Wikipedia:WikiProject United States Public Policy/Courses/Spring 2011/Environmental Law (Aaron Frank)

Course description
This is the second part of a two part course examining the basic legal setting for the protection and management of the environment. After learning the major federal statutes and constitutional principles of Environmental Law this course will explore species protection, toxic risk legislation, criminal prosecution, citizen actions, international law and emerging issues in the field. It discusses how environmental law is made and applied. The course also includes material on economic analysis, scientific and legal causation and expert testimony.

Assignment overview
Each student will either contribute a new article or substantially expand an existing article in the area of US Environmental Law, at the national, state, or local level. Students will peer-review and copy-edit one another's contributions and will present on their topic as well as their experience with Wikipedia at the last session. Each student will then submit their work to the professor as a final portfolio.

Wikipedia Assignment #1
Due session 1, March 19th See the Getting Started page for how to create an account, username, sandbox and the basics of editing
 * Read about WikiProject US Public Policy and see what other Universities are involved in the project
 * Review the "Five Pillars" of Wikipedia
 * Read at the introductory sections of following articles:
 * Neutral Point of View Policy
 * No Original Research Policy
 * Verifiability Policy
 * Create a user account and username
 * Create your user page
 * Create a sandbox and add some sample text in it to get a feel for the wiki code
 * Make five edits to Wikipedia articles (this can be adding a reference, fixing a typo, cleaning up a convoluted sentence, adding a sentence, etc.)

Session 1
March 19, 2011


 * In class
 * Overview of the course
 * Introduction to the Wikipedia part of the course
 * Campus Ambassador introduces Wikipedia and Wikipedia culture/etiquette
 * Basics of editing and how to reference articles
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good & bad articles
 * Tips & recommendations for best articles to work on for the class assignments
 * HANDOUT: "Welcome to Wikipedia" brochure (see resources below for PDF versions of Wikipedia Help Handouts)


 * Wikipedia Assignment #2 (due session 2, April 2nd)
 * Add your name to the course page's list of students (on the WikiProject)
 * Contact an Online Ambassador (via his/her Wikipedia user talk page) and ask them to mentor your article project. Mentors will be available to offer advice and assistance as you start editing.
 * To practice the editing features of Wikipedia, leave a message for a few classmates on their user talk pages.
 * Research and list 5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Ask your Online Ambassador mentor for comments.


 * Help with finding stub or starter articles


 * For starters, you can look through this category and all of its subcategories:


 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Environment_stubs


 * Here's another way to search: go to this category, and look for any links that are colored dark red. You can adjust the threshold size at which links to articles appear dark red in your preferences (under "Appearance", "Threshold for stub link formatting (bytes)").


 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Environmental_law


 * Here's another way, through the assessment scheme of Wikiproject Environment:


 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Start-Class_Environment_articles

Session 2
April 2, 2011
 * In class
 * Be prepared to discuss a couple of topic ideas in class. You will have an opportunity to discuss your topics with other classmates and pair up with a project partner.  Bring some potential sources to class.
 * HANDOUT: "Moving article from sandbox into main space" handout, "Did You Know nominations" handout (see handouts below).
 * Wikipedia Assignment #3
 * Submit article topic on Wikipedia course page by midnight April 5th.
 * Begin working on your article in your user sandbox or user sub page.
 * Continue research in preparation for expanding your article (due session 3).
 * Begin working with Online Ambassador mentor to polish your short starter article (due session 3).

Session 3
April 16, 2011
 * In class
 * Campus Ambassador leads Wikipedia lab/workshop.
 * Uploading images onto Wikipedia articles and introduction to free licenses (see handouts below).
 * Q&A session.

Due by May 7th (Session 4)
 * Wikipedia Assignment #4
 * Submit outline/starter article by April 19th at midnight.
 * Move your sandbox article into Wikipedia's main space (live articles). Due by April 26th
 * Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
 * Expand your article into an a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
 * Peer-review and copy-edit another team's articles:
 * Leave suggestions and comments on those classmates' article discussion pages.
 * Revise your article based on peers' feedback.
 * Prepare for in-class presentation about your Wikipedia-editing experiences and the content of your article.

Session 4
May 7, 2011
 * In class
 * Students give in-class presentations about their article topic and their experiences editing Wikipedia.


 *  Final Assignments for students
 * FINAL VERSION OF ARTICLE DUE MIDNIGHT MAY 10.

Campus Ambassadors
Jodi.elizabeth (talk) 17:46, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Online Ambassadors
Attention Volunteer Mentors: Please post your Usernames below. Thanks for your help! Jodi.elizabeth (talk) 23:23, 19 March 2011 (UTC) Note to Students: You can also pose questions on the Online Ambassadors Discussion page (remember to create a new section, add an edit description and sign your name with the 4 tildes, i.e., ~ ).
 * 1) Ironholds (talk) 23:28, 19 March 2011 (UTC)
 * 2) Cullen328 (talk) 00:06, 20 March 2011 (UTC) Note: I graduated from USF 29 years ago.
 * 3) Sodabottle (talk) 04:58, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
 * 4) . I can't always commit blocks of time, but am happy to chip in here and there, answer questions, etc. Later! 05:33, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * 5) Cindy Ashley-Nelson. Please don't hesitate to contact me. You can catch me online at the oddest hours of the day (or night).
 * 6) Rosiestep (talk) 09:23, 1 May 2011 (UTC) I'm arriving here late, but I just saw the email about this and I'd be glad to assist this class. It's easiest to reach me by leaving a note on my user talkpage.

Visit the IRC to chat live with Online Ambassadors or other Wikipedians: Campus Ambassador Live Webchat