Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Virginia Commonwealth University/Seminar in Errol Morris (Spring 2020)

A private eye, an Oscar-winning filmmaker, a New York Times essayist, a MacArthur “genius award”

winner, a philosopher, and a Julliard-trained cellist walk into a bar … and their name is Errol Morris. This course studies the life and works of one of the most accomplished and mysterious creators of our time.

Morris’s films range in subject matter from pet cemeteries, to quantum physics, to topiary gardens, to history and politics. His writing ranges from investigative journalism to the philosophy of science. Morris’s friend and fellow filmmaker Werner Herzog once bet Morris that he would eat his shoe if Morris ever finished his debut film, Gates of Heaven. Morris finished his film, and Herzog ate his shoe (and Les Blank made a film of it).

We will explore Morris’s movies and writings from the 1970s to the present, in all their richness and uncanny wonder. Because Morris’s work spans so many disciplines and addresses such diverse topics, research opportunities for students will be unusually wide and full of interdisciplinary possibilities. Because your instructor has known Morris for over twenty years and often

talked with him about his work, you will likely encounter unique perspectives and information about both the life and the works.

As a major part of the course, we will do our best to bring as many Wikipedia articles on Morris's works as possible to GA status.

Week 1
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

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.)

Begin a blog about your experiences. You can use discussion questions to frame your entries, or reflect on the research and writing process. Create at least one blog entry each week during the Wikipedia assignment.

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 3
Books

Films

Week 5
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 6
Guiding framework

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

Week 7
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.

Week 8
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

Week 9
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 10
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 11
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.

Week 12
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.