Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/George Mason University/Advanced Studies in Theater History (Spring 2021)

After an introduction to historiographic methods in theater history, students will develop a research project involving a theater company, venue, notable practitioner, theater-related political issue, or other topic that is underrepresented in the typical theater history literature. Primary (and, where necessary, secondary )sources will be the main drivers of the research. Sometime this takes the form of a history of theater (companies, venues, etc.) in a student's home town; sometimes the focus is on a research question such as &quot;how did County X or City Y develop a theater community in the period 19XX-XX?&quot; The essential requirement is that the terrain not be overexposed in traditional sources, so that the student's work adds to the stock of theater history knowledge. The Wikipedia tie would be applicable to both creating new articles and editing existing ones, depending on the level of documentation available for a given topic.

Week 3
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 5
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

Week 6
Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have questions using the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Art History

Biographies

Films

History

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 7
Guiding framework

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

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
 * Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.

Week 8
Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the &quot;mainspace.&quot;

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Week 9
Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 10
It's the final week to develop your article.


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
 * Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Write a paper going beyond your Wikipedia article to advance your own ideas, arguments, and original research about your topic.

Week 11
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.