and adding This is not the proper page to nominate your DYK article. If you have arrived here by accident, please return to T:TDYK and create your DYK nomination page by replacing the text "YOUR ARTICLE TITLE" in the form, with the title of the article you intend to nominate. under the date of the article's creation or expansion.
- Screen shot your completed nomination and submit to Owlspace when completed with the file name [LastName]PagePromtion.doc/.jpeg/.pdf/etc
- You will need to write a good hook -- the “Did you know” fact for your article (see below for details). To write a good hook:
- Milestones
All students have created their initial contributions and have additionally submitted their narrative descriptions and track changed outlines to Owlspace and have sent them to their peer group members.
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 20 October 2015 | Thursday, 22 October 2015
- Assignment - Peer reviews I
Due 9 pm Wed 21 Oct
- Sign up on the course page as a reviewer of each other student in your peer review group. (Peer review group lists are on Owlspace.)
- Review "Evaluating Wikipedia" before reading the contributions of your peers.
- Complete one copy of the Peer Review Rubric for each of the students whose work you are reviewing. (Peer Review Rubric Forms are available in Owlspace.)
- Please type your comments for each article you are reviewing onto a copy of the form available in Owlspace. Be sure to note on the form the name of the person whose work you are reviewing, the reviewed article’s title, plus your name as the peer reviewer. Provide thoughtful and detailed comments that will help your peer group members improve their articles. Detailed constructive suggestions will help your classmates. [Examples from past years are available on Owlspace.]
- Label each file with your name and that of the person whose work you are reviewing as follows: [YourLastName]ReviewOf[AuthorLastName].docx, e.g. SmithReviewofJones.docx
- Label each file with your name and that of the person whose work you are reviewing as follows: [YourLastName]ReviewOf[AuthorLastName].docx, e.g. SmithReviewofJones.docx
- Add a summary of your comments on the Talk page of each article you are reviewing. Upload the files to the relevant assignment tab on OwlSpace (including a word doc noting where your talk page comments may be found) AND email the relevant, filled-out forms to each person whose work you have reviewed by 9 pm on Wed, October 21. (Email addresses of your peer review group members may be found on the class rosters available in Owlspace.)
- In class - Workshop 1
Workshop 1: Required Class. Students will meet in class in their peer review groups to discuss their feedback on each others articles.
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 27 October 2015 | Thursday, 29 October 2015
- Ongoing work on contributions
Carefully review the Expanded Contribution assignment and get started working on it. Continue to seek out advice from Wikipedians, the course volunteers, and your classmates. Explore resources for help.
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 3 November 2015 | Thursday, 5 November 2015
- Assignment - Expanded Contribution
Due 5 pm Mon 2 Nov
Expand and revise your Wikipedia contributions in response to your peer review feedback and any comments posted to your User and Talk pages by other Wikipedia editors. Be proactive in seeking advice from editors in the Wikipedia community. Your expanded contribution should be a minimum of 1500 words, not including references. By this stage, you should have added at least fifteen new references from scholarly sources. Additional references may come from non-scholarly sources, such as from news reports or governmental or NGO websites. Be sure your Wikipedia settings are set so that you are able to watch and be notified of any comments or changes to Article, Talk, or User pages.
- Double check that all assertions are appropriately supported and referenced
- As noted in various materials and in class, make sure you attribute claims to specific authors and studies in the text using in line citations where appropriate rather than just supporting specific assertions with footnotes. Review the brochures on citations, references, and on how to avoid plagiarism. Make sure your article does not copy the structure of any articles or books you are referencing or use inappropriate close paraphrasing.
- Add links and images
- The best Wikipedia articles have illustrations and images, link to other pages, and have other pages linking to them. Review the brochures Polishing your article and Illustrating Wikipedia for good advice on adding images and additional links.
- Check permissions
- Check to make sure you have the requisite permissions for any images or illustrations.
- Questions?
- If you have questions, post questions to search.ask.wikiedu.org on the Dashboard, seek out help from online volunteers, and review How to Get Help for useful advice, and access live tutorials available at Tips and Resources.
- Submission Instructions
- Make sure that all your Wikipedia contributions are live by 5 pm Monday 2 Nov.
- Additionally, submit the following documents to Owlspace and email them to those in your peer review group by the deadline:
- a narrative description of the contributions you have made * links to the page(s) you have created/changed * an outline of your article, showing with track changes the sections you have edited, deleted, or added. Label the file: LastNameExpandedContributionDescription.docx)
- For full credit, the file you submit must also contain the following features:
- Correct filename (see above)
- Document must include:
- your name
- page numbers
- be doubled-spaced
- be carefully proofed
- preferred font - Baskerville, size 14
- Given the tight timing before the workshop, there will be no extensions. Plan to complete your work early so that you can deal with any last minute snags that may come up.
Optional: If relevant (see below), include your good article nomination information in your contribution description.
- (Optional) Good Article Status Option
- At this stage, you may consider nominating your article for Good Article Status. If you opt to seek Good Article status you must remove the nomination at the end of the semester if your article is unreviewed; or alternatively, you must commit to following up on the review after the end of the semester. (Not responding to reviews provided by Wikipedia editors to Good Article review nominations is disrespectful of the time the editors put into their reviews and suggestions.)
- Good Articles are articles that meet a high quality standard and have been approved by members of the Wikipedia community. If you choose this route, you will self-nominate your article for Good Article review and a Wikipedia editor may eventually provide your article with a review and feedback. The independent Wikipedia review process may take weeks or months and therefore achieving Good Article status is not required for the course.
- First, peruse the Good Article Criteria found here. Then go to the Good Article Nominations page and follow the on-screen instructions for “How to Nominate an Article.” Your efforts in nominating your article (if appropriate) will be taken into account in your final project grade.
- At this stage, you may consider nominating your article for Good Article Status. If you opt to seek Good Article status you must remove the nomination at the end of the semester if your article is unreviewed; or alternatively, you must commit to following up on the review after the end of the semester. (Not responding to reviews provided by Wikipedia editors to Good Article review nominations is disrespectful of the time the editors put into their reviews and suggestions.)
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Handouts:
- Assignment - Peer Review 2
Due 9 pm Wed 4 Nov
- Sign up on the course page as a reviewer of each other student in your *** 2nd*** round peer review group. (Peer review II group lists are on Owlspace.)
- As before, review "Evaluating Wikipedia" before reading the contributions of your peers.
- Complete one copy of the Peer Review Rubric for each of the students whose work you are reviewing. (Peer Review Rubric Forms are available in Owlspace.)
- Please type your comments for each article you are reviewing onto a copy of the form available in Owlspace. Be sure to note on the form the name of the person whose work you are reviewing, the reviewed article’s title, plus your name as the peer reviewer. Provide thoughtful and detailed comments that will help your peer group members improve their articles. Detailed constructive suggestions will help your classmates.
- Label each file with your name and that of person whose work you are reviewing as follows: [YourLastName]ReviewOf[AuthorLastName].docx e.g. SmithReviewofJones.docx
- Upload the files to the relevant assignment tab on OwlSpace (including a word doc noting where your talk page comments may be found) AND email the relevant, filled-out forms to each person whose work you have reviewed by 9 pm on Wed, 4 Nov. (Email addresses of your peer review group members may be found on the class rosters available in Owlspace.)
- Add a summary of your comments on the Talk page of each article you are reviewing.
- In class - Workshop 2
Workshop 2: Required Class. Students will meet in class in their peer review groups to discuss their feedback on each others articles.
Week 12
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 10 November 2015 | Thursday, 12 November 2015
- In class - Home Stretch
Work intensively on your final contributions. Begin thinking about your reflective essay. Have fun and be Bold!
Week 13
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 17 November 2015 | Thursday, 19 November 2015
- Assignment - Final article
Due 5 pm Friday 20 Nov
- Further revise and polish your contribution(s)
- Carefully review the second set of peer review feedback and any additional comments from Wikipedia editors, and revise accordingly. As noted with the previous assignment, your final contributions should total a minimum of 1500 words, not including references. As noted in the last assignment, your contributions to the Wikipedia mainspace should include at least fifteen new references from scholarly sources, as well as additional references from nonscholarly sources, such as NGO websites and news reports.
- Double check permissions
- Following previous instructions, double check that all assertions are appropriately supported and referenced and that you have verified that you have all needed permissions for images, illustrations, and the like.
- Submission Instructions
Your Wikipedia contributions are due to be live by Friday at 5 pm.
A printed copy of your contributions will need to be turned in no later than Monday 23 Nov to Humanities 108 (the office of Christine Cox), . Please follow the instructions below:
Detailed Printing Instructions:
When submitting your Contribution Description and Portfolio, highlight the sections of the article you have contributed to, with the changes you made highlighted in YELLOW. Do not include large amounts of extraneous text created by others. If other classmates or Wikipediasn contributed to the article during the time you were also working on it, you may highlight that as well, but be sure your Description clearly indicates the changes you made.
The highlighting may be done in three ways: highlighting in Word; taking a screenshot of your article on Wikipedia and highlighting; or making a PDF of your article and highlighting. Instructions follow.
If you rewrote the entire article, you can submit two documents: one with your final article and one of the original article.
If you created an entirely new article and you are the only person who has edited your article, take a screenshot or make a PDF of the entire article to submit. Please indicate in your description that this is the case so it is clear that all the work you’re submitting is your own.
How to save your page as a PDF If you created a new entry or changed a majority of the entry, create a PDF of the entire page. You can do this easily by clicking on the Print/ Export button on the left-hand side of the Wikipedia page. You will then be presented with three options; pick the one that says “Download as PDF.” Please use this option at your own discretion, but make sure that the downloaded PDF includes everything that you are required to submit as part of this assignment. If you have only changed or added to part of the article, do not create a PDF that includes large amounts of text you have not contributed to. In such cases, take screen shots of the relevant information instead and compile those together in a word document.
Font size The font size must be large enough for me to easily readit when the PDF is printed (the equivalent of size 14). When printing your Wikipedia contributions, use the "print preview" to save them as PDFs. You can read this brief description of how to do this: http://www.ehow(.)com/how6813102save-print-preview-pdf.html
How to take screenshots
If the page you are viewing has unnecessary information, please use a selected screenshot instead of a full screenshot as this will make the image larger and, therefore, more legible. You can find the original article by viewing a page’s history and then selecting the date and time on the last revision before you started. If you know there is a lot of content in the article that you did not edit, take multiple screenshots of the sections that you have added or substantially rewritten, and in a Microsoft Word document insert the original and final screenshots side-by-side (please label each one original or final), and describe the changes to that particular section. The description should clearly indicate the changes you have made. To zoom-in on the screen In Firefox and Google Chrome, you can zoom in by simply pressing “Control” or “Ctrl” and scrolling up. Then you can take your screenshot and the font will be larger.
On a MAC For a selected screenshot, hold “command” and “shift” and then press 4. Use your cursor to then select the area to screenshot.
For a full screenshot, hold “command” and “shift” and then press 3.
The screenshots save to your desktop and can be renamed to .jpg or .pdf (they default as .png files).
On a PC Please follow the steps provided at this link: http://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Screenshot-in-Microsoft-Windows
Highlighting Changes on MACs 1. Save your page as a PDF.
- Open the PDF in preview.
- Click tools, then annotate, then highlight text.
- In the toolbar, you will see a color square. Select the correct color for the assignment. YELLOW
- You can now highlight all sentence level changes you made. This will permit you to easily show which changes are yours and which are not.
- Assignment - Contribution Description and Wikipedia Portfolio
Due 5 pm Fri 20 Nov
Put together the following items into one word document with live links:
- A narrative description of all of the contributions you have made along with live links. Include all portfolio contributions as well. (Examples of some past descriptions that also contain reflective elements will be available on Owlspace.)
- An outline of your article, showing with track changes the sections you have edited, deleted, or added to your main article and to any other ones (partial outlines ok for subsidiary articles).
For full credit, the file you submit must also contain the following features:
- Correct filename: [Label the file: LastName]Portfolio.docx]
- Document must include:
- your name
- page numbers
- be doubled-spaced
- be carefully proofed
- preferred font - Baskerville, size 14
- Resources Recap
- Editing Wikipedia
- Using Talk Pages
- Evaluating Wikipedia
- Contributing to Wikipedia: Overall Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria
- Choosing an article
- Online Training for Students
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- Choosing an article
- Moving out of your Sandbox
- Illustrating Wikipedia
- Article Wizard
- How to Get Help
- Tips and Resources
- Did You Know process WP:DYK
- Template talk:Did you know
- Template:NewDYKnomination
- Polishing your article
- Good Article Status
- Good Article Criteria
- Good Article Nominations page
Week 14
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 24 November 2015
- Assignment - Reflective essay
Due 5 pm Tue 24 Nov
Write a reflective essay (3-4 pages) on your Wikipedia experience. Although this essay will naturally reference some details from your Contribution Description and Portfolio, it should take an essay format and be more deeply reflective about your Wikipedia experience.
Submission Instructions: * Submit your essay to Owlspace, labeling your file LastNameReflection.docx * For full credit, the file you submit must also contain the following features: * Correct filename (see above) * Document must include: * your name * page numbers * be doubled-spaced * be carefully proofed * preferred font - Baskerville, size 14
- Milestones
- Students have finished all work that will be considered for grading for their Wikipedia assignment.