User:MTHarden/FA11-Assignment

Course description
Introduction to Psychology is an introductory overview of the field of psychology. It is an examination of behavioral, cognitive, psychoanalytic, humanistic and biological viewpoints in psychology. The course includes learning principles and applications, motivation, emotions, stress, psychobiology, personality, abnormal behaviors and approaches to therapy. The course fulfills Associate of Arts general education requirements.

Assignment overview
You will be either creating a new psychology article or improving an existing psychology article on Wikipedia. Even though you are amateurs in the field of psychology there are many 'stub' class articles on Wikipedia that you will be able to significantly improve. Treat this assignment like a research paper, but instead of turning it in to me, you will be contributing to the sum of all human knowledge on Wikipedia.

It is important for you to follow instructions and not get behind in following the assignment timeline, there will be little or no credit for late assignments. If you are struggling with any aspect of this assignment see me during my office hours ASAP.

My general advice is to worry firstly about generating good content (doing the research and writing it up), and secondly about the technical aspects of Wikipedia. Remember that you can edit any page on Wikipedia so if you don't know how to do something, find where someone else has done that and copy them.

Assignment timeline
This is a summary of the key due dates and the expected timeline for the Wikipedia-related assignment(s). In general Weeks end on Sunday, so when something is due week 2, that means you need to have it completed by the Sunday of the second calendar week of class.

Each week lists what (if anything) we will be doing in class, which wikipedia resources will be useful to you in completing the weeks assignments, and of course the assignments for the week.

Week 1

 * In class
 * Overview of the course
 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course


 * Readings and Tutorials
 * Welcome to Wikipedia
 * Video on creating an account
 * Account and user page creation handout
 * Wikimarkup cheatsheet
 * Five pillars


 * Assignment (due week 2)
 * Create a Wikipedia account
 * Create a user page with information about you that will also be used to track your progress, like this one from last semester: User:MTHarden/ExampleStudent
 * Sign up on the list of students at the bottom of this page.
 * Extra Credit: Sign up to be a Wiki-Mentor for class. If you are computer savvy (or you are already a Wikipedia editor) discuss with the professor the opportunity to earn extra credit by serving as a mentor to less savvy students.

Week 2

 * In class
 * Basics of editing
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good & bad articles


 * Handouts and videos:
 * Talk pages tutorial video
 * Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure,


 * Assignments (due week 3)
 * To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself and leave a message for a classmate on their user talk page.


 * Milestone:
 * All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.

Week 3

 * In class
 * Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments


 * Reading
 * Handout: Advice for choosing articles


 * Links
 * WikiCategory:Stub-Class_psychology_articles
 * Tool Server List of psych-stubs with score
 * Requested Psychology Articles


 * Assignments (due week 4):
 * Critically evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's discussion page. Be sure to link to your evaluation from your User page (like the example student)


 * Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Make it a numbered list, with wiki-links to the articles. Be sure to specify if you are intending to create a new article.

Week 4

 * In class
 * Discussion about how to choose 'good' sources


 * Readings and Tutorials
 * Handout: Referencing handout
 * Referencing: Wikicode handout
 * Citing sources tutorial video
 * RefToolbar citation tool tutorial video


 * Assignment (due week 5)
 * Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a well-sourced citation, to a Wikipedia article on your list of potential main project articles.


 * For next week
 * Instructor evaluates student's article selections, by week 5.

Week 5

 * In class
 * Discuss the range of topics students will be working on and strategies for researching and writing about them.

WP:SOURCE has guidelines for what are good sources for use on wikipedia.
 * Review


 * Assignments (due week 6)
 * Select an article to work on and list it at the bottom of this page next to your username.
 * Compile an annotated bibliography of 3-5 relevant sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on.

Week 6

 * In class
 * Instructor talks about Wikipedia culture & etiquette, and introduces the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.


 * Readings and Tutorials
 * Video resource: Sandbox tutorial


 * Assignments (due week 7)
 * Create a sandbox, linked on your user page, where you will work on your chosen article
 * Write a brief summary of your planned improvements on the discussion page of your sandbox.
 * Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.


 * Milestone
 * All students have started editing sandbox versions of articles.

Week 7

 * In class
 * Uploading images
 * "Did You Know..."


 * Readings
 * Uploading images handout
 * Uploading files to Wikimedia Commons video
 * Submitting articles to Did You Know


 * Wiki assignments (due week 8)
 * Expand your sandbox article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Week 8

 * In class
 * Article ratings on Wikipedia & how to get there


 * Handouts and videos:
 * Moving into main space
 * Article assessments video
 * Evolution of an article video


 * Wiki assignments (due week 9)
 * Move your article (or contributions) into the wikipedia mainspace. If you created a new article you will be using the "move" tool, if you are expanding an existing article you will be using copy & paste.


 * Pick two classmates that will peer-review your article from the list below and add a link to your article after their name and article. Each person should review two articles (so don't give your article to someone that is already reviewing two).


 * Peer review two of your classmates' articles (the two assigned to you). copy-edit the two reviewed articles. Also, leave suggestions on the articles' talk pages.

Week 9

 * In class
 * Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia


 * Reading
 * Submitting articles to Did You Know


 * Optional assignment (due week 10)
 * For new articles or qualifying expansions of stubs, compose a one-sentence "hook," nominate it for "Did you know," and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors.
 * If you choose to do this assignment it is worth 15 extra credit points to nominate your article BUT this is only for qualifying articles! If you nominate a non-qualifying article it will cost you 10 points! If your article appears on the main page you will get additional extra credit.


 * Milestone
 * All articles have been reviewed by others. All students have reviewed two articles by their classmates.

Week 10

 * In class


 * Reading
 * Good Article Criteria


 * Wiki assignments (due week 11)
 * Make edits to your article based on peers' feedback.
 * Prepare for an in-class discussion about your Wikipedia editing experience.

Week 11

 * In class
 * Students each give an in-class presentations about their experiences editing Wikipedia.


 * Wiki assignments (due by last day of class)
 * Add final touches to you Wikipedia article.
 * Write a reflective essay (2-5 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.
 * This paper is not about your topic, but rather about your experience with the assignment. Write about what you learned, and what you liked/hated about this assignment.

Final Week

 * Milestone
 * Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading, and have submitted reflective essays.