Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Vanderbilt University/States and their Secrets (Fall 2019)

This course offers an introduction to cultural and ethnographic analysis of political and legal systems, with a focus on the development and workings of the state. We will inquire into the nature of bureaucracy, the role of secrecy in state actions, the organization of warfare and atrocities, surveillance, and whistleblowing. The main assignment will be to write an article on a major instance of well-documented, but secret or once-secret government policies with major ethical implications.

Week 5
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

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.)

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

Week 6
Thinking about sources and plagiarism

Choose your topic / Find your sources

Week 7
What's a content gap?

Cultural Anthropology

History

Political Science

Exercise
Evaluate an article

Exercise
Add a citation

User:Carwil/AddArticles
Thinking about Wikipedia

Week 10
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Week 11
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 12
Guiding framework

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

Week 13
You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. 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.

Exercise
Add links to your article

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.

Week 14
Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the &quot;mainspace.&quot;

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

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

Week 15
It's the final week to develop your article.


 * 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 Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Write a paper going beyond your Wikipedia article to advance your own ideas, arguments, and original research about your topic.

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

Guiding questions