Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Georgetown University/WRIT 015-12- Banned and Challenged Books (Fall 2019)

This class examines censorship in U.S. public schools and libraries. Hundreds of challenges are made yearly to texts for containing sexually explicit material, violence, homosexuality, anti-family sentiment, offensive language and Satanic themes, amongst others. This class will explore what is at stake in these arguments over appropriate reading materials. Students will share their growing knowledge about book censorship with a wider audience through their contributions to Wikipedia.

Week 4
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.) Complete prior to class on 9/17/19.

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Exercise - Please complete in class on 9/26. Worth 20 points towards Wikipedia Project, Phase One if completed on time.
Evaluate an article

    1. Identify 5 articles on Wikipedia that are related to the controversial children's literature discussed by Alyson Miller, Jamie Campbell Naidoo, or that are listed on American Library Associations' yearly compilation of most challenged books, found at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10 . Prior to class on Thursday,  compile and post the names of these five Wikipedia articles to the Canvas discussion called “List of Wikipedia articles related to  controversial children's  or young adult  literature. ”   Give the Wikipedia article title plus a link. Class members will look at these lists for suggestions of articles to edit during class on Thursday. This is a Wikipedia Project, Phase One activity and it is worth 10 points.

Week 7
What's a content gap?

Use the following questions to evaluate the Wikipedia article you selected related to the Tucson Controversy/Rethinking Columbus. Put the evaluation in your Wikipedia sandbox (the page labeled User:your username/sandbox). Add a section to the sandbox with a title indicating which article you are evaluating. Finish the evaluation prior to class on 10/10/19. This is worth 30 points if completed on time as part of Wikipedia Project, Phase One.

Evaluating content

Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?

Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added? Identify content gaps.

What else could be improved?

Evaluating tone

Is the article neutral? Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?

Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?

Evaluating sources

Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?

Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?

Checking the talk page

Now take a look at how others are talking about this article on the talk page.

What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?

How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?

How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Week 8
Biographies

Books

Cultural Anthropology

Ecology

Environmental Sciences

Films

History

LGBT+ Studies

Political Science

Sociology

Women's Studies

Week 13
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

Each training iss worth 20 points towards your Wikipedia Project, Phase One grade. Please complete prior to the start of class 11/21/19.

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 14
Guiding framework

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

Week 15
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.

Exercise
Add links to your article

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.

Please complete the two trainings by the beginning of class on Thursday, Dec. 5.  Each training is worth 20 points towards your Wikipedia Project, Phase One grade.

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 16
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!

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!

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