Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Murray State University/JMC 440 Research Methods in Public Relations (Fall 2021)

Catalog description: Use of social science research methods in public relations. Emphasis will be on survey techniques and focus groups, interpretation, application, and communication of research findings to the public. Prerequisites: JMC 330 with a grade of C or better.

Instructor's description: Public relations relies on different types of research — market research, industry research, news tracking, and competitive analysis. Every project requires various research methods, but all PR projects involve research to some extent. With Wikipedia, you will have the privilege to contribute information that might be missing, lacking or incorrect.

Week 1
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.)

You will participate in several Canvas assignments throughout the semester, which will be a part of the course grade. You also can refer to the Wikipedia module in Canvas.

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Exercise
Evaluate an article

Thinking about sources and plagiarism

Exercise
Choose a topic

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

[https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/training/students/content-gap-discussion/what-is-a-content-gap What's a content gap? This will be explored in a Canvas assignment.]

Exercise
Add a citation

Finalize your topic / Find your sources

Week 5
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

Sports

Biographies

Books

Films

History

Women's Studies

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 6
Guiding framework

Thinking about Wikipedia

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

Week 7
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

Nominating your article for Did You Know

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.

Week 10
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 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 Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Guiding questions

Guiding questions

Week 12
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.