Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Carleton College/Immunology (Winter)

The immune system is complex and fascinating. The cells of our immune system encounter and destroy bacteria and viruses daily, most often without our even being aware of their presence. You may, however, be very aware of the power of the immune system if you happen to have hay fever or some other common allergy. We will begin the course by covering the basic components of the vertebrate immune system, and then move on to look at how cells interact with one another to produce an immune response. We will put it all together by looking at the role of the immune system in infectious disease, allergy and asthma, autoimmunity, transplantation, and vaccination. Knowledge of our immune system impacts societal issues, and each of you will complete a community-based engagement project that encompasses a topic related to immunology and public health. Effectively communicating scientific information for a public audience is an essential skill and each of you will become public scholars by making a contribution to Wikipedia.

Week 1

 * Overview of the course
 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
 * Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.

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Handout: Editing Wikipedia


 * Basics of editing
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
 * Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
 * Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments

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Handouts:, Evaluating Wikipedia


 * Create an account and join this course page.
 * Complete the introductory training modules. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
 * Create a User page.
 * To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.
 * Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.

All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.


 * Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.

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Handouts:

Week 2

 * Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.

Handouts:  and [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avoiding_plagiarism.pdf Avoiding Plagiarism ]

Supplementary training: Sources and Citations

Review Wikipedia's rules for topics related to medicine, human health, and psychology.


 * Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.


 * Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing. Describe your choices to your instructor for feedback.

Week 3

 * Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.

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Supplementary training: Sandboxes and Mainspace


 * Select an article to work on, removing the rest from your user page. Add your topic on the course page.
 * Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.

Week 4

 * Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
 * Q&amp;A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.


 * If you are starting a new article, write an outline of the topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia lead section of 3–4 paragraphs in your sandbox. Wikipedia articles use &quot;summary style&quot;, in which the lead section provides a balanced summary of the entire body of the article, with the first sentence serving to define the topic and place it in context. The lead section should summarize, very briefly, each of the main aspects of the topic that will be covered in detail in the rest of the article. If you are improving an existing article, draft a new lead section reflecting your proposed changes, and post this along with a brief description of your plans on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check that page often to gather any feedback the community might provide.


 * Continue research in preparation for writing the body of the article.

All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 5

 * Move your sandbox articles into main space.


 * If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article.
 * If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow the instructions in the &quot;Moving out of your sandbox&quot; handout.
 * You should have a rough draft of your article at this point to be peer reviewed. You have until Friday to make small changes.

Week 6
Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and [http://wikiedu.org/evaluatingwikipedia Evaluating Wikipedia ]


 * We'll assign you an article to peer review and copyedit - the list will be on Moodle. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the article you will peer review.  You should have revisions back to your partner by Feb. 24th.


 * Expand your article into a complete first draft.

Week 7


Supplementary training: Peer Review


 * Peer review your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on their talk page.
 * Copy-edit the reviewed article for grammar, punctuation, citations, etc.
 * Check to make sure the opening paragraphs of the article help set the context for the topic - is it clear why we would care about this topic?
 * Check to make sure the article isn't too technical and that it is written for a general audience.
 * Ensure they've added 5 current references to the article.
 * Ensure they've added 3-5 paragraphs (or made substantial modifications to 1-3 paragraphs and added 2 new paragraphs).

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify. '''Your screenshot should show at least two improvements to the article following peer review.'''
 * Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.
 * Do additional research and writing  if necessary to make further improvements to your

Week 8

 * Have you heard feedback from outside editors? Can you add an image? Incorporate changes from the suggestions your peer reviewer gave you.

Week 9

 * Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.

Handout: [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polishing_your_articles.pdf Polishing your article ]


 * Put together a Wikipedia portfolio. Put together your portfolio and upload to Moodle. Your portfolio should include 1) screenshots of each step in the Editing Wikipedia process, 2) a brief narrative to help me make sense of events – include some mention of how you connected with editors and individuals outside of our course - if this happened, and 3) a final summary. The final summary should be reflective and include a brief description (1 page) of whether and how this experience impacted your research skills, writing for the public, understanding of Wikipedia (and whether you are more or less likely to rely on it for information), and understanding of your immune system topic. If you had had more time, briefly describe what your next steps would have been.

Week 10
Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.