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Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Lafayette College/The Politics and Practice of History (Spring 2019)

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Course name
The Politics and Practice of History
Institution
Lafayette College
Instructor
Rachel Goshgarian
Wikipedia Expert
Shalor (Wiki Ed)
Subject
The Politics and Practice of History
Course dates
2019-01-28 00:00:00 UTC – 2019-05-10 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
16


This course trains students in the skills, methods, philosophies, and practices of the discipline of history. Students learn how the practice of history has changed over time, the problems and potential of historical evidence, the implications of different political uses of history, and the role history plays in forming structures of individual and collective awareness. In addition, students will become familiar with the various sub-disciplines of history, and learn about the institutional structures and disciplinary practices that characterize and distinguish academic, public, and popular history. Strong emphasis will be placed on learning key research, writing, and analytical skills. Potential history majors should take this course in their sophomore year.

With this exercise, we will be using the knowledge we have acquired of history writing primarily in order to write wikipedia entries for specific collections in our library. The goal will be to give a history of the collection, its provenance, the historical context of the collection, when and where it has been used in order to help historians write about the past, and comparable collections elsewhere and how those have been used in order to help historians. (Some students may also choose to write wikipedia pages related to specific programs or buildings at Lafayette College.)

Timeline

Week 10

Course meetings
Wednesday, 3 April 2019
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.)

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia

Exercise

Evaluate an article


Week 11

Course meetings
Monday, 8 April 2019   |   Wednesday, 10 April 2019
In class - Discussion

What's a content gap?

Guide(s) for writing articles in your topic area

History

Week 12

Course meetings
Monday, 15 April 2019   |   Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Assignment - Add to an article

Exercise

Add a citation


Assignment - Start drafting your contributions

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Milestones

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 13

Course meetings
Monday, 22 April 2019   |   Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Assignment - Peer review two articles

Guiding framework

In class - Discussion

Thinking about Wikipedia

Milestones

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


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 14

Course meetings
Monday, 29 April 2019   |   Wednesday, 1 May 2019
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


Assignment - Continue improving your article

Exercise

Add links to 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.


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 15

Course meetings
Monday, 6 May 2019   |   Wednesday, 8 May 2019
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

Guiding questions

Milestones

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