Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Texas State University/Public personnel administration (Fall 2015)

A study of public personnel systems in the United States with major concentrations on the national civil service system. Special emphasis is given to current research in the areas of leadership, informal organization, motivation, and small group theory.

Week 1: Phase I: Wikipedia Fundamentals

 * Create your Wikipedia account before coming to class.


 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
 * Understanding Wikipedia as a community

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Handouts: Editing Wikipedia,


 * Create individual User page
 * Enroll on our Wikipedia Course page

Week 2: Phase I: Wikipedia Fundamentals (con't)

 * Basics of editing
 * Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community

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Handouts:, Editing Wikipedia


 * To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.


 * Complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.

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Resources: Online Training for Students

All students have Wikipedia user accounts, completed the online training, and are listed on the course page.

Week 3: Phase I: Wikipedia Fundamentals (con't)

 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles

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Handout: Evaluating Wikipedia

Week 4: Phase II: Exploring the topic & starting research

 * Explaining close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia

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Handouts: and


 * Your instructor has created a list of potential topics for your main project. Choose the one you will work on.


 * Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.

Week 5: Phase II: Exploring the topic & starting research

 * Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.
 * Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
 * Q&amp;A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.

Week 6: Phase II: Exploring the topic & starting research

 * Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.

All students have started editing articles or drafts in group Sandbox.

Week 7: Phase III: Building the article

 * We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
 * 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:


 * 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.
 * Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Week 8: Phase III: Building the article (con't)

 * Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
 * Share experiences and discuss problems.

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Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia


 * Select a classmates’ article that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the article you will peer review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)

Week 9: Phase III: Building the article (con't)

 * Expand your article into a complete first draft.

Week 10

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


 * Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
 * Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.

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

Week 11: Phase IV: The finishing touches

 * Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.


 * Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.

Week 12: Phase IV: The finishing touches (con't)

 * Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.


 * Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.
 * Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.

Week 13: Phase IV: The finishing touches (con't)

 * Prepare for an in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience.

Week 14: Phase IV: The finishing touches (con't)

 * Students give in-class presentations about their experiences editing Wikipedia.

Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.