Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Western University of Health Sciences COMP/WesternU Wikiproject Medicine WAVE (Summer 2017)

Ever increasing numbers of patients turn to sources of information like Wikipedia every day to answer questions about their health. The medical students of the WesternU WAVE (Wikipedia Article Volunteer Editing) group are committed to increasing the quality of medical information on Wikipedia for the benefit of patients worldwide.

Week 1
Welcome to the first week of WesternU's WAVE course! By the end of this week, you should have the foundation you need to begin making a difference on Wikipedia's medical pages.

This week's assignments are:


 * Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent to your WesternU email. If you hit Wikipedia's account creation limits, try using an IP address not hosted through WesternU as Wikipedia limits new  accounts to 6 per day from the same IP address.
 * Review list of articles that need improvement Class C, Starts, or medical pages needing attention. If you'd like to improve a page not on here, please contact the instructor
 * Complete the below training modules
 * Read the Editing Wikipedia guide.

While Wikipedia should not be used for medical advice, massive numbers of patients turn to it for knowledge regarding medical conditions. Due to the ethical implications of edits to medical articles on Wikipedia, additional training is needed to prepare you for this responsibility. Your edits will be seen by thousands (perhaps millions) of individuals and they should be taken seriously.

When you finish the trainings, practice interacting with other users by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s talk page. A simple introduction of your year and asking where their interests are leaning in terms of an article would suffice. It is possible to work as a two person team on an article.

Week 2
By Monday at 8 am PST, you should have your article chosen. You may partner with one other person to co-edit a page. You may find these articles on the Class C, Starts, or medical pages needing attention list

A critical read for any editor is the page on writing better articles. Page 6 of the Editing Wikipedia guide is also a useful resource.

By Monday at 5 pm PST, you should post your intent to edit your chosen page on that page's talk page. Please see this (Example) to gain an understanding of your plan layout. You should list your current general plan and include any addition members of your team if you are co-editing an article. If you are working with a partner, one person may make the post while the other can simply reply to the post indicating that they reviewed the above plan and will take responsibility for the stated changes.

The reason we do this is because Wikipedia is a community project and there may be members watching or contributing to this page. They may even be able to help you through the editing process through their feedback.

Now that your page has been chosen, you will need to perform a literature review on your subject.

Good sources:


 * are typically no more than 5 years old
 * summarize secondary sources or many primary sources
 * provide an overview of the current understanding of the topic
 * combine the results of several studies

For more information on good sources, see this page

To do:


 * Please utilize the library's search function to find resources.
 * Review Illustrating Wikipedia brochure
 * Complete the below trainings

By midweek, you should be outlining your edits in your sandbox before you post to your article page. Remember, the sandbox is still a live page (though much harder to find) so do not leave uncited information in your sandbox. Please review pages 7-9 of the Editing Wikipedia guide on tips for drafting your article.

Work to make your page easily understandable to your  audience.

Once you have selected a page to edit and it is approved, you will be assigned an advisor. This should occur around Tuesday, August 1. If you are working as a two-person team, you both will be assigned the same advisor.

The instructor will contact you directly to supply information about who your advisor is. The advisor will be looking over your reviews at the tail end of the course to see that they are quality.

Week 3
Continue working on your edits. Don't let perfection get in the way of the good when it comes to your edits.

You should primarily be working outside of your sandbox by Monday. Remember to be bold when it comes to editing on Wikipedia because someone will come along and finish what you begin.

Please review pages 12-13 of the Editing Wikipedia guide on tips for moving your draft live. The Sandboxes and Mainspace training below will also provide some guidance.

Reach out to your advisor for assistance with wording your article. Remember to keep your edits in as simple of terms as possible for the benefit of your audience.

Using the course list of students, pair up with another student for peer review. If you are working as a pair, you will do a peer review of one article together. Take time this weekend to read over their original proposed changes on the talk page and look at what they have added so far.


 * 1) Provide constructive feedback on the content of the article
 * 2) Spell-check the page
 * 3) Are the majority of links primary or secondary? Remember, we are going for consensus.
 * 4) Does the structure of the article make sense. Is there a better way? Check the style guide.
 * 5) Help make their page easily understandable to the public.
 * 6) Check for broken links (hyperlinks or citations)
 * 7) Lean on Wikipedia's editing policy as evidence that the page could use improvement
 * 8) Be kind in your criticism. Being overly harsh is not productive.
 * 9) Don't become defensive regarding your criticism. Stay objective and do not assume anything personal.
 * 10) You may have a back and forth via the talk page about the direction you'd like to take the page. This way, any future editors will understand what has been discussed.

Click here to learn how to sign up as a reviewer for an article.

Peer review is due Monday 8/14 at 12 pm PST 

Week 4
Peer review is due Monday at 12 pm PST

Please review page 15 of the Editing Wikipedia guide.

Review your peer edits, make your updates to your page, then alert your advisor on their talk page (or by email) that you're ready for review. This should be done by 8 am PST Wednesday.

Your advisor will  provide you final feedback on your page via the talk page of your page.

Please complete a reflective essay of your experience editing your page.


 * What contribution did I make to crowd-sourced medical knowledge?
 * Why did I pick the topic I did?
 * What did I learn?
 * Did you face any unexpected challenges during the course?
 * What additional work, if any, could be done to your page?

There are no specific page or formatting requirements for this assignment. Please email your documents to mgiulietti@undefinedwesternu.edu. Excerpts from this essay may be used to help others who are outside of this program understand the program from the student perspective.

Please complete the exit survey that will be provided to you.