Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Penn State Altoona/ENGL 15-013 (Spring 2023)

ENGL 15 introduces you to college composition and academic writing. For this Wikipedia-editing assignment, you will collaboratively expand a stub or start-class Wikipedia article, evaluating and documenting sources to enhance the credibility and richness of the article. Each of you will include at least 3 external sources for the edit. The purposes of this assignment are to help you gain awareness of the informative style of writing and to critically address Wikipedia's content gaps.

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.)

What's a content gap?

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 2
Thinking about sources and plagiarism

Complete the training and then this exercise.

Exercise
Choose your topic / Find your sources

Guide(s) for writing articles in your topic area
Biographies

Books

Cultural Anthropology

History

More available here

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Review the trainings and then complete the exercises.

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Exercise
Evaluate your article

Add a citation to your article

Week 3
Begin drafting the rest of your planned contributions.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 4
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.

You probably have provided feedback on other students' articles and received some feedback from other students. 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.

Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the &quot;mainspace.&quot; It's the final week to develop your article. Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards.


 * Read Editing Wikipedia pages 13-15 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!

Week 5
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.