Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Southern Illinois University Edwardsville/ENG 102 (Fall 2020)

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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
2020-08-24 00:00:00 UTC – 2020-12-17 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 4

Course meetings
Monday, 14 September 2020   |   Wednesday, 16 September 2020
In class - In-Class Discussion
Introduction to Wikipedia (Monday 2/18)

Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline!

1. This is due before the start of class on Wednesday 2/20:

  • 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 assigned online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia. You will also complete two SWA's related to this training (SWA #5 and SWA #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 (worth 30% of your grade for the class as a whole, and which we will begin working on in Weeks 4-5), which asks the question: 


Are online websites like Wikipedia credible as sources of information? 


3. All of the work and thinking that you do in these next few days will provide the foundation for your stance on that essential question. The following items will earn points (a grand total of 45  points), which will count towards the 25% category of "Wikipedia-specific activities" for ENG 102:


  • Nine online/Wikipedia-focused assignments
    • Nine small assignments at 5 points each for a total of 45 points.
    • Important note: You cannot get credit if you don't have a username
    • Your username must be enrolled on this course page. Check the Students tab to find your name (5 points for getting a Wikipedia account and enrolling in the right course page)
  • You also will write SWA #5 due March 1
    • A summary of a Wikipedia article
  • And, at the end of this unit, you also will write SWA #6: Wikipedia Reflection due April 10:
    • A brief essay that reflects on your experience with critiquing and editing Wikipedia

For your information: 45/45 = 100%; 40/45 = 89%; 35/45 = 78%; 30/45 = 67%; lower than that means that you will not pass this unit, so please do complete the Wikipedia assignments as they come along.

Assignment - Assignment
Get started on Wikipedia (Due Weds 2/20)

You must do two things to get full credit on this assignment (5 points):

1. 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.)

2. Complete the training module  Wikipedia policies (which includes some reading and then a brief quiz that you must pass)

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

In class - In-Class Discussion
Issues Related to Wikipedia (Wednesday 2/20)

We will use class time today for some group discussion: 

In class - In-Class Discussion
Continuing with Wikipedia-related issues (Friday 2/22)

We will use class time today for discusion of this article:

Assignment - Assignment
Read & Respond (Due Mon 2/25)

Read One of these Wikipedia article

Credibility

Advocacy

Privilege

Respond in writing, in short essay format (about 1/2-1 page total in length) and upload your completed response to Blackboard (I'll have an active submission link) before the start of class on Monday 2/25. The assignment link is at Blackboard >> ENG 102 >> About this Course >> Wikipedia-Related Materials.

Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?

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?

And: How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?

Week 5

Course meetings
Monday, 21 September 2020   |   Wednesday, 23 September 2020
In class - In-Class Discussion
Sourcing in Wikipedia (Monday 2/25)

We are going to spend some time in class today learning about different types of pages in Wikipedia, and also discussing this very specific Wikipedia policy:

No Original Research

Assignment - Assignment
Evaluating Wikipedia Article & Sources (Due Weds 2/27)

You must complete these two training modules by the start of class on Wednesday 2/27

Assignment - Wednesday 2/27
Online Writing SWA #5 (Due 3/1)

WE WILL NOT HOLD CLASS ON WEDNESDAY 2/27 OR FRIDAY 3/1. But you will have a writing assignment to work on, to be submitted by Friday 3/1. 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 constrcut 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

You will submit your SWA #5 response to Blackboard by the start of class on Friday 3/1.

Blackboard >> ENG 102 >> About this Course >> Short Writing Assignments >> SWA #5

Week 6

Course meetings
Monday, 28 September 2020   |   Wednesday, 30 September 2020
In class - SIUE Writing Center Will Visit Class Today (Monday 3/4)

We will hold class today, so make sure you are here. I will have you respond to a brief survey based on this visit, and upload this to Blackboard.

In class - Assignment
Plagiarism and Wikipedia (Due Weds 3/6)
In class - In-Class Discussion
Wikipedia vs. other Internet Resources (Weds 3/6)

We will engage in some closer inspection of Wikipedia pages in today's class. Here are four Wikipedia articles:

1. Zombie/Zombies

2. Illegal Immigration

3. Donald Trump

4. Medial Marijuana/Medical Cannabis

I will group you into four smaller groups, and together, in class, each group will more carefully read the chosen article and come back together and discuss the following questions. You will work as a group to provide answers to these questions.

  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? Is anything missing that could be added?
  8. Check the "talk" page of the article. What is the Wikipedia community saying about your 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. 

 

Class Discussion
Guide(s) for writing articles in your topic (Weds 3/20)

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 with you so you get an idea about the advice and guidance in working with articles in these areas:

Art History

Biographies

Books

Cultural Anthropology

Environmental Sciences

Films

History

LGBT+ Studies

Medicine

Political Science

Psychology

Science Communication

Sociology

Women's Studies

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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Stub_sorting/List_of_stubs

We will go over a few stubs in class, and then I have an assignment for you (due Friday 3/8).

 

Assignment - Assignment
Pick a Stub and Answer some Questions (Due Fri. 3/22)

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:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Stub_sorting/List_of_stubs

Here are the questions. You can respond in your Wikipedia Sandbox. You don't have to write a polished essay--you can respond to each number in turn. I will be able to see your responses when I check your Sandboxes on Friday:

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?

 

Assignment - Assignment
Identify three stubs that interest you (due Weds. 3/27)

It is almost time for spring break! During the break I want you create a short list of 3 stubs. You will choose a "winning stub" from this shortlist that you will spend some time editing when we return from spring break. First, read the training module "Finding Your Article."

Next: Identify the three stub page titles and provide the URL links. They do not have to be on the same topic. I want to see your three candidates by the time class starts up again on Wednesday 3/27.

You should have these indicated (stub title and URL/web address) in your Sandbox.

Week 7

Course meetings
Monday, 5 October 2020   |   Wednesday, 7 October 2020
In class - In-Class Discussion
A Return to Source Location (M 3/25)

Since you are almost at the point where you will pick a stub (or pick an underdeveloped Wikipedia article) to research and improve via editing, I want to spend today reminding you of the Lovejoy Library resources that we have to help you find the right kinds of sources for your editing work.

Remember the requirements that Wikipedia imposes on sources:

  • No primary sources
  • Sources must be reputable, and your inclusion of them must result in an unbiasaed and neutral contribution to the article.
  • The topic guides that I introduced last week have some further advice on the most appropriate sources to include, so once you decide on a stub/page to edit, you should return to the most fitting guide to see what it recommends.

Let's start here today: https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/

This is our library's home page

It is often a student's first choice to start looking for books (and that's fine), but I think that for many of you, the sources you'll locate for this particular exercise will come from other places, like academic journals, newspapers, trade magazines, etc.

Here is where you can start when you need to find sources on a topic, but you don't know what else to do: Research Support >> Research Guides (also called "Lib Guides") >> and start looking at the different categories to see what matches up with your chosen topic.

Here is where you can find online versions of newspaper articles for those newspapers that SIUE subscribes to: http://libguides.siue.edu/Newspapers

And remember that Academic Search Complete is a good place to start if you are not even sure which Lib Guides are useful (you must log in with your e-ID and password for all SIUE databases).

Note that when I made my edit to "Fresh (1994 film)", I used the Movie Reviews Lib Guide as a starting point.

Here are a few random Wikipedia stub articles. What Lib Guide(s) do you think might be most useful as a place to find appropriate sources for these articles? You may want to think about more than one Lib Guide.

1. NASCAR Mexico (under sports stubs)

2. Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger (under U.S. television program stubs)

3. Belhare (under Sino-Tibetan language stubs)

4. Runaway Ralph (a children's novel by author Beverly Cleary, under children's literature stubs)

With these resources in mind, I want you to prepare for Wednesday's class by completing the Assignment that is due on 3/27.

 

 

 

In class - In-Class Discussion
Learning to Edit (Weds 3/27)

Now that you have identified (approximately) candidate 3 stub pages or else articles that need more development, let's work on identifying sources for these pages. This will help you narrow down your choice to one article/stub that you will follow through with edits.

For today: Pick any one of the 3 stubs (I'll have time in our next class for you to work with the others)

Step 1: Can you find a guide that connects to the topc of the stub you are working with (look back to the block on this page for Wednesday March 20)? If so, take a moment to open that guide and find out what types of sources are okay, and what types are off limits. I'll ask some of you to share this in class. Let's take about 10-15 minutes to do this.

Step 2: Let's visit your stub. What exactly is missing? Again, compare your stub to the guide that connects most closely to your topic. Also, compare your stub/underdeveloped page to one on a similar topic that is more developed. What sections are missing? What do you think you can contribute? I'll see what some of you discover. Let's take about 10-15 minutes to do this.

Step 3: Now, let's go to the Lovejoy Library journal/trade magazine/newspaper databases that I showed in class on Monday March 25. I'd like each of you to spend some time identifying and actually getting your hands on an appropriate source that you think brings something to you stub. You may not be able to locate exactly what you want in the time we have today. I want you to get started, and then:

Your assignment for Friday's class (March 29): Come to class with minimally two sources identified and located that you think will contribute useful information to stub #1.

Please fully cite both of the sources in your Wikipedia Sandbox. Save/publish your work. You do not have to use the source citation tool in Wikipedia (I'll show you that later), but I want to see evidence that you've located sources that you could potentially use.

Assignment - Assignment
Locating Two Sources For Stub #1 (due Fri. 3/29)

Your assignment for Friday's class (March 29): Come to class with minimally two sources identified and located that you think will contribute useful information to stub #1.

Please fully cite both of the sources in your Wikipedia Sandbox. Save/publish your work. You do not have to use the source citation tool in Wikipedia (I'll show you that later), but I want to see evidence that you've located sources that you could potentially use.

In class - In-Class Discussion
Working with Stub #2 (Fri 3/29)

We will repeat Wednesday's activity, but this time for Stub/underdeveloped article #2

My goal is to have you compare what you've located between these two stubs as you begin to decide which stub/article you will end up choosing to edit.

Again, save what you find in your Sandbox. I will show you in class how to separate the articles in the Sandbox space so that you can keep your information organized.

And, your assignment for Monday (April 1, but no joke): Come to class with minimally two sources identified and located that you think will contribute useful information to stub #3 (your final candidate).

Please fully cite both of the sources in your Wikipedia Sandbox. Save/publish your work. You do not have to use the source citation tool in Wikipedia (I'll show you that later), but I want to see evidence that you've located sources that you could potentially use. 

Assignment - Assignment
Find a Source for your Stub (Due Mon. 4/1)

There are two pieces to this assignment:

1. Complete the second-to-last Training Module "Adding Citations" (see the link just above this text box)

2. Come to class with minimally two sources identified and located that you think will contribute useful information to stub #3 (your final candidate).

Please fully cite both of the sources in your Wikipedia Sandbox. Save/publish your work. You do not have to use the source citation tool in Wikipedia (I'll show you that later), but I want to see evidence that you've located sources that you could potentially use. 

On Monday (4/1), I will ask you to commit to one of these stubs (at least for this Wikipedia assignment--you can always edit more pages on your own), and I'll begin showing you how to set up your edits.

Week 8

Course meetings
Monday, 12 October 2020   |   Wednesday, 14 October 2020
In class - In-Class Discussion
Setting Up Your Edits (Mon 4/1)

Okay, today is the day to decide! Which Wikipedia stub/under-developed article have you chosen as the one to improve as part of your grade for ENG 102?

Starting from today, I'm going to walk you through the process of:

  1. Reading through the sources you have located
  2. Locating a section (or creating a section) of your Wikipedia article where your own contribution will make the most sense
  3. Drafting your improvement into a coherent stretch of text in the Sandbox
  4. Citing your source
  5. And then, bringing your work back to the article itself to save for all of the world to read!

Today: Let's focus on reading through your located sources and identifying the material you want to bring into your contribution, and also on identifying the location in your stub where your contributions make sense. We will probably copy-paste some portion of the original stub article to bring into the Sandbox so that you can begin editing

Wednesday: We will focus on refining your running text, and also how to cite your contributions using the Wikipedia citation formatting tool.

Friday: We will finish with any residual editing issues and challenges from Monday/Wednesday, and then you will publish your changes to your stub page!

For today/Monday (Apr 1):

1. Make sure you can open and read your sources for your chosen stub. Think for a minute: Why did you choose these sources, and what aspects of the article can they improve?

2. Also, do you need to add a new section to your stub article in order to accommodate your own edits? Some of you may need to do this, and some of you may just work within an existing section that is already present in the article. You can decide this based on the more fully developed articles that you compared your stub to last week. I will show you how this is done via a quick demonstration in class.

3. When you have identified some kind of information from one or more of your sources that you think will make sense in your stub, start drafting in your Sandbox (do not draft in the article directly). Your edits should be approximately one paragraph, minimally (so, a good 4-5 sentences of content that you are adding). I will circle around in class to see how you are progressing with this.

4. (optional) At least one of you was interested in adding an image plus caption (and then citing and sourcing the image and caption). As long as the image & caption contribute some improvement to the content of a stub/under-developed article, that is fine. Here is a link with advice on adding an image to a Wikipedia article: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Editing_Wikipedia_brochure_%28Wiki_Education_Foundation%29_%282017%29.pdf (p. 10-11)

We will continue with this on Wednesday (4/3), and also turn to incorporation of your cited source into the References.

 

In class - In-Class
Copy-Editing (Weds 4/3)

Today: we are continuing with drafting, copy-editing, and source incorporation for your Wikipedia stub article edits.

First: What questions do you still have regarding your sources and what/how to add/contribute/ improve content in your chosen Wikipedia page?

If you have chosen to add a section ("Header" in the Sandbox editor), do you know how to do this?

Also: Make sure your content contribution is grammatically coherent, makes sense, and actually adds useful (unbiased) information to the article. If you are unsure about this, now is the time to ask me and I can help you out.

Next: Let's look into how you can cite your source in your Wikipedia Sandbox. I am going to demonstrate how you can "automatically" add a reference (that will be auto-formatted by Wikipedia), and how to "manually" add a reference (that you need to format yourself). However, even if you have to "manually" add a reference, if you got the source from a database like Academic Search Complete, you can have that database auto-format the source for you, and you can copy-paste that formatted citation into your Wikipedia Sandbox.

I will show you all in class! I hope that everyone is in attendance on Wednesday & Friday!

 

In class - In-Class
Publishing Your Work (Fri 4/5)

Today is your last chance to get in-class assistance from me for this important, final step in our Wikipedia unit.

Today:

First, You will finish up with any drafting and editing work that you have remaining in your Sandbox. I will be there to help answer any questions that you have about the style and look of your edited comments, as well as how to add your source to your own work.

Next: I will use my own Manange page edits to demonstrate how you move your edited material back over to the main Wikipedia stub article, how you save/publish this work to that public article, and how you document your edits on your "Talk" page for this article.

Then, once your changes are published, you may view the page's "History" and "Talk" tabs to see if your changes have been accepted/allowed to remain, or if there is any further discussion generated by other Wikipedia editors regarding your own edits.

When I go in to check your final work, I will first inspect your Sandbox page (to see your draft of edits), and then I will inspect the main article itself to see that the changes have been brought over. I will inspect this on Monday, April 8, so you must have everything completed by then.

 

Assignment - Your Edits Must be Published to the Main Wikipedia Page (Mon 4/8)

TBA

Assignment - Assignment SWA #6 (due Weds 4/10)

This will be submitted to Blackboard, but the instructions are included here:

ENG 102: SWA #6

·      This SWA is due to Blackboard >> Short Writing Assignments (SWA) >> SWA #6 by the start of class on Wednesday, April 10

·      Remember that many of you already have missed an SWA, so you should consider carefully whether or not you will submit a completed essay for this one

·      The topic of this essay: Reflecting on and evaluating your Wikipedia Unit experiences

·      Give your essay a title! It might be a brief synopsis of your evaluation, for example: "Wikipedia Was More Useful/Interesting Than I Thought It Would Be", or "This Wikipedia Unit Was Not Useful" (or something like that--but please remain respectful and mature in your title!)

·      Feel free to refer back to our ENG 102 Wikipedia Dashboard, including any of the readings and links contained in the Dashboard Timeline

·      Important note: This is not the essay where you argue for or against Wikipedia in college research! We will work on this essay towards the end of the semester, in a couple of weeks. This essay is a more "first-person" evaluation that you are offering to me, but in a well-organized essay format.

 

I would like you to introduce your essay by briefly providing your experience/history with Wikipedia before this unit, and then summarizing the main/major activities that made up this unit.  Then, in the body of your essay, I would like you to include coverage and discussion of the following:

1.     Describe at least one training assignment that you completed. Include your understanding of the point of this assignment, and what you think you learned

2.     Describe at least one outside (non Wikipedia) article that you were asked to read and respond to. What was the point of this article, and what do you think you learned as part of this larger unit?

3.     Describe at least one Wikipedia article that you were asked to inspect. What types of information did you learn about Wikipedia articles that you did not know about before this unit?

4.     Finally, describe your process of deciding on a stub page to edit. How did you come to the decision that you made, and do you think that this stub article was a good choice for your required work in this unit?

(In these paragraphs, please provide the full title of the training, and also cite the article and the Wikipedia pages. The article and Wikipedia pages should also be cited at the end of your essay. You can use MLA, APA, or Chicago style as you build your reference page)

 

After you provide this coverage and discussion, I would like you to dedicate at least one paragraph to provide a thoughtful critique and evaluation of this experience. If you enjoyed or found this unit interesting or helpful, discuss what exactly you did or learned that you found useful. If you found this unit uninteresting and unhelpful, what about this unit was so problematic or painful? How do you think what you learned in this unit would be useful for how you value or judge Wikipedia in future college classes?

 

As you conclude your essay, it would be useful to include one or two pieces of advice that would make a future version of this unit more interesting and useful.

 

Special notes and formatting: It's okay if you did not like/enjoy or even find this unit useful or interesting. You are allowed to be honest and honesty does not result in a lower grade, but just make sure that you are mature and appropriate in any criticisms of this unit or your own experiences. I plan to teach this Wikipedia Unit for at least the next couple of future runnings of ENG 102, and so even if your experience was negative, I can use your feedback to help improve how I do this.

 

Your response essay should be approximately 2-3 pages in length, and should follow the appropriate formatting that I require from academic essays: An introduction and conclusion, a well-organized set of main-body paragraphs that respond to the prompts above, and a reference/bibliography at the end that includes the details of the readings that you identify in your main essay (one article and two Wikipedia articles). Also: you are allowed to use first person "I", but be careful to avoid send person "you/your/you're." As we have practiced in class, think about ways to re-structure a sentence to avoid that pronoun.

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