Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Nebraska-Lincoln/HIST 112 History of the Present US (Fall 2017)

Welcome to our course page on Wikipedia. This is where you'll complete all aspects of your Wikipedia project, listed on the syllabus. This course page's timeline provides an overview of each component or &quot;module&quot; in your Wikipedia project. You must complete the modules in order. Modules are listed in the Wikipedia course page timeline on the week they are due, but you can certainly complete them earlier. However, you must receive approval for the articles you select to copyedit, evaluate, and add to BEFORE you work on them.

As a refresher, in HIST 112 we examine contemporary themes in American society from a historical perspective. This semester our focus will be on the social, cultural, political, and economic forces that have shaped the history of American identity. Through lecture, assigned readings, and discussion we will examine how American identity was forged, how ideas about what it means to be American have changed over time, and how this process impacted different social groups within the United States. As a class, we will spend four to five weeks interrogating the impact of three key concepts on the formation of American identity over time: individualism (Unit I), Protestantism (Unit II), and nationalism (Unit III). (Remember our footnote about these units on the syllabus.)

You will use our assigned text, The Populist Persuasion, by Michael Kazin, throughout your Wikipedia project. By reading and using this book as the basis for your Wikipedia project I am not only asking you to consider what populism is and how it is related to the U.S. past and present; I am also asking you to consider what role populism plays in American identity (past and present) and how individualism, Protestantism, and nationalism have influenced populism within the context of the Wikipedia articles you consider.

Each of the Wikipedia articles you work on (copyedit, evaluate, and add to) must relate in some way to topics within Kazin's book and you must receive advance approval for the Wikipedia articles you would like to work on. You should do this by sending me a brief e-mail on each article you would like to work on, explain how it relates to Kazin's book, and include a hyperlink directly to that article. Do this no less than 1 full week before you plan to work on each article.

Through this Wikipedia project, and other course readings and assignments, you will build competency in web literacy and learn about how to think, read, and write about--and share--information critically. Through this project you will also need to carefully consider what it means to write for a public audience.

As always, come see me in person with any questions about the assignment requirements, and remember you also have direct access to our Wikipedia content experts, Helaine Blumenthal and Shalor Toncray. You'll see their contact information on the top right of this, our main course page. And don't forget Dr. Liz Lorang, our Love Library History specialist, can help you with the UNL library's electronic databases. Her contact information is listed on the course syllabus.

Week 2

 * Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (To avoid hitting Wikipedia's account creation limits, this is best done outside of class. Only 6 new accounts may be created per day from the same IP address.)

Welcome to our Wikipedia project's course timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for the course, which you will complete at home, outside of our regularly scheduled class meetings.

Our course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Content Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the &quot;Get Help&quot; button on this page.

To get started, please review the below handouts no later than the start of class on Thursday, 8/31. These are part of your assigned readings for the week.


 * Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia

Week 3

 * It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online trainings you'll need to take to get started on your Wikipedia project. New training modules will appear on this timeline as you get to new milestones. Be sure to check back and complete them! Incomplete trainings will be reflected in your grade.
 * When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s Talk page.
 * Be sure to complete this week's training no later than the start of class time Thursday, 9/7.
 * After you complete this module you should begin searching for Wikipedia articles you would like to work on. Remember: Each of the Wikipedia articles you work on (copyedit, evaluate, and add to) must relate in some way to topics within Kazin's book and you *must* receive advance approval for the Wikipedia articles you would like to work on. You should do this by sending me a brief e-mail on each article you would like to work on, explain how it relates to Kazin's book, and include a hyperlink directly to that article. Do this no less than 1 full week before you plan to work on each article.

Week 5

 * Read this guide for choosing an article to copyedit. Choose an article. Read through it, thinking about ways to improve the language, such as fixing grammatical mistakes. Then, make the appropriate changes. You don’t need to contribute new information to the article--just copyedit.
 * Be sure to complete this assignment no later than the start of class time on Thursday, 9/21.


 * After you complete this module you should decide which Wikipedia article you would like to work on for your next module. The Wikipedia article you copyedit and the Wikipedia article you evaluate (in the next module) CAN be the same article, but certainly do not have to be. You can choose a new Wikipedia article to evaluate in the next module. Remember: Each of the Wikipedia articles you work on (copyedit, evaluate, and add to) must relate in some way to topics within Kazin's book and you *must* receive advance approval for the Wikipedia articles you would like to work on. You should do this by sending me a brief e-mail on each article you would like to work on, explain how it relates to Kazin's book, and include a hyperlink directly to that article. Do this no less than 1 full week before you plan to work on each article--even if the article you evaluate in the next module is the same as the one you copyedit.

Week 11
It's time to think critically about Wikipedia articles. You'll evaluate a Wikipedia article related to the Kazin's book and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's Talk page.


 * Complete the &quot;Evaluating Articles and Sources&quot; training (linked below).
 * Create a section inyour sandbox titled &quot;Article evaluation&quot; where you'll leave notes about your observations and analysis. REMEMBER the rules for formal writing and practice these in your article evaluation.
 * Choose an article on Wikipedia related to Kazin to read and evaluate. As you read, consider the following questions (but don't feel limited to these):
 * 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?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
 * Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class (if applicable)?
 * Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Thughes8 (talk) 22:26, 15 November 2017 (UTC).

Be sure to complete this assignment no later than the start of class time on Thursday, 11/2.


 * After you complete this module you should decide which Wikipedia articles you would like to work on for your next and last module. Some of the citations you add in the final module (Module 5) CAN be added to the same Wikipedia article you copyedited and/or evaluated, but in the next module you will need to choose at least TWO Wikipedia articles to add citations to. Remember: Each of the Wikipedia articles you work on (copyedit, evaluate, and add to) must relate in some way to topics within Kazin's book and you *must* receive advance approval for the Wikipedia articles you would like to work on. You should do this by sending me a brief e-mail on each article you would like to work on, explain how each article relates to Kazin's book, and include a hyperlink directly to those articles. Do this no less than 1 full week before you plan to work on each article.

Week 13
Get your feet wet editing Wikipedia by adding a total of ten citations between at least TWO Wikipedia articles. There are two ways you can do this:


 * (1) Add 1-2 sentences to TWO populism-related articles, and cite those statements to a reliable source, as you learned in the online training. Remember the guidelines for choosing an article.
 * or (2) The Citation Hunt tool shows unreferenced statements from articles. *Remember the Wikipedia articles you choose must be related in some way to Kazin's book and be pre-approved by me before you begin. These *can* be articles you've worked on in the past—just be sure you obtain approval before you begin your work. If you locate a populism-related Wikipedia article to add citations to using the Citation Hunt tool, first, evaluate whether the statement in question is true! An uncited statement could just be lacking a reference or it could be inaccurate or misleading. Reliable sources on the subject will help you choose whether to add it or correct the statement.

'''Regardless of which of the above methods you pursue to add your citations, you must add a total of at least FIVE citations per EACH of the two Wikipedia articles you add to. (So you must add ten citations in total between the two Wikipedia articles you add to.)

'''Remember I will be able to see your work—even if your work is deleted or edited by another Wikipedia editor. Your grade will not be penalized for anyone else's edits to your articles, even wholesale deletions. I can still track and assess your contributions.

Be sure to complete this assignment no later than the start of class time on Thursday, 11/16. After this deadline we'll devote some time, in class, to discuss your experiences with Wikipedia over the course of the semester.