Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Wisconsin-Madison/Modern Jewish History (Fall 2016-2017)

HISTORY / JEWISH STUDIES 220: Modern Jewish History - From 1492 to the Present Day

Fall 2016 - Prof. Amos Bitzan - TTh 1:00-2:15 PM in Education L196

This course surveys the history of the Jewish people from the aftermath of the mass conversion and expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 to the present. Our goal will be to explain the causes of major changes in Jewish societies over the early and late modern periods. We will seek to understand the vicissitudes of the lives of Jewish individuals and of the Jews as a religious, ethnic, and national group as they encountered both unprecedented opportunity and catastrophe in this tumultuous era.

The course can be summarized in one question: How did this small, often-marginalized minority group weather the storms of modernity living amidst societies once dominated by Christianity or Islam?

Topics include religious revival, Reform, Enlightenment, integration and discrimination, political antisemitism, Zionism, the Holocaust, and the State of Israel.

For the Wikipedia Entry Project of this course, Wikipedia Entry students will write a brand-new Wikipedia entry on a topic related to our course or revise an existing entry. The project is cumulative and requires working through several intermediate stages.

SKILLS: communicating historical research to the public; writing from Wikipedia’s neutral point of view; evaluating secondary sources; building expertise.

Week 1

 * Enroll in Modern Jewish History’s Wikipedia Course Page
 * Complete the training modules below.

Graded Pass/Fail (1%)

Week 3
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 4
Select a Wikipedia entry that you will either create from scratch or significantly improve. My advice: choose an entry related to the book you have selected for the paper assignment. For some possible options, see the Articles tab on our Course Page. You can also browse through the list of Jewish History Wikipedia stubs.

Read pp. 4-6 of “” and use the guidelines there to write a brief explanation of how and why you will improve an existing article or write a new one. List 3-5 sources that you will use. Post this explanation and your topic idea on your Wikipedia user page. If you are improving an existing entry, include a link to it.

Your user page can be accessed by going to the Wikipedia main page, logging in, and clicking on your user name which should appear in the top right corner of the page (next to &quot;Talk Sandbox Preferences [etc.].&quot; The link to it has the format https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:[INSERT USER ID HERE].

'''Graded Pass/Fail. (4%) Due: Tuesday, 10/11 at 9 PM.'''

Week 7
Once you've been given approval for your topic, go to the Students tab and assign your chosen topic to yourself

Take the two training modules &quot;Sandboxes and Mainspace&quot; and &quot;Sources and Citations.&quot; Then go to the appropriate section below, depending on whether you are creating a new article from scratch or improving an existing one.

'''Creating a new article? '''


 * Write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's &quot;lead section.&quot; Write it in your sandbox.
 * A &quot;lead&quot; section is not a traditional introduction. It should summarize, very briefly, what the rest of the article will say in detail. The first paragraph should include important, broad facts about the subject. A good example is Ada Lovelace. See Editing Wikipedia page 9 for more ideas.

'''Improving an existing article? '''


 * Go to its talk page to see what issues have previously been discussed
 * Identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Make an outline containing notes for improvement in your sandbox.

Sources Your outline should refer to the sources that you will draw on for specific sections, sub-sections, and points.

Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 8

 * Keep working on transforming your article into a complete first draft.
 * Get draft ready for peer-review [optional - see Peer Review module if interested]
 * If you'd like a Content Expert to review your draft, now is the time! Click the &quot;Get Help&quot; button in your sandbox to request notes.

Week 10
Once you've made improvements to your article based on peer review feedback, it's time to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the &quot;mainspace.&quot;

Editing an existing article?


 * NEVER copy and paste your draft of an article over the entire article. Instead, edit small sections at a time.
 * Copy your edits into the article. Make many small edits, saving each time, and leaving an edit summary. Never replace more than one to two sentences without saving!

Creating a new article?


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 13, and follow those steps to move your article from your Sandbox to Mainspace.
 * You can also review the Sandboxes and Mainspace online training.

Week 11
Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on suggestions and your own critique.


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 12 to see how to create links from your article to others, and from other articles to your own. Try to link to 3–5 articles, and link to your article from 2–3 other articles.

Week 13
Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Content Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 14
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.

Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.


 * Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Content Expert at any time

Review training modules if you need to.