Wikipedia:Ambassadors/Courses/Political Scandals (John Todsen)/Timeline

Timeline
Wikipedia Revision Assignment

'''Assignment #1: What is a scandal? (Given at the FYS Professor Dinner, 8/20, due on Blackboard for the first session of class) Many of the things we remember most about politics center around times of scandal. Watergate, Iran-Contra, Clinton-Lewinsky, and the Abramoff Affair each made headlines and still do, sometimes decades later. •	What do you consider a scandal? Give me an example. •	What makes something a scandal? •	What sorts of things are not scandalous? •	Why does your example fit your definition of ‘scandalous’? What I am looking for here are really your thoughts, so please don’t look in our text or anywhere else. Be thoughtful when you post, as ‘yeah, what he/she said’ posts will not be looked on kindly when it comes time for me to review. Also, be prepared to respond to commentary from me and/or other students. Please post this assignment on Blackboard. Goal: 125-250 words.

'''Assignment #2: Registering Online (Due 8/30) This is a relatively easy assignment. Register on Wikipedia for your own individual account, then edit the class’ website to include yourself as a member of the project. Make sure to email me your Wikipedia ID when you are finished.

Here is the link for the group project webpage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Past_Political_Scandals_and_Controversies

'''Assignment #3: Nominations: (Due 9/13, to me by email) Each student should take some time to look over Wikipedia for articles that need work. When looking for articles that need revision, keep in mind the following items:
 * Does the article have incorrect information?
 * Is it missing important facts?
 * Does it have confusing or misleading statements?
 * Does it have historical context, if needed?
 * Is it organized in a logical manner?
 * Does it cite the information that it does have?

Each student will nominate at least 3 articles for revision, but you may submit up to 5 total. When formulating your nominations, identify the article title and, in 125 words or less, why you feel the class should address it. Please note the extra credit assignments near the bottom of this assignment for why it is in your best interest to choose and to justify your choices well.

'''Assignment #4: Selecting Articles (Votes due by 9/20) After each student has submitted their nominations, all of the nominations will be posted on Blackboard and you and your classmates will be given the opportunity to vote on which articles, based on the nomination justifications, will be revised by the class. I do reserve the right to override class selections, based on any number of factors including but not limited to: prior work already completed on the article, inappropriateness of article for class, conflict of interest, and protected article status.

'''Work for Dr. Todsen: (I shouldn’t take more than a week to do this, so 9/27) Once voting is complete and I have reviewed the class’ selections, I will pass out assignments of specific articles to students. Each article will have 2-3 students assigned to work on it in a group, while each student will have at least 2 articles assigned to them. Groups will not necessarily be the same from article to article, nor will you necessarily be assigned to articles that you nominated. I will nominate all of the selected articles for “Good Article” status. This will begin the external review process, during which Wikipedia editors will review the articles and help make suggestions to improve the articles, guiding your revisions. For more information on this, search “Good Article Nominations” on Wikipedia.
 * Article Assignments –
 * Good Articles –

'''Assignment #5: First Revisions Due (Due 10/25) The group for each article will submit a copy of the article as it existed before any revisions and a copy of the article to this point. Each student will also fill out an anonymous self-evaluation and evaluation of the contributions of each of their group members.

'''Assignment #6: Second Revisions Due (Due 11/22) The group for each article will submit a copy of the article as it existed before any revisions and a copy of the article to this point. Each student will also fill out an anonymous self-evaluation and evaluation of the contributions of each of their group members.

'''Extra Credit Opportunities Students will get bonus points based whether their nominations were selected for revision for the class and on the final rankings of those articles.
 * Individual: Ranked Nominations

Being flagged as a “good article” is the goal of this assignment for each group. I will give extra credit to groups whose articles pass the review process by Dead Day. To be eligible for this extra credit, you must bring my attention to the article’s new status; do not assume that I will catch it.
 * Group: Good Article Status

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