Wikipedia:Rice University/Human Development in Global and Local Communities, Section 2 (Spring 2014)/Initial Contribution

Assignment 5: Initial Contribution

Due Date: 9 pm Friday, March 14

The next step in creating your Wikipedia contribution is to begin writing directly for Wikipedia. By the end of this stage, you will have added your content to the main Wikipedia site, where it can be publicly accessed by Wikipedia users. Your initial contribution should be a minimum of 1000 words, not including references. If you are working with a partner, your joint contributions should be a minimum of 1500–2000 words.

1. Review advice

First, carefully consider the suggestions you have been given, both to your proposal when it was reviewed and graded, and any responses by Wikipedia editors to your contributions to Project and/or Talk pages. As you write, be sure to continually check the article’s Talk page and any WikiProject Talk pages for user feedback and suggestions.

2. Review information

Reread the Welcome to Wikipedia Brochure and the handout “Contributing to Wikipedia: Overall Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria.” Pay special attention to the sections on citations and references.

3. Avoid plagiarism!

You may think you know what plagiarism is, but close paraphrasing can also be plagiarism. Avoid being publicly listed out as a student plagiarist on the Wikipedia Education Noticeboard (and a Rice honor code violation) by carefully learning about and understanding what counts as plagiarism.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Classroom_handout_-_Avoiding_plagiarism_on_Wikipedia.pdf

Citing Sources: http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Classroom_handout_-_Citing_sources_on_Wikipedia.pdf

and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources

Close Paraphrasing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Close_paraphrasing

Plagiarism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism

4. Begin writing!

Wikipedia has a visual editor that is currently in beta format. To use this, click on “edit” when you begin writing. To use the traditional Wikipedia writing format, click “edit source.” Wikipedia materials are transitioning to the new visual editor, so please bear that in mind as you read various help items for users. For making changes using the traditional Wiki markup format, review the tips given on the handout http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Welcome2WP_English_Flap_081810.pdf

When you begin contributing to the entry directly in Wikipedia’s mainspace, your changes will “go live” as soon as you make them. An alternative is to begin drafting your contribution in your Sandbox.

5. Should you start writing in your Sandbox?

If you are creating a new article, it is best to start work in the Sandbox, so that you do not risk having the entry deleted before you have had a chance to provide references. Read the handout http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Classroom_handout_-_moving_out_of_your_sandbox.pdf.

More generally, drafting in the Sandbox is not an appropriate option for revising articles, particularly if the article receives regular edits from others. In such cases, other editors may be making changes to the article while you are working, and you should not paste large sections of your new work over recent changes made by others. Therefore, for contributing revisions to existing articles, best to start creating changes in the Wikipedia Mainspace. Overwriting entire articles or large sections is more acceptable for articles that are not actively being edited by other Wikipedians (no substantive new edits in several months). If you plan substantial deletions and overwriting to an existing page, be sure that you have explained the problems with the current page and your planned revision on the Talk page and given other contributors time to respond.

6. New article tips

For new articles, consider using Wikipedia’s Article Wizard. The Wizard is a tool designed to help users creating articles for the first time. To access the Article Wizard, type “wp:article wizard” into the Wikipedia search bar. The Wizard is a six-step process that will ensure that you are ready to create a new article.

The easiest way to post a new article on the Wikipedia Mainspace is to log into your account and then type in the name of your topic into the search box on the upper right-hand side of the main page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page). If no article exists, you will be prompted to create one. Click the italicized “Your topic” hyperlink in red. This link will take you to a large text box where you can post your article. When changes are complete, press the “Save page” button.

7. Revised article tips

Click the edit tab on the page you wish to revise. This will bring you to a new page with a text box containing the editable text of the current page. You can edit the text of the current article. When changes are complete, press the “Save page” button.

8. General tips

• Your article should include a number of short sections (many of which you may have included in your proposal). Headings allow a reader to jump around and find the information they want easily. (When you include a heading, a table of contents will be automatically generated when you post to Wikipedia.) Wikipedia allows the creation of article headings with relative ease.

• Be sure that every assertion in your article is supported with a citation (and carefully review the information on citations referenced above). In-text citations that include the name of the scholar making the claim are generally superior to simple footnotes.

• To easily create citations, click on the word “Cite” at the top of the editing box. It will give you a drop-down menu of citation templates for books, journals, websites, and news. You can select a template and it will give you a form with all of the needed fields, and will then format the information for you. If you name the references where the template says “Ref name,” you can re-use them later by clicking on “Named references” and selecting whichever one you want. You put

under references for Wikipedia to auto-generate your reference list, and if you add a number like {{Reflist|3}}, it will split the references up into that many columns.

• Include links in your article (the linking infrastructure is what helps users navigate to and discover new information and will prevent your article from being orphaned, without views from readers). To add a link, double-bracket the word. For example, [[Capabilities Approach]] would link to the capabilities approach page. A link to a page that doesn’t exist will appear red. (Some of these instructions may change with the new visual editor.)

• Good Wikipedia articles contain illustrations that help explain the topic visually. For good advice on images, review these handouts: http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Classroom_handout_-_Adding_images_to_articles.pdf and http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Licensing_tutorial_en.svg

• Getting help on Wikipedia: While the online and campus ambassadors are good sources of help and advice, there are lots of other ways to get quick help on Wikipedia. Review this handout for useful advice: http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Classroom_handout_-_How_to_get_help.pdf Additionally, there are live tutorials on a variety of topics, which you can find at http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education_Portal/Tips_and_Resources

9. Additional requirements

• Be sure the course banner is included at the top of your article’s Talk page (see Assignment 5 for details).

• Add your article title to the course page, so that others may sign up to review your article. Log onto Wikipedia, go to the course page, and scroll to the bottom where the course usernames are listed. Type your article title in the textbox next to your username and click “add article.”

10. Submission Instructions

The following 3 items must be submitted to OWL-Space AND emailed to each member of your workshop group by 9 pm Friday, March 14. Be sure your name appears on your document.

a. A PDF of the sections of the article you have contributed to, with the changes you have made highlighted, entitled <LastName>InitialContribution.pdf

Do not include large amounts of extraneous text created by others. See instructions below on creating pdfs and highlighting them. If you have multiple PDFs reflecting the parts of the same item, label each file as follows: <LastName>InitialContribution1.pdf; <LastName>InitialContribution2.pdf, etc.

Note: OWL-Space limits the number of attachments to four, so if you have more than four please use the additional assignment space on OWL-Space titled “Initial Contribution: Extra Attachments.”

b. A separate file providing a narrative description of the changes you have made. <LastName>InitialContributionDescription.pdf (or .doc/.docx)

c. An outline of your article, showing with track changes the sections you have edited, deleted, or added. <LastName>InitialContributionOutline.pdf (or .doc/.docx)

Be sure to include page numbers (in Word documents) and to proofread and double-space all text, except the outline, which may be single-spaced. For PDF entries, be sure the font size is legible. Points will be deducted for items that do not follow these instructions.

How to save your page as a PDF

If you created a new entry or changed a majority of the entry, create a PDF of the entire page. You can do this easily by clicking on the Print/ Export button on the left-hand side of the Wikipedia page. You will then be presented with three options; pick the one that says “Download as PDF.” Please use this option at your own discretion, but make sure that the downloaded PDF includes everything that you are required to submit as part of this assignment.

If you have only changed or added to part of the article, do not create a PDF that includes large amounts of text you have not contributed to. In such cases, take screen shots of the relevant information instead and compile those together in a word document.

How to take screenshots

If the page you are viewing has unnecessary information, please use a selected screenshot instead of a full screenshot as this will make the image larger and, therefore, more legible. You can find the original article by viewing a page’s history and then selecting the date and time on the last revision before you started.

If you know there is a lot of content in the article that you did not edit, take multiple screenshots of the sections that you have added or substantially rewritten, and in a Microsoft Word document insert the original and final screenshots side-by-side (please label each one original or final), and describe the changes to that particular section. The description should clearly indicate the changes you have made. Then save the entire Word document as a .pdf to submit on OWL-Space (see above).

To zoom-in on the screen

In Firefox and Google Chrome, you can zoom in by simply pressing “Control” or “Ctrl” and scrolling up. Then you can take your screenshot and the font will be larger.

On a MAC

For a selected screenshot, hold “command” and “shift” and then press 4. Use your cursor to then select the area to screenshot.

For a full screenshot, hold “command” and “shift” and then press 3.

The screenshots save to your desktop and can be renamed to .jpg or .pdf (they default as .png files).

On a PC

Please follow the steps provided at this link: http://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Screenshot-in-Microsoft-Windows

Highlighting Changes on MACs

1. Save your page as a PDF.
2. Open the PDF in preview.
3. Click tools, then annotate, then highlight text.
4. You can now highlight all sentence level changes you made. This will permit you to easily show which changes are yours and which are not. (The highlights should be consistent with your edits as documented in the history feature of the article, and will be checked.)

Optional page promotion

Option 1: Submitting a Did You Know hook to Wikipedia.

This optional assignment can help draw traffic to your page and increase the “hits” it receives. Only new articles or articles that have greatly increased the word count of a previously existing article are eligible. “Did you know” hooks must be submitted within 5 days of the creation of a new article or fivefold expansion (usually from a stub) of an existing article. Submitting a DYK hook requires that you engage with other Wikipedia editors in a discussion that will likely result in requests for improvement to the article. Follow this link for an example of a successful submission by a Rice student:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Arab_Spring

To nominate your article, follow the instructions given in the handout: http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Classroom_handout_-_Submitting_an_article_to_the_Did_You_Know_process.pdf

Or you may read the full guide to Did You Know nominations at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Did_you_know

You may also review a quick guide at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rjanag/Quick_DYK_2 for step-by-step on screen instructions.

• Search “Template talk:Did you know” on Wikipedia. Click on “How to post a new nomination.”

• Follow the on screen instructions in the yellow and orange form.

• Create a nomination subpage.

• Write the nomination using the DYK template (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:NewDYKnomination)

You will need to write a good hook -- the “Did you know” fact for your article (see below for details). To write a good hook:

Remember to begin the hook with "... that", to end it with a question mark, and to link the article title within the hook and make it bold.

The hook should be fewer than 200 characters.

The hook should refer to established facts.

The hook should be neutral.

• The "Did you know?" fact must be mentioned in the article and cited with an inline citation since inline citations are used to support specific statements in an article. Many submissions fail to meet one or both of these criteria.
• List the nomination page at "Template talk:Did you know" by finding the appropriate date and adding This is not the proper page to nominate your DYK article. If you have arrived here by accident, please return to T:TDYK and create your DYK nomination page by replacing the text "YOUR ARTICLE TITLE" in the form, with the title of the article you intend to nominate. under the date of the article's creation or expansion.
• Review another DYK nomination and put that in the template's "reviewed" field. Directions are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Did_you_know/Reviewing_guide.
• Screen shot your completed nomination and submit to OWL-Space when completed with the file name <LastName>PagePromtion.doc/.jpeg/.pdf/etc (Did You Know hooks must be completed within 5 days of your contribution to the Wikipedia mainspace).

Option 2: Additional Page Linking (Can be done for New, Revised, or Expanded Entries)

This option will increase traffic to your page by adding links to it from other Wikipedia articles that relate to your topic. This task requires you to first identify 3 other articles that would benefit from a link to your page. On each of those articles, find a way to work in a small amount of new material that permits you to add an appropriate link to your page. Such edits with links will increase the breadth of information on both pages as well as increase traffic to and knowledge about your own article.

1. Identify 3 topic pages that are related to your topic, but do not yet have an appropriate link to your topic.
2. Consider how those topics most clearly relate to your topic and identify a way to make this connection known on those topic pages.
3. Edit the additional pages by adding 1–3 sentences about your topic on them in a way that fits in with the existing flow of the page.
4. Be sure to link [[Page Name| link text]] to your page in the midst of your edits.
5. Repeat this process for a total of 3 additional pages.
6. Take a screenshot of each change that you make and copy these screenshots into a Word document.
7. Upload to OWL-Space with the file name <LastName>PagePromotion.doc (or .pdf) within five days of your submission of your original edits to Wikipedia.