Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Goucher College/Seminar in Mechanisms of Aging and Cancer (Spring 2017)

Week 1
Welcome to our Wikipedia project's course timeline! This project counts for 25% of your course grade, broken down as follows:


 * 1%: Completion of assigned training modules
 * 2%: Timely submission of required drafts
 * 5%: Peer review of classmates' drafts
 * 17%: Final Wikipedia entry

The timeline on this page breaks down writing a Wikipedia article into a series of steps, or milestones. These steps include online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia.

Our project has also been assigned a Wikipedia Content Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the &quot;Get Help&quot; button on this page.

To get started, please review the following handouts:


 * Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia


 * Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you.
 * It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online trainings you'll need to take. New modules will appear on this timeline as you get to new milestones. Be sure to check back and complete them! Your completion of training modules by the assigned due dates counts toward your grade, as stated in the course syllabus.
 * When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s Talk page.


 * Is the article clearly written and organized?
 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? (On Wikipedia, all material must be attributable to reliable, published sources. What kinds of sources does this exclude?)
 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * 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 * Is any information out of date?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? (Wikipedians often talk about &quot;content gaps.&quot; What do you think a content gap is, and what are some possible ways to identify them?)


 * Blog posts and press releases are considered poor sources of reliable information. Why?
 * What is the difference between a copyright violation and plagiarism?
 * What are some good techniques to avoid close paraphrasing and plagiarism?

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 2
You have been assigned one of the hallmarks from the Hallmarks of Aging review article. You will be writing a summary of this hallmark for your section of our Wikipedia page. In addition, you will be writing an &quot;update&quot; summarizing what progress has been made, since the review article was published, in the understanding of this hallmark's role in aging. Do a literature search to find relevant articles (primary and review) and write an annotated bibliography to help you write this update. Submit your annotated bibliography in the Dropbox in GoucherLearn (not in Wikipedia for now). This annotated bibliography counts for 10% of your course grade (listed under &quot;Presentation #2&quot; in the course syllabus).

Week 3
Now it's time to start writing.

We will work together in class to create a &quot;lead&quot; section for our Wikipedia &quot;Hallmarks of Aging&quot; page. For now, your job is to work on the subsection of the page that will be devoted to your assigned hallmark. You will start with a summary of what was known at the time that the Hallmarks review was published. The draft of this part of your Wikipedia entry is due on Friday, March 3rd.


 * In your sandbox,  write a paragraph that defines/describes your hallmark and its role in aging. You will likely need to mention some basic biological facts and concepts. You can link these statements to existing Wikipedia articles about these topics (you will learn how to make these links later; for now, just note what links you would like to make). See the &quot;Hallmarks of Cancer&quot; Wikipedia article to get an idea of what kinds of statements and links to make.
 * Also write a concise sentence about your hallmark to contribute to the lead section. Look at the &quot;Hallmarks of Cancer&quot; page to see how those hallmarks were described in the lead section vs. their individual subsections.

Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9

These modules will help guide you as you draft the summary of your Hallmark.

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 5

 * First, take the &quot;Peer Review&quot; online training.
 * You have been assigned two hallmarks that have been summarized by your classmates to peer review and copyedit. These can be found in the Review column in the Articles tab.
 * Peer review your classmates' drafts. Leave suggestions on on the Talk page of the sandbox that your fellow student is working on. Other editors may be reviewing your work, so look for their comments! Be sure to acknowledge feedback from other Wikipedians.
 * As you review, make spelling, grammar, and other adjustments. Pay attention to the tone of the article. Is it encyclopedic?

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

Week 6
You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. It's time to work with that feedback to improve your article!


 * Read Editing Wikipedia pages 12 and 14.
 * Return to your draft or article and think about the suggestions. Decide which ones to start implementing. Reach out to your instructor or your Content Expert if you have any questions.

Week 7

 * Keep working on transforming your article into a complete first draft. Get draft ready for peer-review.
 * If you'd like a Content Expert to review your draft, now is the time! Click the &quot;Get Help&quot; button in your sandbox to request notes.

Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on suggestions and your own critique.


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 12 to see how to create links from your article to others, and from other articles to your own. Try to link to 3–5 articles, and link to your article from 2–3 other articles.
 * Design a figure illustrating the key concepts in your description of the hallmark. Note that you may NOT use the actual illustrations from the Hallmarks review article (or any other published articles, for that matter). See the training module on &quot;Contributing Images and Media Files.&quot;

Week 8
Critique two of your classmates' updated hallmark summaries, using the same guidelines as in the first round of reviews.

Week 10
Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards and to address comments made by your reviewers. Remember to contact your Content Expert at any time if you need further help!

A rubric showing the grading breakdown for your final Wikipedia entry will be distributed and discussed in class.

Once you've made improvements to your article based on peer review feedback, it's time to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the &quot;mainspace.&quot;

Editing an existing article?


 * NEVER copy and paste your draft of an article over the entire article. Instead, edit small sections at a time.
 * Copy your edits into the article. Make many small edits, saving each time, and leaving an edit summary. Never replace more than one to two sentences without saving!

Creating a new article?


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 13, and follow those steps to move your article from your Sandbox to Mainspace.
 * You can also review the Sandboxes and Mainspace online training.

Week 11
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 Content Expert at any time!

The final Wikipedia entry about your hallmark topic, including your summary of the topic as of the &quot;Hallmarks of Aging&quot; review, and your summary of the research progress since then, should be posted in Wikipedia by April 28th. A rubric breaking down the grading scheme for the overall final entry will be distributed in class.

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