Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/North Dakota State University/Social Media and Participatory Culture (Spring 2016)

Week 1

 * Basics of editing
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish good and bad articles
 * Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community

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Handouts: Editing Wikipedia,, Evaluating Wikipedia


 * Create an account and join this course page. ALL students must have a Wikipedia user account (and be listed on the course page) by March 4.
 * Complete the introductory training modules. ALL students must have completed the Wikipedia training by March 4. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
 * Create a User page.
 * To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.
 * Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.

Week 2

 * Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
 * Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
 * Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project by March 11. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing. Describe your choices to your instructor for feedback.

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Handouts: and ,

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Supplementary training: Sources and Citations

Week 3

 * Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.

Week 4

 * If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox by March 25. If you are improving an existing article, create a detailed outline reflecting your proposed changes, and post this for community feedback, along with a brief description of your plans, on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check back on the talk page often and engage with any responses.
 * Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your short starter article and fix any major issues.
 * Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.

Week 5

 * Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
 * All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 6

 * Complete Peer Review Training Module by April 5.
 * Select two classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copy edit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you will peer review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.). Review articles by April 8.


 * As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.

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Supplementary training: Peer Review


 * Expand your article into a complete first draft.

Week 7

 * Move your sandbox articles into main space.
 * If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article.
 * If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow the instructions in the &quot;Moving out of your sandbox&quot; handout.
 * Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Week 8

 * Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.
 * Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading by April 26.

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Handout: