Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Maryland, College Park/Shakespeare and His Contemporaries (Spring 2018)
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- Course name
- Shakespeare and His Contemporaries
- Institution
- University of Maryland, College Park
- Instructor
- Scott Trudell
- Wikipedia Expert
- Shalor (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- English
- Course dates
- 2018-01-24 00:00:00 UTC – 2018-05-10 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 22
This is an undergraduate English course on Renaissance drama. It places Shakespeare alongside the other dramatists of his era, exploring connections between early modern plays and contextualizing them in their historical moment. This class will be working as a team to improve the Wikipedia article on Thomas Dekker's play The Shoemaker's Holiday.
Timeline
Week 4
- Course meetings
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- Wednesday, 14 February 2018
- In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia project
Welcome to your Wikipedia project's course timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for your course. Be sure to check with your instructor to see if there are other pages you should be following as well.
This page breaks down writing a Wikipedia article into a series of steps, or milestones. These steps include online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia.
Your course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the "Get Help" button on this page.
To get started, please review the following handouts:
- Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia
- Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (To avoid hitting Wikipedia's account creation limits, this is best done outside of class. Only 6 new accounts may be created per day from the same IP address.)
- It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online trainings you'll need to take. New modules will appear on this timeline as you get to new milestones. Be sure to check back and complete them! Incomplete trainings will be reflected in your grade.
- When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s Talk page.
- Milestones
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 19 February 2018 | Wednesday, 21 February 2018
- Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia
It's time to think critically about Wikipedia articles. You'll evaluate the Wikipedia article on The Spanish Tragedy and also the one on The Shoemaker's Holiday, leaving suggestions for improving them on the articles' Talk pages.
- Complete the "Evaluating Articles and Sources" training (linked below).
- Create a section in your sandbox titled "Article evaluation" where you'll leave notes about your observations and learnings.
- Locate and read the articles on The Spanish Tragedy and The Shoemaker's Holiday . As you read, consider the following questions (but don't feel limited to these):
- 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?
- Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
- Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
- 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?
- Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
- 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?
- How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
- How does the article's perspective on the play differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
- Optional: Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Thudson2582 (talk) 15:07, 29 March 2018 (UTC).
- In class - Discussion
- What can we do to improve Wikipedia?
Now that you're thinking about what makes a "good" Wikipedia article, consider these questions.
- Wikipedians often talk about "content gaps." What do you think a content gap is, and what are some possible ways to identify them?
- What are some reasons a content gap might arise? What are some ways to remedy them?
- Does it matter who writes Wikipedia?
- What does it mean to be "unbiased" on Wikipedia? How is that different, or similar, to your own definition of "bias"?
Also consider these questions about your upcoming team project:
- Who might read a Wikipedia article on a play by Thomas Dekker, and why?
- Why would the article on The Shoemaker’s Holiday need updating?
- What can we do to improve it? What kind of expertise do we need?
- What can we learn from other Wikipedia articles (on Shakespeare, for example) that will provide ideas about how best to improve the article on The Shoemaker's Holiday?
- Best practices for working in groups
- Make sure everyone in your group is assigned to the Shoemaker's Holiday article on the Students tab of this course page.
- Select one group member whose Sandbox space you'll all share to draft your contribution. (It will be titled something like User:Diderot/sandbox.) Each person should link to that shared Sandbox from their own Sandbox page. A sandbox is like any other page on Wikipedia, and anyone can edit it.
- Wikipedia doesn't handle multiple people editing from different devices at the same time very well. 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.
- Don't create a group account for your project. Group accounts are prohibited.
- Assignment - Copyedit an article
Choose an article. Read through it, thinking about ways to improve the language, such as fixing grammatical mistakes. Then, make the appropriate changes. You don’t need to contribute new information to the article.
- Assignment - Illustrate an article
You'll want to find or create an appropriate photo, illustration, or piece of video/audio to add to an article.
- Before you start, review the Illustrating Wikipedia handbook, or see Editing Wikipedia pages 10–11.
- When you've reviewed those pages, take the training linked below.
- When you're ready to start finding images, remember: Never grab images you find through an image search, or those found on Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, Imgur, or even so-called "Free image" or "free stock photo" websites. Instead, you'll want to find images with clear proof that the creator has given permission to use their work. Many of these images can be found on search.creativecommons.org.
- Don't just upload an image to Wikipedia. Instead, upload it to Wikipedia's sister site for images, Wikimedia Commons. For instructions, read through the Illustrating Wikipedia handbook.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 26 February 2018 | Wednesday, 28 February 2018
- Assignment - Team proposals
Produce a collaborative proposal, due on the course blog by midnight 2/25, outlining your team's plan.
- What will be your team's area of focus? What specific sections and content areas will you edit or add?
- How will you contribute to Wikipedia in a focused, productive manner? What background reading will you undertake? How will you ensure quality and close attention to detail?
- How will you distribute the workload? Who is responsible for double-checking each other's work? How will you organize your schedules and meet as needed?
- In class - Discussion
- Thinking about sources and plagiarism
- Blog posts and press releases are considered poor sources of reliable information. Why?
- What are some reasons you might not want to use a company's website as the main source of information about that company?
- What is the difference between a copyright violation and plagiarism?
- What are some good techniques to avoid close paraphrasing and plagiarism?
- Assignment - Begin writing
You've submitted a team proposal and found your sources. Now it's time to start writing.
Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Make notes for improvement in your sandbox.
Keep reading your sources, too, as you prepare to write the body of the article.
Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 5 March 2018 | Wednesday, 7 March 2018
- Assignment - Expand your contribution
- Keep working on transforming your article into a complete first draft. Get draft ready for peer-review.
- If you'd like a Wikipedia Expert to review your draft, now is the time! Click the "Get Help" button in your sandbox to request notes.
- Milestones
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.
- In class - Discussion
- Thinking about Wikipedia
- What do you think of Wikipedia's definition of "neutrality"?
- What are the impacts and limits of Wikipedia as a source of information?
- On Wikipedia, all material must be attributable to reliable, published sources. What kinds of sources does this exclude? Can you think of any problems that might create?
- If Wikipedia was written 100 years ago, how might its content (and contributors) be different? What about 100 years from now?
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 12 March 2018 | Wednesday, 14 March 2018
- Assignment - Peer review and copy edit
- First, take the "Peer Review" online training.
- Peer review the drafts of the team you have been assigned. Leave suggestions on the Talk page of the article, or sandbox, that your fellow student is working on. Other editors may be reviewing your work, so look for their comments! Be sure to acknowledge feedback from other Wikipedians.
- As you review, make spelling, grammar, and other adjustments. Pay attention to the tone of the article. Is it encyclopedic?
- 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. It's time to work with that feedback to improve your article!
- Read Editing Wikipedia pages 12 and 14.
- Return to your draft or article and think about the suggestions. Decide which ones to start implementing. Reach out to your instructor or your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.
- Assignment - Continue improving your article
Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on suggestions and your own critique.
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 12 to see how to create links from your article to others, and from other articles to your own. Try to link to 3–5 articles, and link to your article from 2–3 other articles.
- Consider adding an image to your article. Wikipedia has strict rules about what media can be added, so make sure to take Contributing Images and Media Files training before you upload an image.
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 26 March 2018 | Wednesday, 28 March 2018
- Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia
Once you've made improvements to your article based on peer review feedback, it's time to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the "mainspace."
Editing an existing article?
- NEVER copy and paste your draft of an article over the entire article. Instead, edit small sections at a time.
- Copy your edits into the article. Make many small edits, saving each time, and leaving an edit summary. Never replace more than one to two sentences without saving!
- Be sure to copy text from your sandbox while the sandbox page is in 'Edit' mode. This ensures that the formatting is transferred correctly.
Creating a new article?
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 13, and follow those steps to move your article from your Sandbox to Mainspace.
- You can also review the Sandboxes and Mainspace online training.
- 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!
- 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!
- Assignment - Did You Know
- Optional: For new articles or qualifying expansions of stubs, compose a one-sentence “hook,” nominate it for “Did you know,” (see the DYK instructions handout) and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors. Wiki Education staff can provide support for this process.
Handout: "Did You Know" submissions
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 2 April 2018 | Wednesday, 4 April 2018
- Assignment - Reflective essay
Write a reflective essay (2 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions. Post it on the course blog by Sunday, April 1.
Consider the following questions as you reflect on your Wikipedia assignment:
- Summarizing your contributions: include a summary of your edits and why you felt they were a valuable addition to the article. How does your article compare to earlier versions?
- Peer Review: What did you learn about the process of editing and public writing during the peer review process?
- Feedback: Did you receive feedback from other Wikipedia editors, and if so, how did you respond to and handle that feedback?
- Wikipedia generally: What did you learn from contributing to Wikipedia? How does a Wikipedia assignment compare to other assignments you've done in the past? How can Wikipedia be used to improve public understanding of Renaissance drama? Why is this important?
- Milestones
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.