Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Rollins College/Writing about Wikipedia (Fall 2015)

This course is for first year students to develop their college-level writing skills. Students will begin by learning the policies and basics of Wikipedia, and their first paper is an argument, responding to criticisms and defenses of Wikipedia in the popular press. For their second assignment, students will work in groups to add content to Wikipedia. Their final assignment is a research paper on a topic of their own choosing, which must be tangentially related to Wikipedia: students in the past have written about gender identities online; copyright and privacy laws; and advertising.

The timeline on this page is meant only as a guide, and covers only the first part of the course, during which students will interact directly with Wikipedia. For assignments and due dates, students should refer to the complete syllabus on Blackboard.

Week 1

 * Overview of the course
 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
 * Understanding of the layout of Wikipedia entries

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Handout: Editing Wikipedia

By this point, all students should have created user names and signed up for the course page.

Week 2

 * Complete the first two parts of the Wikipedia training, &quot;The Core&quot; and &quot;Editing&quot;: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Training/For_students
 * In class we will focus on the &quot;notability&quot;


 * Over the coming weeks, students will make minor edits to pages as they read articles on the site. Students may fix spelling, grammar, or punctuation, or add citations, or make other small changes to become comfortable with the interface.

Week 3

 * Students will read and discuss the policies about verifiability, reliability, and neutrality, as well as articles touching on these topics.

Duration: 5 weeks


 * Based on readings and class discussions, students will write entries about Wikipedia policies, History Pages, the Talk Pages, and the assigned readings. Entries will practice the writing skills introduced in class.
 * A few questions to consider when evaluating Wikipedia pages (don't feel limited to these):
 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * 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?

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Resources: Evaluating Wikipedia,

Week 4

 * In class students will discuss the assigned readings.

Duration: 2 weeks


 * Based on assigned readings, students will begin their first paper, responding to specific defenses or criticisms of Wikipedia. Students will draw on their journal entries for examples and evidence.

Week 6

 * Students will review the guidelines for selecting an article.
 * Research 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing. In class students will discuss their choices with each other, and be separated into groups.


 * Students will finish the rest of the Wikipedia training.
 * By October 6, students will have made at least ten good faith edits to Wikipedia, and added five sources to articles needing citations.

Week 7

 * Students are assigned to groups based on their interests, and will begin locating sources for their chosen topics.

* Readings will focus on citation and plagiarism.
Handouts: and

Tips from Wikipedia Education Program: * If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox. 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 8

 * I will meet with each group to discuss the chosen topics and the sources located.


 * We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's 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.
 * A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
 * Check to see if there is an explanation of the edit on the article's talk page. If not, (politely) ask why it was removed.
 * Contact your instructor or Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.

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Handout:

Week 9

 * Students will peer review and copyedit their groupmates' work.
 * On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you will peer review.

By October 24th students will have completed their edits to Wikipedia, and written 360 evaluations for their group. Students will be graded on the quality of evidence used; on the quality of the writing on Wikipedia; and on their contributions to the group.