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Course name
Witches and Witch Hunts
Institution
University of California, Merced
Instructor
Michelle Toconis
Subject
Women's Studies
Course dates
2021-08-26 00:00:00 UTC – 2021-12-09 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
24


From the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of the Witches), Monty Python's Holy Grail, to a diverse range of folktales, the witch is still a significant, dominant cultural figure in literature, film, and television. This course aims to survey the impact of the witch hunts on literature, popular culture, and law making, as well as to examine how early to modern witch-hunts intersect with attitudes about gender, religion, and community. In turn, the social significance of witches will shift from preconceived ideas that tend to oversimply the basis for witch-hunts to a more concrete understanding of the impact that long standing misnomers can have on a group of people; hence, offering alternative ways to think about the historical, as well as present day, treatment and persecution of a given population. In this course, students will learn how: to view the witch as a dominant controversial cultural figure in literature, film, and television, from surveying the impact of the witch hunts on literature, popular culture, and law making; examine how early to modern witch-hunts intersect with attitudes about gender, religion, and community; draw parallels between early and modern witch hunts to generate real-world research questions, identify current problems, and formulate tentative solutions; students will practice the use of multiple interdisciplinary analytical tools to identify, interpret, and evaluate various texts and information; students will work independently and collaboratively applying their research and analysis using written, visual, and oral modes of communication to convey ideas; and students will learn to identify the ways in which cultural, political, economic, technological, and environmental dimensions of society interact understanding that conflict is inherent and welcome in diverse learning communities.

Timeline

Week 1

Course meetings
Thursday, 26 August 2021
In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment

Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:

Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

Assignment - Wikipedia assignment blog

Begin a blog about your experiences. You can use discussion questions to frame your entries, or reflect on the research and writing process. Create at least one blog entry each week during the Wikipedia assignment.

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 2

Course meetings
Tuesday, 31 August 2021   |   Thursday, 2 September 2021
Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia
In class - Discussion

Week 3

Course meetings
Tuesday, 7 September 2021   |   Thursday, 9 September 2021
Assignment - Review the rules for health topics
Assignment - Exercise
In class - Discussion

Week 4

Course meetings
Tuesday, 14 September 2021   |   Thursday, 16 September 2021
Assignment - Add to an article

Week 5

Course meetings
Tuesday, 21 September 2021   |   Thursday, 23 September 2021
Assignment - Start drafting your contributions

Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have questions using the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Milestones

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 6

Course meetings
Tuesday, 28 September 2021   |   Thursday, 30 September 2021
Assignment - Peer review two articles

Guiding framework

In class - Discussion
Milestones

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

Week 7

Course meetings
Tuesday, 5 October 2021   |   Thursday, 7 October 2021
Assignment - Respond to your peer review

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Resources:

  • Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
  • Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.

Week 8

Course meetings
Tuesday, 12 October 2021   |   Thursday, 14 October 2021
Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia

Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace."

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Week 9

Course meetings
Tuesday, 19 October 2021   |   Thursday, 21 October 2021
Assignment - Continue improving your article

Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

Week 10

Course meetings
Tuesday, 26 October 2021   |   Thursday, 28 October 2021
Assignment - Polish your work

Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 11

Course meetings
Tuesday, 2 November 2021   |   Thursday, 4 November 2021
Assignment - Final article

It's the final week to develop your article.

  • Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
  • Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!
In class - In-class presentation
Assignment - Reflective essay
Assignment - Original analytical paper

Write a paper going beyond your Wikipedia article to advance your own ideas, arguments, and original research about your topic.

Week 12

Course meetings
Tuesday, 9 November 2021
Milestones

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.

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