Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Johns Hopkins University/Introduction to the History of Modern Medicine (Spring 2017)

The history of Western medicine from the Enlightenment to the present, with emphasis on ideas, science, practices, practitioners, and institutions, and the relationship of these to the broad social context.

Week 1
Welcome to your Wikipedia project's course timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for your course. Be sure to check with your instructor to see if there are other pages you should be following as well.

Your course 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! Incomplete trainings will be reflected in your grade.
 * When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s Talk page.

Week 2
Familiarize yourself with editing Wikipedia by making 2 small changes.


 * 1) Add 1-2 sentences to a course-related article, and cite that statement to a reliable source, as you learned in the online training. The Citation Hunt tool shows unreferenced statements from articles. First, evaluate whether the statement in question is true! An uncited statement could just be lacking a reference or it could be inaccurate or misleading. Reliable sources on the subject will help you choose whether to add it or correct the statement. Secondary sources from the syllabus are all acceptable as citations.
 * 2) Do it again, for a different Wikipedia article.

Week 3
1) Find a stub or an article that needs work on a subject related to class material covered thus far. Good candidates for articles are topics with plentiful sources, but weak coverage on Wikipedia. See documentation on Blackboard and Finding Articles module (link below) for guidance.

2) Post to Talk page for feedback AND b) consult with any combination of Ian, your TA, and me to make sure it is appropriate and doable. Once you finalize your topic, assign it to yourself on the Students tab.

Collaboration is good! You are welcome (but not required) to get a team of 2-5 fellow students together to write several sections of a page. Obviously all contributors must be enrolled in the course. Also, you all must do your own work (plagiarism will be heavily penalized and reported to Academic Affairs) and you will be graded independently. But comparing notes, sharing sources, and reading each others' work is encouraged! If multiple people are working together on the same article, make sure you are all assigned the same topic on the Students tab above.

3) Begin searching for good secondary sources on the topic. Confer with your TA and/or with me as needed. Choosing a good article is essential to writing a successful piece. Each substantive statement must be backed up with a legitimate secondary source.

You must use at least 3 different sources (one source may be cited multiple times). More sources and sources that are especially well-chosen will receive more credit.

4) Look at module below on editing medical topics. Make sure not to submit anything that could be construed as medical advice. Not only is it bad history, it could put others' health at risk. The principal way to avoid this is to practice one of the major themes of the course.

Week 4
Compose about 1,000 words (750-1250) on your subject. See above notes about collaboration. I urge you to create it in a sandbox first, but to move it soon to the mainspace. See &quot;Building a brilliant page&quot; and/or &quot;Building a brilliant biography&quot; on Blackboard.

Review &quot;Editing Wikipedia articles on Medicine&quot; handout.

Week 5
1) Move your article to the mainspace! Not graded in itself, but required to receive grade for article #1.

'''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.

2) Write a short (1-3 sentence) summary to appear on &quot;DYK&quot; (&quot;Did You Know...&quot;) page. Watch Talk page.

Week 6
1) Comment on the contributions from at least two other students—in &quot;public,&quot; on the Talk page. From your Dashboard, you should see a list of pages and edits. Choose topics you find interesting and assign them to yourself in the &quot;Review&quot; column on the Students tab. Be sure to offer substantive comments to improve the article. It's fine and encouraged to say &quot;Good job!&quot; to articles you think are flawless, but for this assignment you need to (also) offer constructive criticism on 2 pages/articles.

1) Over spring break, check in on the appropriate Talk page on *at least* two different days (more than 4 is unnecessary for full credit, but you're welcome to check as often as you wish).

2) By the time you return, respond to any suggestions you have received. Be flexible, civil, and diligent—do you need to look up a new source? Do you think the criticism is misguided? Feel free to say so--but be able to back it up with sources!

Week 7
See instructions on linked page—it's just a matter of adding a line of code to your page. If you receive suggestions for improvements needed to bring your article up to GA status, address them.

Articles that attain GA status by May 16 earn 10 extra credit points.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Good_article_nominations/Instructions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Good_article_nominations/Instructions]

Week 8
Follow instructions for choosing your first article. Review training modules as necessary.

Week 9
Same criteria and guidelines as article #1—EXCEPT: Please submit your draft to your TA, either hard copy or by email. You are welcome to work on it in the Sandbox if you wish, but a Word doc or hard copy is much easier for them to work on.

Week 10
1) This assignment not graded in itself, but required to receive grade for article #2. IF you create a new article OR expand an article by 5X or more, feel free to submit to Did You Know--let your TA know, as well. If it gets chosen you get points!

'''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.

2) Write a short (1-3 sentence) summary to appear on &quot;DYK&quot; (&quot;Did You Know...&quot;) page. Watch Talk page.

1) Comment on 2 classmates' second articles; same criteria as before. 2) Also, make sure to check Talk page and address any comments you receive on your article. Wikipedia is about consensus-building--be neither defensive nor overly submissive. Compromise and negotiate as needed until everyone is content. (Don't worry if your article later gets edited or even deleted; you won't lose credit.)

Week 11
Write a 1-2 p. response paper on your experience with the Wikipedia portion of the course. Be sure to include:


 * 1) Brief description of your two main article entries
 * 2) Whether you collaborated on either of them and if so, with whom
 * 3) How well-structured and understandable the assignments were; any thoughts you have on how it could be improved
 * 4) What you got out of the experience as a whole. Topics include, but are not limited to: critical, historical thinking; research skills; analytical writing skills; critical reading skills; making the practice of history seem more accessible.
 * 5) Pluses and minuses compared with more traditional types of assignments, such as a term paper or weekly response papers.

Thoughtful, insightful comments will be incorporated in future editions of the course!