Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/The University of Texas at Dallas/Advanced Writing and Research (Spring 2017)

We will use this page for our Wikipedia project for our class. Our class has been assigned a Wikipedia Content Expert, and you need to check your Talk page for notes from her. You can also reach her through the "Get Help" button on this page.

In class, discuss the writing process, the outline for the page, the original/primary resources, and citation expectations.

To get started, please review the following handouts:

Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
Evaluating Wikipedia

Assignment - Week 1: Creating Your Accounts and Training for Wikipedia Work

Create your account and prepare to write.

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you.
Dive into Wikipedia. Below, find links to the training you need to use this tool. (Incomplete and late trainings will reflect in your grade for this project.) Push through these to prepare for our writing together on Thursday.
Read the article about William Danforth and one other article from the list of "Notable Chapels" on the Chapel article page.
While you review each, consider the following questions (but don't feel limited to these questions):
- 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 biased toward a particular position? (Consider logical fallacies.)
- 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- Is any information out of date?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?
- What kinds of sections are included in the chapel example you chose?
Create a section in your sandbox space where you leave your article evaluations and some ideas about information that is helpful when discussing chapels on Wikipedia.

Week 2

Course meetings

Tuesday, 28 March 2017 | Thursday, 30 March 2017

In class - Distributing Group Work

Read the following tips before class:

We must make sure everyone in the class is assigned to the same Wikipedia article on the Students tab of this course page.
We need to select one member of our class whose Sandbox space you'll all share to draft our article. Each of us should link to that shared Sandbox from our own Sandbox page. A sandbox is like any other page on Wikipedia, and anyone can edit it.
Wikipedia doesn't allow multiple people to edit from different devices at the same time. If you're working together in person, one person should add the work to the Sandbox. If you are all working independently, make small edits and save often to avoid "editing conflicts" with classmates. Make sure that you're logged in under your own Wikipedia account while editing in your classmate's sandbox to ensure your edits are recorded.
WARNING: Don't create a group account for this project. Group accounts are prohibited.

Assignment - Week 2: Completing Your Training and Starting the Writing Process

We will update the article about the "Danforth Chapels," as red-linked in the William Danforth page.

Individually review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook and complete the "Sources and Citations" training linked below.
In our group sandbox, write a few sentences about what you think would be a valuable contribution to the selected article and/or your assigned section. (Remember what you learned and identified during the article evaluation assignment.)
We have primary sources for the project. Spend some time this week reviewing those sources and considering how we can use them on Wikipedia. Specifically, review Wikipedia's rules here about using primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.

Week 3

Course meetings

Tuesday, 4 April 2017 | Thursday, 6 April 2017

Assignment - Week 3: Drafting Our Article

We will continue to write this week. We should all be working in the group sandbox space.

Don't forget we can reach out to our Content Expert if we have any questions or want someone to review our draft.

Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9

Week 4

Course meetings

Tuesday, 11 April 2017 | Thursday, 13 April 2017

Assignment - Week 4: Peer Reviewing

Review your classmates' writing to ensure that language, tone, voice, diction, structure, and information is consistent with the entire article.

Copyedit the article for spelling or grammatical mistakes.
Review for the old/new pattern and apply style principles.
Don't forget that we can ask for help from our Content Expert at any time!

Week 5

Course meetings

Tuesday, 18 April 2017 | Thursday, 20 April 2017

Assignment - Week 5: Continuing to Improve Our Article and Publishing

This week, we will peer review and prepare to publish our Wikipedia page. To prepare review Editing Wikipedia pages 10–13 and consider what pages you can use to link to our page. Link 2–3 pages to our page.

Peer-review heavily this week. Check for

mechanics (spelling, punctuation, grammar, and capitalization);
old/new pattern;
style (Apply principles that we have discussed in class.)
consistency in voice, tone, organization, and structure.

We will add images from the archives to our page. To prepare, review the training module for "Contributing Images and Media Files." Never copy an image that you find online; remember the rules of copyright that we discussed in class. (Wikipedia will remove copyrighted intellectual property; we need to provide original work or work in the public domain.)

Prepare to publish our page, but never consider the work finished. Continue to proofread and improve as you think of relevant links and information and as you find issues in the writing.

Week 6

Course meetings

Tuesday, 25 April 2017 | Thursday, 27 April 2017

Assignment - Week 6: Publishing and Finalizing Our Article

It's the final week to develop our article.

Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
Don't forget that we can ask for help from our Content Expert at any time!