Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Chapman University/3,000 Years of Jewish History (Fall 2020)

Who are the Jews? When did their history begin? Through this course you will learn about Jewish history from antiquity to the present day. Every week we will look at a select period or event in Jewish history. We’ll roam the globe, from the Mediterranean to Eastern Europe, from Iran to France.

Week 13

 * 1) Create a user account: If you followed the link on Blackboard, you already created a user account.
 * 2) Enroll in our course: If you followed the link on Blackboard, you are already enrolled. You can confirm this by scrolling up this page and choosing the Students tab and making sure you are on it. If not, click the blue Enrollment button and use the passcode xctbzgjh
 * 3) While you are still logged in with your username, complete the training modules for this assignment (linked above).
 * 4) When you are still logged in, leave a message on the Talk page of a classmate. How? Click on a username from enrolled students list; on upper left corner of their user page, just under the title &quot;User Contributions,&quot; select Talk tab. On upper right, select Edit tab. Add your sentence at the bottom of editable box. Keep it anonymous and neutral (e.g. “Hi, I’m a new Wikipedia user”). At the end of your sentence, add 4 tildes Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:53, 20 August 2020 (UTC). That ties the contribution to your username, like a signature.
 * 5) When you are still logged in, go to “Sandbox” in upper right corner. Experiment in your Sandbox, with the help of the Editing training module you just completed. In your Sandbox, write:
 * 6) * One regular sentence (anything you want, but nothing personal or offensive)
 * 7) * One heading
 * 8) * One sub-heading
 * 9) * A link to another Wikipedia page (any page)
 * 10) * Words in bold and italics
 * 11) * A list of references in which you have at least one footnote containing a reference (you can use a book we’re reading in class)

NOTE: this should be a Wikipedia-generated footnote &amp; reference list, following the instructions in the Editing training module.

Week 14
&quot;Wiki 2&quot; Wikipedia Assignment – Reading Summary

By now you have chosen a topic and identified a reading, with the instructor's help.

Submit a summary of 200-300 words of the reading you chose. Use proper citations using a citation system of your choice. Be comprehensive, summarizing the entire reading you chose, not just the first page or two. Focus on persuasive argumentation, crafting a cohesive narrative rather than stringing disconnected facts together. Aim for clean writing, as in your past two papers.

Finally, write down the URLs of one or more Wiki pages that you will be able to edit with the help of this secondary source. An example of a Wiki page is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_antisemitism.

Week 16

 * 1) Complete the training modules for this assignment (Finding your article, Evaluating Articles and Sources ), linked above.


 * 1) Hunt around Wikipedia for a topic related to our course material which you, with the help of the secondary source you read last week, can improve. This could be an article that is lacking key information, is wrong, or lacks references. In some cases, you already identified the article you wish to work on, back when you met with instructor.

Note: if the article you choose is very long (e.g. &quot;Holocaust&quot; or &quot;Bible&quot;), you should only commit to working on a section of it, and clarify in this assignment what that section is. Don’t commit to working on an entire article if it is long, because you will be overwhelmed by the task.

Sign up for that article by  visiting the 'Students' tab of this website while logged in, and finding your name in the list of students.


 * 1) Then write a short essay (1-2 pages) answering:


 * 1) * Which article you chose (include URL) and why it is problematic.
 * 2) * How you will use the scholarly essay (the one you summarized in Wiki 2) to solve some of the problems. What you will do to make the article better: will you add content? Rearrange content? Delete content? Add footnotes to existing content? Be concrete regarding specific changes you will make (&quot;I'll make it less biased&quot; - that's vague. &quot;I'll add information about Herod's obsession with pigs&quot; - that's concrete). Make sure you explain why these changes are important. Eventually, the changes you will make (Wiki 5) will need to amount to at least 200 words, not including references, so plan accordingly.

In this assignment, use parentheses within the text to specify the page numbers from the secondary source you plan to use.

4. Attach your graded Wiki 2 to the Wiki 3 hardcopy.

''Remember: Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a place for primary-source analysis or primary research or new arguments. It is a place to summarize the findings of published works. On the rationale behind this rule, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research

''

Week 17

 * 1) Complete the training module for this assignment (Adding Citations), link above.
 * 2) By now you have received substantive feedback from me and have a clear idea of what you will edit. The next stage is to inform the Wikipedia community of your plans.
 * 3) * In the article’s Talk Page, write several sentences on what you intend to do. How to find the Talk Page? Every Wiki article, on the top left, has an &quot;Article&quot; tab and a &quot;Talk&quot; tab. You need the latter. If you're still confused, go back to the initial tutorial, which speaks about Talk Pages in general.
 * 4) * Be detailed regarding what needs adding, what needs correcting, and what sources you'll add. This is a shorter description than in Wiki 3, but aim for a meaty paragraph with concrete details. State your exact references (not &quot;The Stillman-Cohen debate&quot; or a Blackboard URL, because nobody outside of our class will know what you mean). State who the author of your secondary source is and why that author is credible (professor of... a peer-reviewed publication... an expert on...).
 * 5) * Be courteous (not &quot;this article is rambling&quot; but &quot;this article could use some clarification&quot;).
 * 6) * Be neutral (not “this is biased and I’m going to fix it,” which suggests you have the opposite bias – but rather “there is wrong or missing information here and I’m going to correct or add it”).
 * 7) * State the scope of your changes (&quot;altogether I'll add about 200-300 words&quot;).
 * 8) * End your plan with an invitation to other Wiki editors to weigh in on your changes, e.g. “If anyone wants to comment on these changes, please let me know on this Talk Page or on my Talk Page.” Make sure you do this while you’re logged in, and sign after your post (Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:53, 20 August 2020 (UTC)).

Week 19

 * 1) Complete the training modules for this assignment (Sandbox and Plagiarism), linked above.
 * 2) If you received a comment on your Talk Page or on the article's Talk Page, consult with the instructor on whether/how to respond to it.
 * 3) Improve the Wikipedia article you chose. Note: you may use readings from the syllabus too, but you must primarily use the reading you summarized in Wiki 2.
 * 4) It’s recommended to use your Sandbox first, preview what you’ve done, and then copy and paste from Sandbox into the article.

Exercise
Add links to your article


 * Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time! Shalor Toncray / stoncray@undefinedwikiedu.org

'''Grading Rubric:

'''

'''Improvement (20 points)

'''

____ I have incorporated all of the instructor’s comments on my previous Wiki assignments

'''Use of Evidence (20 points)

'''

____ I have used a secondary source approved by the instructor, and provided a full reference to it

____ When drawing on secondary source, I have paraphrased, i.e. I’ve used my own words. Beware violations of academic integrity (copying, too-close paraphrasing, etc).

____ I have footnoted everything I paraphrased (no need to footnote each sentence, 1 per parag is fine)

'''Substantive Contribution (20 points)

____ I made a real difference by correcting misinformation and/or adding crucial information 

'''

____ If I didn't have enough crucial information to add to one article, I contributed to more than one article

____ My contribution is at least 200 words long (no maximum), not including footnotes

'''Relevant Argumentation (20 points)

'''____ All the information I pull out of my secondary sources is directly relevant to the Wikipedia article

____ I stick to what I can prove and avoid generalizing (“All Jews did XYZ…”) or judging (&quot;Unfortunately...&quot;)

'''Style (20 points)

'''____ I avoid quotes or minimize them to very short extracts. Quotes never stand alone.

____ In the section I chose to edit, I corrected all sloppy writing, typos, grammar mistakes, run-on sentences, slang, repetitions, awkward phrases, and tense confusions, including those that had been made by previous Wikipedians.

Week 20
Write a 2-3 page reflection paper. In it, first jot down


 * 1) The number of daily views your article gets. To check that, go to the article you edited. In the menu on the left, click &quot;Page Information&quot;. Scroll down to the end and click &quot;Page View Statistics&quot;. On the left under &quot;Date Type&quot; select &quot;Daily&quot;. All the way to the right of the page, you will see the average of daily views. Copy it to your paper.
 * 2) Whether other editors changed your edits, and if so, what they changed. To check that, go to the article you edited. On the top right, near the &quot;Edit&quot; tab, you will see a &quot;View history&quot; tab. Click it. This is a list of all recent edits made to the article. Each line shows when someone saved a change in the article, and each line shows the username that made that change. Find the line where you made your last contribution. Select the left-column radio button for that line. Then select the right-column radio button for the topmost line in the list, which is the current version. Click the &quot;Compare selected revisions&quot; button. On the right half of the page, you'll be able to see what changes (if any) were made to your edits.

If you're the last person who edited your article, your change will be the topmost line, which means nobody changed your contributions.

Then write your reflection. The goal of this assignment is to deeply engage, in the most subjective way, with the experience you had in this project. This paper will be evaluated for its thoughtfulness. Provide an insightful analysis, with clear, detailed examples of what you are saying. First person is fine, even recommended, for this paper. This is a chance for you to reflect creatively. Embrace it!

Here are some questions which could inspire you but you could also go in another direction. If you do use these questions, aim for an in-depth reflection rather than a grocery list of answers.


 * What did you learn from this project?
 * What surprised you about this project?
 * What did you like or dislike about this project?
 * Did your Wikipedia submission differ from your initial plans? Why?
 * If other Wikipedia users edited your submission, did you agree with those edits? If nobody edited your changes, would you like someone to edit them in the future?
 * If you had to give advice to someone about to take this class, what tips would you give them about the Wikipedia assignment?
 * How do you feel about writing something that gets viewed x number of times? Would you like to see more assignments which have this global an impact, or fewer?
 * Do you think you will ever edit Wikipedia again, in your own free time? Why or why not?