User:Laurengonz3/sandbox

hi

Module 2
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"?
 * A I believe a content gap is when there are “holes” with the information in the article that is being discussed. For instance, the American Revolutionary War occurred between the years 1775-1781. However the article may only discuss what happened between the years 1779-1781. The years 1775-1778 would be what is called a “content gap”. Some possible ways of identifying content gaps would be to know the information of the topic inside and out. The more research one does on the topic assigned, the easier it will be to distinguish when there are content gaps within a particular article
 * There are several reasons as to why a content gap may arise. A lack of research and knowledge is a clear reason. When a person does not know specific facts about the topic, then how would he or she be able to identify a content gap? Another reason a content gap may arise is by using a biased source. There are many times when a student will come across a biased internet source. These biased internet sources will often sway the reader to one side, not allowing him or her to identify a content gap. One way to remedy content gaps is, again, by conducting extensive research on the topic. A true sense of knowledge on the subject is when one is able to identify and adjust a content gap.
 * It does not matter who writes on Wikipedia. One does not need to be an expert on the topic, or a historian by any means. The only qualification needed to write on Wikipedia is to find reliable sources and, most importantly, CITE them. Citing sources is key to writing on Wikipedia. Whenever a source isn’t cited, one will quickly be banned from being able to ever write on Wikipedia again.
 * It is extremely important to remain unbiased on Wikipedia. For example, if one was writing an article about Donald Trump, he or she cannot only talk about the negative things he has done in his life. This will be insinuating that the writer is against Trump, and will therefore be a biased article. To make this an unbiased article, the writer would have to also mention and describe the highlights and the good he has done throughout his life. This is extremely similar to my definition of bias. The writer must pull information from all sources and throughly mention everything about the topic at hand in order to publish an unbiased article.

Week 4 Part 1 Questions
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?
 * Blog posts and press releases are poor sources of reliable information because they are mostly written by biased people. Most blog posts and press releases discuss a certain topic, and the authors point of view on that topic. The goal of the author is to persuade the readers to agree with his or her perspective or side. To ensure that an article has accurate information, one must be aware of not taking information from a biased article or blog post. The best sources of reliable information are sites ending in .edu, academic journals, and published books.
 * There are many reasons as to why I would not want to use a company’s website as the main source of information. First, the company’s website is extremely biased. The purpose of the website is to attract potential customers to that company. Therefore, the company will only list and emphasize all its positive aspects. Second, most people will almost immediately read the company’s website over a separate article pertaining to the company. For that reason, I would want to be able to provide a complete overview of the company, and not restate what is already said on the company’s website. Once again, using biased articles is something that will effect your article in a negative way. In order for your article to come out correctly, you must pull information from a variety of sources to ensure there is no bias.
 * Copyright violation and plagiarism are different, but also somewhat similar. Copyright violation, or copyright infringement is obtaining someone else’s information without asking for their permission. Some examples of copyright violation would be using someones photograph without permission and copying and distributing copies of a novel. Plagiarism is copying an authors work, and claiming it as your own. Plagiarism simply is copying someone’s work, claiming it as your own, and not crediting or citing the author. Although these two terms are different, they are both a form of illegally copying someone else’s work.
 * Close paraphrasing and plagiarism is something you definitely don’t want on a Wikipedia article. Not only will they result in a poorly written article, but it is legally wrong. There are many techniques that can be used to ensure that you aren’t accused of close paraphrasing and plagiarism. First, make sure you understand fully what the article is about. Then, you should take notes of the article in your own words. This will ensure that you don’t paraphrase, and will just get the main points of the article. You should also draw from several different sources to make sure that the information you found is accurate. If these steps were to be followed, then there should be no worry that you will be accused of close paraphrasing and plagiarism.

Week 4 Part 2

 * Choose the articles that you can tackle, and post links to them on your sandbox page. For each link, give an explanation for why you have chosen that topic. Is there very little information on the Wikipedia page, thus a big opportunity for you to add information? Have you already found research on the topic?
 * Mathieu de Montmorency- Article Link
 * This is the article that is about my character Mathieu Jean Felicite. Felicite had some influence at the time of the French Revolution, but not as much as others such as Robespierre or Lafayette. Therefore, there is not much information on him. This gives me a big opportunity to add information that is not already stated in the Wikipedia article. For my class, I was needed to know extensive knowledge on my character to ensure optimal success in the RTTP game. For that reason, I have already begun researching for valuable information that I could incorporate in the Wikipedia article on Felicite. Although there is very little about him, I have found additional information that has not been stated in the already existing article.
 * For articles that already exist, check the Talk page to see what other Wikipedians might be doing. Is it an active page? When was the last post?
 * An article on my character, Mathieu Jean Felicite, currently exists. Like previously stated, this character had some influence on the outcome of the French Revolution. That is the reason as to why there is very little know about him. There are also very few people who come to view Felicite's article. With that being said, there is no content on the article's talk page. The talk page is a very useful feature in Wikipedia as it allows you to interact with others in order to perfect a specific article. This is quite an active page, despite the lack of communication on the talk page. There have been multiple edits made by a number of different people. The last edit to the article was made 6 months ago.

Week 5 Part 1 (Bibliography)

 * The article I have assigned to myself is one on the biography of my character, Matthieu Jean Felicite. Although it was quite difficult to find information of him that wasn't already included into the Wikipedia article, I plan to contribute by adding more specific details on his life. For example, his work within the military and his relations among the French people.
 * I can some important facts about this person that were not previously on the page. For example, his extensive military career is talked about very briefly. I would provide additional information, such as how he participated in the "Restoration of the Bourbons". I will also mention how he was one of the youngest members of the National Assembly, being only 25 years old.
 * Bibliography:
 * Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information. New York: The Encyclopaedia Britannica Company, 1910. Print.
 * Gautier, Paul. Mathieu De Montmorency Et Madame De StaÃ«l: D'aprÃ¨s Les Lettres InÃ©dites De M. De Montmorency Ã  Mme Necker De Saussure. Paris: Plon, 1908. Print.

Week 5 Part 2

 * Improving an Article?
 * I have been doing extremely extensive research on Mathieu Jean Felicite, duc de Montmorency. It has been rather difficult to find information that is not already stated in the Wikipedia article. However, I did find that there was some facts about his life, specifically his military career, that have missing information. The article also does not state how he was one of the youngest members of the National Assembly, a fact that I believe should be mentioned. Most of the members of the assembly were much older than him, so this was truly seen as an honor. Since most of the information I have found is already stated in the article, I will simply be improving this article by adding the additional information I have found.

Week 6

 * What do you think of Wikipedia's definition of "neutrality"?
 * I think Wikipedia's definition of neutrality is a good one. Wikipedia's definition of neutrality is to provide an unbiased viewpoint on every article written. I believe this is a great way to ensure that the information provided in the article is presented fairly and reliable. It is extremely important to remain unbiased when writing on Wikipedia. Using biased articles is something that will effect your article in a negative way. In order for your article to be accurate, you must pull information from a variety of sources to ensure there is no bias.
 * What are the impacts and limits of Wikipedia as a source of information?
 * Wikipedia is a great source of information. However, it should not be the only source of information someone relies on. One impact that Wikipedia creates is that it contains information from lots of different sources in one article. A Wikipedia article contains information from a variety of sources and then summarizes it all together. All the sources are listed on the bottom, which greatly helps the researcher when finding resources. However, Wikipedia is also a limited source of information. Wikipedia is a public encyclopedia, meaning that anyone can contribute to the article. Therefore, some of the information provided may be not be entirely accurate. That is also the reason why Wikipedia cannot be cited as a source in a bibliography. Although Wikipedia may not always be a reliable source, it will always have references which will lead you to a reliable source.
 * 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?
 * Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that can be seen and edited by anyone. For this reason, it is extremely crucial to pull information from sources that are 100% reliable. Some examples of reliable sources include sites ending in ".edu or .gov", academic journals, or any primary source. Some sources that are not reliable are blog posts, certain sites ending in ".com", personal websites, or sites that contain obvious bias. Using sources that cannot be attributed to reliable, published sources could create problems. One problem might be bias. Most reliable sources are written in a neutral point of view. While unreliable sources are often written in a bias point of view, favoring one side over another.
 * If Wikipedia was written 100 years ago, how might its content (and contributors) be different? What about 100 years from now?
 * If Wikipedia was written 100 years ago, its content and contributors would be quite different. Obviously, there was a lot less information back then there is now. A lot has happened within the last 100 years in our world. There are many articles on presidents, historical events, and new discoveries. 100 years ago contributors would have most probably written in a more bias perspective as well, in order to ensure their followers would not abandon them. However is Wikipedia was written 100 days from today, then that is a entirely different scenario. 100 years from now the articles will be much more verbose as there will be an abundance of reliable resources. As time passes, more and more reliable sources are made known. There will also be many more articles to read as many more events would have occurred. The contributors would carefully write their articles without any form plagiarism or bias in order to ensure the greatest number of people view their article.

Drafting
"Lead Section" "Early Years" "Career"
 * [Mathieu Jean Felicité de Montmorency, duc de Montmorency-Laval (10 July 1767 – 24 March 1826) was a prominent French statesman during the French Revolution and Bourbon Restoration.] He was elected as the youngest member of the National Assembly during the time of the French Revolution. He is also known for his military expertise, and ultimately this is what led to his fame. He was a well known statesman and politician who was popular for his revolutionary ideals. Throughout his life he served as a governor, a deputy of the Estates General, secretary of the assembly, and captain of the guards.
 * [Born in Paris, Mathieu de Montomorency was the son of Mathieu Paul Louis de Montmorency, vicomte de Laval (1748–1809), and his wife a scion of one of the oldest noble families in France, and his wife, Catherine Jeanne Tavernier de Boullongne (d. 1838), the daughter of an aristocratic French planter in Guadeloupe. His mother's illegitimate mulatto half-brother was the famous Chevalier de Saint-Georges.] He was a very tall, blonde, well-built man who had a contagious, youthful aura. Montmorency went on to seek higher education at College du Plessis, where he developed his love for the subject of philosophy and the idea of enlightenment.  Montmorency was elected into the National Assembly at the very young age of 23. At the time, he was the youngest member to serve on the Constituent Assembly. Montmorency worked very diligently to make a name for himself among the other prominent members. He had great ease when it came to presenting his speeches. Although born into nobility, he did not let his arrogant reputation get the best of him. He always regarded others with great manners. His hard work in the National Assembly ultimately led him to be appointed as the secretary of the assembly.  [In 1780, his father, a colonel of the Auvergne regiment, was appointed a premier gentilhomme de la chambre to King Louis XVI of France's younger brother, the Comte de Provence. However, when Catherine was denied the corresponding rank of dame pour accompagner to the prince's wife, Marie-Joséphine, due to her relatively low birth, Laval resigned his post in Provence's household.] M ontmorency was a very intelligent man. He was a diplomatist and a great writer. He eventually went to become a tutor for Henry, duke de Bordeaux, the grandson of Charles X.
 * Mathieu de Montmorency was married to his first cousin Hortense de Luynes. At the time this was seen as normal, because many noble families wanted to keep their bloodlines within each other. However, despite being married he actually paid very little attention to his wife. Due to the very relaxed nature of marriages, he often was seen without his wife. In actuality, Montmorency was madly in love with another cousin by the name of Marquise de Laval. Laval died suddenly, and Montmorency went to a great depression.
 * Madame de Stael ultimately brought Montmorency out of his depression. Mathieu became Mme Stael’s friend in 1790 while he was in the constituent assembly. She was 24 years old when they met, while he was only 23. Mme Stael was a very educated woman. Their friendship started after writing a series of letters to each other. His attraction towards her grew more and more through each letter.
 * After Montmorency attended college at College du Plessis, he went on to gain expertise in his military career. His father was a war veteran, and Montmorency actually entered the army under the same regiment where his father served as colonel. He went on to achieve great accomplishments throughout his military career. He served in the American War of Independence with Lafayette. America was a new nation that had built its nation on democracy and liberty. Montmorency is credited for bringing these new governmental ideas to France. Montmorency was a member of the noble class. The nobility had a very negative reputation, as they were known for being greedy and discourteous. However, Montmorency’s actions began to change the way the nobility was viewed at the start of the revolution. He was extremely generous and showed great remorse to people, unlike others. His ultimate goal was to make the French people happy, while still preserving the nobility. Years later, Montmorency went to become the Captain of the guards of the Count d’Artois. He also became the governor of the city and castle of Gompiègne and was elected the deputy of the estates general for the nobility of Montfort. These are all great accomplishments that Montmorency achieved throughout his life.