Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/College of DuPage/ENGLI1102-015 (Summer 2016)

This class will teach the basics of discourse, argumentative writing, and research methods -- while also promoting digital literacy -- through a rigorous inquiry of the world’s seventh most visited website. According to its own entry, Wikipedia is “a free-access, free-content Internet encyclopedia, supported and hosted by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation...[it] constitutes the Internet’s largest and most popular general reference work.”

And yet, many academics frown upon the use of Wikipedia, while some even go so far as to ban students from using it. Why? This class will pursue that question and many, many more related to research, writing, and the production of knowledge. Course assignments involve 2 major research-based projects: (1) an analysis essay, and (2) a Wikipedia article written and edited by you. In order to successfully produce both projects, we will have to explore a variety of conventions related to writing, as well as some theoretical ideas related to epistemology. We will familiarize ourselves with the policies and procedures set forth by Wikipedia’s community of contributors. We will evaluate print and digital texts by conducting research in the library and online. We will hone your skills in academic research, argumentative writing, and discourse analysis. We will practice summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, analyzing, and synthesizing the views of other writers. Ultimately, you will begin to apprehend the fundamental role of rhetoric (i.e., persuasion) within the world of online and academic discourse, while also learning about knowledge creation, bias, credibility, objectivity, and community writing in the digital world. In sum, through classroom discussions, writing assignments, and your own online inquiries, this class promises to make you a better writer, reader, researcher, and thinker.

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


 * Begin the training modules assigned for your course. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.

Week 2

 * Review pages 4-7 of the Evaluating Wikipedia brochure. This will give you a good, brief overview of what to look for in other articles, and what other people will look for in your own.
 * Evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's talk page.
 * A few questions to consider (don't feel limited to these):
 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
 * Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?

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Resources: Evaluating Wikipedia,

Week 3

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