Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Wake Forest University/LIB100 Accessing Information in the 21st Century - Spring A 2018 (Fall)

In LIB100 this semester, we will be tackling Wikipedia's gender gap by creating Wikipedia entries for important women and people of color, many from North Carolina.

Welcome to our 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 Helpbutton at the top of this page.

Resources:

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. (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.)

Week 2

Course meetings

Tuesday, 4 September 2018 | Thursday, 6 September 2018

In class - Selecting a Wikipedia Article to Write

Be sure to complete the survey in which you rank your top choices for your Wikipedia article.

In class - Discussion: What's a content gap?

Now that you're thinking about what makes a "good" Wikipedia article, consider some additional 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"?

Week 3

Course meetings

Tuesday, 11 September 2018 | Thursday, 13 September 2018

Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia

Exercise

[[../../../training/students/evaluate-wikipedia-exercise|Evaluate an article]]

In class - Create a Lead Section for Your Article

You're group has an article topic, now it's time to start writing.

Creating a new article?

Write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section." Write it on the draft page of your article.
- A "lead" section is not a traditional introduction. It should summarize, very briefly, what the rest of the article will say in detail. The first paragraph should include important, broad facts about the subject. A good example is Ada Lovelace. See Editing Wikipedia page 9 for more ideas.

Keep reading your sources, too, as you prepare to write the body of the article.

Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9

Week 4

Course meetings

Tuesday, 18 September 2018 | Thursday, 20 September 2018

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?

Assignment - Write Your First Draft

Keep working on transforming your article into a complete first draft.

Week 5

Course meetings

Tuesday, 25 September 2018 | Thursday, 27 September 2018

Assignment - Write Your Second Draft

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.

Week 6

Course meetings

Tuesday, 2 October 2018 | Thursday, 4 October 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!

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 [[../../../training/students/sandboxes|Sandboxes and Mainspace]] online training.

Assignment - Peer review and copy edit

First, take the "Peer Review" online training.
Your professor will assign you a classmates’ article that you will peer review and copyedit. On the Articles tab, find the article you are to review, and then assign it to yourself in the Review column.
Peer review your classmate's draft. 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?

Week 7

Course meetings

Tuesday, 9 October 2018

Assignment - Consider Peer Review and Polish Your Work

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 Content Expert if you have any questions.
Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards.

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.