Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Southern Illinois University Edwardsville/ENG 102 (Fall 2022)
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- Course name
- ENG 102
- Institution
- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
- Instructor
- Kristine Hildebrandt
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Research-based writing
- Course dates
- 2022-08-22 00:00:00 UTC – 2022-12-09 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 24
English 102 is a continuation of English 101. Assignments in this course will be designed to help you focus upon a theme, develop a thesis, organize ideas, control tone, and express ideas in clearly communicated language. Students will learn formal argumentation techniques and terminology. In addition, you will learn how to conduct research on selected topics, incorporate researched material into your papers, and properly cite and document your ideas. In this class, we will take a special focus on "identifying, evaluating, and integrating secondary source reference materials into your academic writing." We will focus on a critical examination of the Internet (and specifically: Wikipedia) in academic research and writing. You will have several smaller writing assignments throughout the semester, and your final essay will be a substantive discussion and argument, including citation of external sources, about whether or not online sources like Wikipedia are in fact appropriate for research in higher education.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 22 August 2022 | Tuesday, 23 August 2022 | Wednesday, 24 August 2022 | Thursday, 25 August 2022 | Friday, 26 August 2022
- In class - Regular Class Calendar
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 29 August 2022 | Tuesday, 30 August 2022 | Wednesday, 31 August 2022 | Thursday, 1 September 2022 | Friday, 2 September 2022
- In class - Regular Class Calendar
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 6 September 2022 | Wednesday, 7 September 2022 | Thursday, 8 September 2022 | Friday, 9 September 2022
- In class - Regular Class Calendar
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 12 September 2022 | Tuesday, 13 September 2022 | Wednesday, 14 September 2022 | Thursday, 15 September 2022 | Friday, 16 September 2022
- In class - Regular Class Calendar
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 19 September 2022 | Tuesday, 20 September 2022 | Wednesday, 21 September 2022 | Thursday, 22 September 2022 | Friday, 23 September 2022
- In class - Regular Class Calendar
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 26 September 2022 | Tuesday, 27 September 2022 | Wednesday, 28 September 2022 | Thursday, 29 September 2022 | Friday, 30 September 2022
- In class - Regular Class Calendar
But we are preparing to begin the Wikipedia Unit in Week 7!
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 3 October 2022 | Tuesday, 4 October 2022 | Wednesday, 5 October 2022 | Thursday, 6 October 2022 | Friday, 7 October 2022
- In class - Introduction to Wikipedia
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline!
1. This is SA #13 and is due by 11.59pm CST on Wednesday Oct. 5: Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you.
2. This course page breaks down writing a Wikipedia article into a series of steps ("milestones"). These steps include in-class discussion and activities, and also several assigned online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia, and other small assignments, all categorized under the "SA" category for ENG 102. In addition, you will also complete two SE's related to this training (SE #5 and SE #6)
Our course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Content Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the "Get Help" button on this page.
This project is designed to jumpstart your thinking and discussion for the final graded essay of the summer term, which asks the question:
Are online websites like Wikipedia credible as sources of information?
3. All of the thinking, reading and response/writing work that you do in these next few weeks will provide the foundation for your stance on that essential question.
- In class - A Quick Tour of Wikipedia
I will spend some time in Video #1 for Week 7 showing you some interesting aspects of Wikipedia that you may not already know about, including:
A. An Overview of the Main Page
B. Editorial Tools and Tabs
C. Languages
D. Other Wiki Projects
- Assignment - SA #13 & 14
- Wikipedia Account & Policies
By Wednesday Oct. 5 
11.59pm CST, everyone should have a Wikipedia account. This counts as SA #13.
And, you must complete the Wikipedia training (see the link above) "Wikipedia Policies", which includes some reading and then a short quiz at the end, which you must pass. This counts as SA #4, with the same due date.
- In class - Week 7, Video 2
- Issues Related to Wikipedia
I will provide some discussion of these two pieces of reading. You will find these to be important in terms of how you start to build your argument about the appropriateness of Wikipedia in higher-education research environments:
· Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
- Assignment - SA #15 & #16
- Read & Respond
I'm asking you to read and respond to two pieces, and both of these SA's are due to Blackboard (look for the submission links in the SA folder) by 11.59pm CST on Sunday, October 9.
SA #15. Christensen, Tyler Booth. (2015) "Wikipedia as a Tool for 21st Century Teaching and Learning." International Journal for Digital Society, 6 (2), pp. 1055–1060.
Your response will take about 1/2 to 1 page in length.
A. Summarize two "common criticisms" of Wikipedia that Tyler Christensen covers in his article. How does he respond to these criticisms?
B. In what ways, according to Christensen (p. 1045-1046), can students and teachers contribute to the betterment of Wikipedia?
SA #16. Read One of these Wikipedia articles:
Respond in writing (about 1/2 to 1 page total in length) and upload your completed response to Blackboard by 11.59pm CST on Sunday, October 9.
A. Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
B. Where does the information come from?
C. Are these neutral sources?
D. If biased, is that bias noted?
E. Also, check out the "Talk" page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
F. How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 10 October 2022 | Tuesday, 11 October 2022 | Wednesday, 12 October 2022 | Thursday, 13 October 2022 | Friday, 14 October 2022
- Assignment - Video 1
- Who Uses Wikipedia? How? Why? And SA #17
I will use some time in the video to discuss this reading:
Head, A. J., & Eisenberg, M. B. (2010). How today's college students use Wikipedia for course-related research. First Monday, 15(3), 1-1. doi: 10.5210/fm.v15i3.2830
The link to this article is here: https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2830/2476
You will also complete SA #17 (the Plagiarism tutorial), which is due by 11.59pm CST on Wednesday, Oct. 12.
- Assignment - SA #18 & #19
- Wikipedia Training
You must complete these two Wikipedia trainings by 11.59pm CST on Wednesday, Oct. 12.
- Assignment - Video 2
- Sourcing in Wikipedia & SA #20
I will use some video time to discuss this very specific Wikipedia policy:
And SA #20 will be due by 11.59pm on Thursday, Oct. 13 (complete the "Sandbox, Talk Pages, and Watch Lists" training)
- Assignment - SE #5
This is your fifth of seven Small Essays for ENG 102. You will submit this to Blackboard >> Small Essays (SE). It is due by 11.59pm on Sunday, Oct. 16
Choose One of these (other website) article about Wikipedia
Why Wikipedia matters for women in science
The Earth is flat? Check Wikipedia
How Wikipedia is hostile to women
For Wikipedia, the doctor is in... class
Black history matters, so why is Wikipedia missing so much of it?
You will construct your own brief essay response to the article. Your response should be between 1-2 typed pages (double-spaced, 1" margins, 12-pt. font)
Make sure your essay has an introduction, and that your introduction includes a brief preview of what you will include in the rest of your essay.
First, summarize the article
Also, identify the primary argument or arguments being made in the article
In addition, identify and discuss the support strategies the author employs to make this article. Please use inline citation in your writing to cite the location/source of at least one of the support strategies. If you identify a quote, include the page number.
Also: Identify and discuss in a couple of sentences one thing that you learned about Wikipedia from this article that you didn't already know. You can work this into a separate paragraph, or else incorporate it into a condluding paragraph of your essay response.
Please include a bibliographic reference of your chosen article at the end of your essay. You can use any of the following styles: MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian.
Week 9
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 17 October 2022 | Tuesday, 18 October 2022 | Wednesday, 19 October 2022 | Thursday, 20 October 2022 | Friday, 21 October 2022
- Assignment - Video 1
- Wikipedia vs. Other Internet Resources and SA #21
We will engage in some closer inspection of Wikipedia pages. Here are four Wikipedia articles connected to SA #21:
1. Biosphere 2
2. Viola Davis
I will demonstrate the main features of a different Wikipedia article as they relate to the below questions. You will then choose any one of these articles above (you only have to choose one) and respond to the questions. You do not need to write a formal essay--just respond to the questions in turn, but make sure you give enough information in your response. Your responses will be between 1/2 to 1 page. You will upload your responses to Blackboard as SA #21 by 11.59pm CST on Wednesday, Oct. 19.
1. Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
2. Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
3. Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
4. Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
5. Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
6. Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or suspected plagiarism in the article?
7. Is any information out of date in a way that negatively compromises the article? Is anything missing that could be added?
8. Check the "talk" page of the article. What is the Wikipedia community saying about this topic?
9. What is the article rated? For your final project, you'll be asked to make improvements to an article. We'd like to focus your improvements on articles that are rated stub, start or c-class according to Wikipedia's article assessment rating.
- In class - Video 2
- Identifying Wikipedia Articles for Editing
We are now going to start diving into the heart of Wikipedia articles. Here are information pages for discovering articles in your topic area that you can edit and improve. I will go through a couple of these in my video so you get an idea about the advice and guidance in working with articles in these areas:
- Assignment - SA #22
Here is a list of current "stub" articles by Wikipedia. These are articles that need development and expansion, and this is where your own editing work will come into play. I will walk through some of these stubs in Video 3 for Week 9.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Stub_sorting/List_of_stubs
For SA #22: You will choose one of the short contents (choose a stub category) and then explore some of the types of stub articles that you find. Please answer the following questions:
Based on the stub or c-class article that you've found, find another more developed Wikipedia article on a topic that is similar. For example, if you found a stub/c-class article on a horror genre film, compare it to an article on the same genre, where the article is much better developed and has much more detail. In your response, include both the link of the stub/c-class article that you are working with, as well as the link to the better developed article.
1. Identify between two and three sections of the stub/c-class article that are lacking entirely or else lacking in information (content) in comparison to the better developed article.
2. Take a paragraph or so to describe how you think you could improve any one or two of those sections. What is missing? What is needed? How could you go about getting the information that you need to fill that in?
3. Now, navigate back to Lovejoy Library's articles search engines, perhaps Academic Search Complete (https://libguides.siue.edu/az.php?), remember that you will need to log in with your e-id and password. You can also just start with the main search bar on the Library's home page. Do a search for potential sources on that stub or c-class article. Identify at least one source that shows up in your search that you could use to improve the stub/c-class article. Cite that source and include it in your response. You can use MLA/APA or Chicago (remember that the "cite" feature is easy to use in Academic Search Complete).
Note: Give yourself enough time with this! Stub articles sometimes do not have a huge bounty of references on them. You may have to search around a bit until you find something. Also, don't worry--you are not committing to this article. You still have time to explore other stub articles, and my future videos will help with that. This is one way for you to begin thinking about how you can become an editor of an article.
Upload your responses to Blackboard >> SA #22 by 11.59pm CST on Thursday, Oct. 20.
- Assignment - SA #23
This short essay response will be due to Blackboard by 11.59pm CST on Sunday, Oct. 23.
For this SA, I want you to choose any one of these Wiki Project pages. Wiki Projects pages are collaborations of editors whose mission it is to create (or split or merge or remove) and improve upon articles that connect to a particular theme or topic. This is also a good way to identify articles that are in need of improvement.
1. Choose one of the Wiki Project Pages from below
2. Have a look around the project page to learn more about what the goal of this project is.
3. Submit, in writing and to Blackboard, a brief write-up that includes:
A. What the goal of the chosen Wiki Project is (3-5 sentences).
B. At least two Wikipedia articles from this Project that could use revision or development. You can find the targeted articles by looking at links such as "Article Alerts", or "Popular Pages", or "Metrics". Try to focus on articles that are "C-Class" or else "Start" or "Stub" articles.
Wiki Project Pages
WikiProject: Countering Systemic Bias
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 24 October 2022 | Tuesday, 25 October 2022 | Wednesday, 26 October 2022 | Thursday, 27 October 2022 | Friday, 28 October 2022
- Assignment - Video 1
- More on Finding Potential Articles
I will walk through "Finding Potential Articles (Exercise) in Video 1.
You will complete SA #24 "Finding Your Article (Training)", with a due date of 11.59pm CST on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
- Assignment - Video 2
- Inspecting Stubs & SA #25
By now, you have had a lot of time to practice with identifying Wikipedia articles that are either underdeveloped, or else are truly a "stub".
For SA #25 (due by 11.59pm on Thursday, Oct. 27), I want you to choose a stub (you can choose any stub--you do not have to commit to it) and answer a few questions. You can choose any one stub from this link, below, or you can work with an article that you discovered via one of the prior activities or SA's:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Stub_sorting/List_of_stubs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Start-Class_articles
Here are the questions. I will have you practice in your Wikipedia Sandbox. The Sandbox is a valuable drafting space for you when you are working on article edits, or even creating a new article. I will demonstrate the Sandbox in this video.
You don't have to write a polished essay--you can respond to each number in turn.
1. What stub did you choose? Why did you choose this one? Copy and past the URL link into your Sandbox
2. How do you know that it's a stub: Identify where on the page that you know that this is a stub
3. What are some missing or under-developed parts of this stub? A good way to determine this is to compare your stub to a more developed article on the same topic and category. So for example, if you chose a stub-article on a horror novel, look for another Wikipedia article on another horror novel that is more fully developed. What is missing on your stub page in comparison? You should devote 4-5 sentences to answering this question.
4. In particular, locate the "References" section of the stub. What, if anything, is listed in the references? If the references are hyperlinked, do the links still work?
5. And, when you compare this stub to a well developed article of the same category type, what sections of the overall article are present, and what are missing?
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 31 October 2022 | Tuesday, 1 November 2022 | Wednesday, 2 November 2022 | Thursday, 3 November 2022 | Friday, 4 November 2022
- Assignment - Video 1
- Adding to an Article & SA #26
Let's review the training "Making a Small Edit", and then I will have you complete SA #26 as a form of practice by searching for a source for a pre-selected stub article, and adding that source in the Sandbox for that article. SA #26 is due by 11.59pm CST to your Wikipedia Sandbox Wednesday, November 2.
I am going to demonstrate how to bring a cited reference for this article: Orpheum Theater St. Louis.
For inspiration, I'm comparing that article with a much more well-developed article: Fox Theater St. Louis
Your job for SA #26 is to find a source for any one of the articles listed below, or else one that you find by following the link to stub articles linked to various local places, entities, personalities, etc. found in the greater St Louis region--look to the bottom of this block for that link. You will add the source to your own Sandbox, just like I am doing with my Sandbox. Watch my demo video to see how it's done.
Stub Articles: All of these articles listed below , and the hyperlink also, reference local places or organizations in St Louis or Southwestern Illinois
Or else, you can choose another local stub article, by going here (note that there are MANY pages of stub articles about this region!). Look for one of these articles on Wikipedia. Make sure you are logged in, so that you can access your Sandbox.
1. Dierbergs Markets
2. Edwardsville Intelligencer
3. Fair Saint Louis
4. Brookllyn Unit School District 188
5. Festival of Nations St. Louis
6. Confluence Greenway
7. Gateway Grizzlies
8. Granite City Township, Madison County, IL
9. Crown Candy Kitchen
10. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
11. Alton Township, Madison County, IL
12. Forest Park Parkway (St. Louis)
13. Lewis & Clark State Historical Site
Or, you can choose another local stub article from those listed here:
Of particular importance: The work that you are doing now is helping you figure out which article you will commit to for edits and publication of your edits. I will ask you to commit to the Wikipedia article that you will focus on for revision and edits. This article will be the one that you work with in Week 12 (next week) and that you will publish by the end of Week 12.
- Assignment - Video 2
- Wikicode vs. Visual Editor and SA #27
I will go over the "Wikicode vs. Visual Editor" training in the my recorded video. For SA #27, please complete both of these trainings by 11.59pm CST on Thursday, Nov. 3
Week 12
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 7 November 2022 | Wednesday, 9 November 2022 | Thursday, 10 November 2022 | Friday, 11 November 2022
- In class - Video 1
- Demonstration
I will devote time demonstrating to you how I move my sandbox edits finalized and published "live" on the article page itself.
- Assignment - Video 2
- SE #6, due 11.59pm CST Sunday Nov. 13 to Blackboard
The instructions to SE #6 can be found on Blackboard. I will go over these in the video.
- Assignment - SA #28
- One final training, and publish your edits!
This training will provide extra assistance with actually moving your edits from your Sandbox and into the article itself. Your edits to your chosen article must be published to the main article page for the world to see by 11.59pm CST on Thursday, November 10.
Week 13
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 14 November 2022 | Tuesday, 15 November 2022 | Wednesday, 16 November 2022 | Thursday, 17 November 2022 | Friday, 18 November 2022
- In class - Back to the regular class schedule
Please don't delete your Wikipedia account until after the semester has ended. Although you will no longer be actively editing Wikipedia articles or completing trainings (unless you want to), you will need to refer to many of the materials and readings here as you prepare your final essay for ENG 102. You will find most of the other materials that you need for these final weeks of the semester on your Blackboard page.