Wikipedia:United States Education Program/Courses/Introductory Neuroscience (Steve Potter)/Timeline

Week 1: Choose a topic!

 * In class
 * Overview of the course
 * Introduction to Real World Assignments
 * Handout: Welcome to Wikipedia (available in print or online from the Wikimedia Foundation)
 * Begin exploring the Neuroscience Portal and other neuro resources to come up with ideas for a Wikipedia article that needs to be created or greatly fixed up.


 * Assignment (due week 2)
 * Read Five pillars, an explanation of Wikipedia's basic rules and principles
 * Post your Wikipedia topic on the Forum on Tsquare

Week 2: Find a Book
Find a neuro-related book to read, preferably one that will help you write your Wikipedia article.
 * Online research at Wikipedia
 * Basics of editing
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good & bad articles
 * Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
 * Handouts and videos: Video on creating an account, Talk pages tutorial video, Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure, Account and user page creation handout, Wikimarkup cheatsheet
 * Assignments (due week 3)
 * (See this and this for example assignments.)


 * Create a Wikipedia account, create a user page, and sign up on the list of students on the course page.
 * To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to one of the class's Online Ambassadors (via talk page), 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: Literature Search

 * Online Research
 * Handout: Advice for choosing articles
 * Assignments (due week 4):
 * If it is a Stub, critically evaluate the existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's discussion page.
 * List the article on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project.
 * Compile a bibliography of relevant research and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources.

Week 4: Read and Summarize a Review Paper

 * Online work
 * Handouts and videos: Referencing handout, Referencing: Wikicode handout, Plagiarism 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 citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.

Week 5: Schedule an Expert Interview

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


 * Assignments (due week 6)

Week 6: Drafting an Outline in the Sandbox

 * In class
 * Wikipedia culture & etiquette, and introducing the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
 * Q&A session with TAs about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing
 * Video resource: Sandbox tutorial
 * Assignments (due week 7)
 * If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article (with citations) in your Wikipedia sandbox. If you are improving an existing article, write a summary version reflecting the content the article will have after it's been improved, and post this along with a brief description of your plans on the article's talk page.
 * Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.


 * Milestone
 * All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 7: Study for Midterm

 * Online research
 * Handout: Moving into main space, Submitting articles to Did You Know

Week 8: Book Review due

 * 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.
 * Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
 * TA Wikipedia lab/workshop, covering:
 * Article ratings on Wikipedia & how to get there
 * Uploading images, and adding images to articles
 * Handouts and videos: Uploading images handout, Uploading files to Wikimedia Commons video, Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure (handed out originally in week 2), Article assessments video, Evolution of an article video

Week 9: Peer Review exercises

 * In class
 * As a group, have the students offer suggestions for improving one or two of the students' articles, setting the example for what is expected from a solid encyclopedia article.


 * Wiki assignments (due week 10)
 * Peer review two of your classmates' articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
 * Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.


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

Week 10: Wiki Interview Report Due

 * Wiki assignments (due week 11)
 * Make edits to your article based on peers' feedback.
 * Blog about your Wikipedia editing experience.

Week 11: (no Wikipedia assignments)

 * Wiki assignments (due week 12)
 * Add final touches to you Wikipedia article Outline. Try to address issues from Good Article reviews.

Week 15: Finished Wikipedia article Due
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