Wikipedia:United States Education Program/Courses/Eng 103: Rhetoric and Composition (Patricia Fancher)/Timeline

Timeline
Writing in Wikipedia: Most scholars, journalist, and employers will readily reject Wikipedia as a source for serious research. However, almost every American occasionally turns to Wikipedia as a source of information, especially when we need to quickly ‘brush up’ on a topic. Most likely, each student in this class often goes to Wikipedia to find the answer to a random question or to read a short summary of an unfamiliar term. This semester each student will go from passive readers of Wikipedia to active contributors to the world’s largest encyclopedia, which is also world’s largest volunteer project. This assignment will not end at the end of the semester. Rather, each student will be writing an article that will continue to be read and improved for years to come by hundreds, even thousands, of people. Minimum word count: 1000

For this assignment, students will hone their writing and researching skills by entering the digital community of practice in Wikipedia. Each student will select a topic, research it exhaustively, and compose an article in Wikipedia that meets the standards and expectations of the Wikipedia community and audience. Throughout the semester we will be learning about the Wikipedia project and about the community of practice that volunteered to create and refine this ever-expanding source of information.

25% of Final Grade First draft due: Thursday, March 29 Final draft due: Thursday, April 3

Feb 2 - Create user account, walk through WP interface Feb 7 - Select topic Feb 9 - Wikipedia standards and conventions, workshop editing basics, create sandbox Feb 14 - How to cite and integrate sources - create sandbox and start adding content Feb 21 - Organization, workshop formatting in WP Feb 23 - Wikipedia style guide. - complete outline for WP March 15 - Discuss WP community of practice - Contact a wikipedian for feedback

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