User:LKnightED690/sandbox

Name: Luke Knight

Wikipedia Project – Step 2

ED690- Methods of Inquiry Accelerated Hybrid Course

Summer 2018

This week, your task is to pinpoint your project topic and begin to evaluate the existing content on the topic or related to the topic. This does not need to be long. This assignment is intended to guide you through your studying of what is there and how you want to add.

'''(1) Very clearly tell me the topic you have chosen below. It is best if you have narrowed it down to a short phrase at most. This should reflect the subject heading and/or subheadings you will write on within Wikipedia.'''

I would like to work with the topic of Therapy Dogs.

'''(2) Regarding your chosen topic, what is your impression of the content currently available on Wikipedia? Why do you feel that you need to contribute this content? Are you creating a new page, fixing a pre-existing page, or adding to a pre-existing page, or something else?'''

Currently, there is a Wikipedia page for Therapy Dogs, but it is pretty small. I believe there is a good bit of information missing or information that could be of use and interest to potential readers. There are pages for Animal-assisted therapy, Service animal, and Service dog. However, I would like to focus on canine therapy and expand the current Wikipedia page to delve deeper into that specific information.

'''(3) Describe the current state of the content on Wikipedia. Link me to what is there so I can see as well. If there is nothing available, what keywords and phrases have you tried? Even if there is nothing, give me a sense of what a person might be able to learn about something close to what is available. This will give you a sense of how hard people have to try to find information about that topic.'''

The current Wikipedia page for Therapy Dogs is linked here. Besides the References and External links headings, there are only four main sections: Description, History, Classification, and Use, with Use having two sub-headings. Both the Description and History sections are quite short, with only a sentence or two each. Classification and Use are a bit longer, but still rather light on detail and do not go into very much depth. One point of interest is that despite the page being a total of about three paragraphs, there are about twenty-five references listed. I am curious as to how thoroughly and accurately these references were used to create the information presented.

('''4) What needs to be done to create change for this topic? If you are creating something brand new, what sections do you envision it having? Please keep this reasonable because of our short and accelerated time frame. And remember that you won’t know and be able to share EVERYTHING in this short time, but a good solid start is still important.'''

I think it would be a good idea to begin by strengthening the information in the Description and History headings. Surely there is more relevant information available than two sentences worth. Also, I would like to add a few headings, such as Research, Breeds, and Types such as emotional support, assisted therapy, facility therapy, and therapeutic visitation. I also think the Use section should be revamped. I believe it would be better to have sub-headings for Pre-K, K-12, University, Career, and Geriatric. I am considering some additional headings, but I believe this would be a good start to expand the page’s information.