User:Jmdoran/History of Pentecostalism in the Americas

Course name

History of Pentecostalism in the Americas

Institution

The University of Texas at Austin

Instructor

Justin Michael Doran

Subject

Course dates

2015-03-31 – 2015-04-30

Approximate number of student editors

25

This course provides a historical overview of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity across South, Central, and North America in the twentieth century. Students will be asked to expand on or create short wikipedia articles on historical people and movements related to Pentecostal Christianity in anticipation of a final, persuasive essay. Students will be contributing to articles on historical figures involved in the Pentecostal movement, church and denominational histories, and major events that affected the history of Pentecostalism.

Timeline

Week 1 (2015-03-30): Wikipedia essentials, Editing basics, Exploring the topic area

Course meetings

Tuesday, 31 March 2015   |   Thursday, 2 April 2015

In class

• Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette
• Handout: Editing Wikipedia (available in print or online from the Wiki Education Foundation)

• Basics of editing
• Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
• Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
• Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
• Handouts: Using Talk Pages handout and Evaluating Wikipedia brochure

• Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
• Handouts: Choosing an article

Assignment (due Week 2)

• Create an account and then complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.

• Create a User page, and then click the "enroll" button on the top left of this course page.

• To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself on the user talk page of one of your classmates, who should also be enrolled in the table at the bottom of the page.
• Explore topics related to your topic area 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.

• Review pages 4-7 of the Evaluating Wikipedia brochure. This 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 related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's talk page.
  • A few questions to consider (don't feel limited to these):
    • 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?
    • 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?

Milestones

• All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.

Week 2 (2015-04-06): Using sources and choosing articles

Course meetings

Tuesday, 7 April 2015   |   Thursday, 9 April 2015

In class

• Handouts: Citing sources on Wikipedia and Avoiding plagiarism on Wikipedia.
  • Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.

Assignment (due Week 3)

• Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.

• Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing. Describe your choices to your instructor for feedback.

For next week

• Instructor evaluates student's article selections, by next week.

Week 3 (2015-04-13): Finalizing topics and starting research, Drafting starter articles

Course meetings

Tuesday, 14 April 2015   |   Thursday, 16 April 2015

In class

• Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.

• Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
• Q&A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.

Assignment (due Week 4)

• We will finalize the article for you to work on together on Tuesday, April 21st.

• If your selected article already exists, mark the article's talk page with a banner to let other editors know you're working on it. To add the banner, add this code in the top section of the talk page:

{{course assignment | course = User:Jmdoran/History of Pentecostalism in the Americas | term = Spring 2015 }}

• Add a link to your selected article to the table at the bottom of this course page.
• If you are editing an existing article: Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to your own talk page. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on your talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography. Then, create a detailed outline reflecting your proposed changes and post it to your own talk page.
• If you are starting a new article: write a bulleted outline of your article with one to two sentences describing each point in your Wikipedia sandbox.
• Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your short starter article and fix any major issues.
• Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.

Milestones

• All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 4 (2015-04-20): Moving articles to the main space

Course meetings

Tuesday, 21 April 2015   |   Thursday, 23 April 2015

In class

• We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
• Handout: Moving out of your sandbox
• A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
  • 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 Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.

Assignment (due Week 5)

• Move your sandbox articles into main space.
  • If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit 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.
  • 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 these instructions on how to move your work.

• Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Week 5 (2015-04-27): Building articles, Creating first draft, Getting and giving feedback

Course meetings

Tuesday, 28 April 2015   |   Thursday, 30 April 2015

In class

• Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
• Share experiences and discuss problems.
• Handouts: "Illustrating Wikipedia" (pgs 4-7) and "Evaluating Wikipedia article quality" (handed out originally earlier in the course)

• As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.

Assignment (due Week 6)

• Select a classmate's article that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, write your username next to the article you plan to review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)

• Expand your article into an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

• Peer review your classmate's article. Leave suggestions on the article talk page.
• Copy-edit the reviewed article.

Milestones

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

Week 6 (2015-05-04): Due date

Course meetings

Tuesday, 5 May 2015   |   Thursday, 7 May 2015

Milestones

• Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.

Grading

  5%  

   Completion of Wikipedia training

  15%  

   Early Wikipedia exercises

  15%  

   Quality of bibliography and outline

  15%  

   Peer reviews and collaboration with classmates

  50%  

   Quality of your main Wikipedia contributions

  0%  

   Supplementary assignments