User:Michaelh.dick/sandbox

CCT110: The Rhetoric of Digital and Interactive Media Environments
Summer 2012 | Instructor Michael Dick

Teaching Team
Instructor:
 * Michael Dick

Teaching Assistants:
 * Bryan Gopaul
 * Harrison Smith

Assignment Description
Students will work in groups of 4 or 5 to collaborate on making substantive edits to an article of their choosing via one user's sandbox and talk page (with one user - the "designated spokesperson" ultimately posting the edits as decided upon by the group). This is therefore an exercise in group writing/editing, writing for a particular genre (i.e. Wikipedia), thus demonstrating an understanding of the rhetorical approaches appropriate for the genre and medium (relevant to the themes of the course).

For our purposes, a "substantive edit" is defined as: writing or re-writing at least one section in the body of the chosen article or expanding upon a "stub". In either case, your group should introduce a new theme in the section you write, giving due regard for Wikipedia policies re: citation, notability, etc. A typical section would consist of at least one paragraph of a non-trivial length. How "rich" the content is will be considered heavily in evaluating assignments. This would ordinarily include text, links, references, etc. versus simply plain text, indicating a full appreciation for the dynamic character of writing for Wikipedia.

All students will indicate their group members via our course page (each user must create an account and will receive instruction in tutorials re: Wikipedia practices, etc.), and note their chosen article and which user's sandbox is being used as the space for this collaborative exercise.

Students should consult the Wikipedia Resources section of the course page for useful information on Wikipedia policies/culture, editing and content creation practices, and other relevant topics. The Getting Help with Wikipedia tab provides information on the types of assistance available for this exercise.

Students will hand in to their tutorial leader electronic copies of screenshots of the state of the chosen article "before" and "after" the edits, highlighted or otherwise annotated to clearly show the changes that were made, as well as a copy of the sandbox and relevant talk pages (i.e. the talk page for the sandbox and the chosen article). Only one group member, the "designated spokesperson", should make this submission, and a cover page should be attached that indicates: the group name, the tutorial section, the topic, each group member's username, and each group member's real name and student number.

Students will receive a group grade that takes into account: the quality of the research and writing re: their contributions, the mechanics re: their contributions (e.g. spelling, grammar, etc.), and the group dynamics/process/understanding of the rhetorical approaches relevant to Wikipedia as demonstrated in talk page discussions. We may adjust individual grades if some group members are contributing to the process more than others.

The electronic submission from your group's "designated spokesperson" is due to your TA by the start of Lecture 12 (i.e. by 1 p.m. on Thursday, August 16, 2012). Please submit all relevant files as a single PDF attachments via e-mail to your TA. A marking sheet (rubric) that takes into account the assessment criteria listed below will be returned to the submitter by e-mail for them to distribute to the other group members. Please remember that your University of Toronto e-mail account must be used when communicating with the teaching team.

For this assignment, both University and Wikipedia-specific policies regarding academic integrity apply. Please review the syllabus and the relevant handouts on the resources section of the course page for further information.

Weighting: 20% of your final course grade.

Grading Parameters
Wikipedia contributions will be graded according to the following parameters:


 * 1) Quality of the research and writing in the edits made
 * 2) Mechanics (e.g. spelling, grammar, diction, etc.)
 * 3) Understanding of Wikipedia policies and best practices
 * 4) Understanding of the rhetorical approach appropriate for Wikipedia
 * 5) Professionalism and teamwork in the writing process

These criteria will be weighted equally in grading. An assignment-specific rubric will be used that is derived from the "global rubric" available on Blackboard..

Group Sign-up
''Add your username to the list here using the format below. You can simply copy and paste the code and then edit the relevant information:''

Group name: The Avengers

Topic: The Avengers (TV series)

Group members: Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:Gabby.resch/sandbox)
 * Michael Dick
 * Gabby Resch

'''NOTE: Please use this section only for signing up your group to our course page. Messages to individual tutorial leaders should be left on their respective talk page.'''

Group 1
Group name: The Powerpuff Boyz Topic: Instagram Group members: Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:mlgshadowdog/sandbox)
 * Pavel Kozlov
 * Jerry Li
 * Sukhjeevan Dhami

Group 2
Group name: The Care Bears

Topic: The Cheesecake Factory

Group members: Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:sachdhanjal/sandbox)
 * Sach Dhanjal
 * Jennifer Paiva
 * Amrita Dwarkaprasad
 * Eun Ji Kim
 * Navaneetha Rajendran

Group 3
Group name: Fantastic Five

Topic: Four-toed elephant shrew

Group members: Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:Sanaa.faizi/sandbox)
 * Sanaa Faizi
 * Ronda Lo
 * Mariel Berania
 * Priya Singh
 * Liuyin Chen

Group 4
Group name: The Shopaholics♥

Topic: Sherway Gardens

Group members: Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:Amanda.J.James/sandbox)
 * Amanda James
 * Beth Bosma
 * Natasha Butzow

Group 5
Group name: Dream Team Topic: Telescope

Group members:

Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:Dream Team 110/sandbox)
 * Ibrahim Kitine
 * Sameer Khan
 * Afra Yousaf
 * Zaynab Kurreembukus

Group 6
Group name: unRIM'd

Topic: Blackberry

Group members: Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:Natashasz/sandbox)
 * Natasha Szlapetis
 * Kiran Gabble
 * Justin Maione
 * Sonia Nansimbe

Group 7
Group name: The Fab Four Ladies

Topic: Neustadt, Ontario

Group members: Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:Andreavillar/sandbox)
 * Andrea Villar
 * Andrea Villar
 * Andrea Villar
 * Andrea Villar

Group 1
Group Name : e-LEMON-ators Topic: Koothuparamba firing


 * Maryum Ghayur *
 * Dafna Sappire-Rubinstein *
 * Akhila Jog *
 * Jianshu Wu *

Group 2
Group name: Chocolate Cheesecakes

Topic: Angel Falls

Group members: Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:Mar1zhou/sandbox)

Group 3
Group name: Harrison's girls

Topic: Massari

Group members: Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:Esms10/sandbox)
 * Evian Istifan Sadik
 * Gasika Istaifan
 * Xuechun Luo
 * Christine Hong

Group 4
Group name: Harrison Have Mercy

Topic: LINE (application)

Group members: Spokesperson & Designated Sandbox: (User:dodo0517/sandbox)
 * Yu-Shan,Ho
 * Andrew Magnaye
 * Ravinder Ghotra
 * Ching Ping Hsieh
 * Rafey Aleem

Help and Resources
In addition to the help available in-person (through lectures, tutorials, and office hours), and online (via Blackboard), please consult the links below for further information:

Wikipedia Resources

Getting Help with Wikipedia

Our course's talk page has a variety of helpful tips for getting started with this assignment.