Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Northeastern University/Advance Writing for the Sciences (Fall 2015)
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- Course name
- Advance Writing for the Sciences
- Institution
- Northeastern University
- Instructor
- WritingTeacherC
- Subject
- Writing in the Sciences
- Course dates
- 2015-09-09 – 2015-12-09
- Approximate number of student editors
- 19
Undergraduate students in the sciences write lab reports, resumés, cover letters, lab reports, personal essays for grant or scholarship applications, And. More. Lab. Reports. Working scientists, however, write a far wider, and more interesting, variety of documents, including literature reviews, guidelines for the public, reference documents, emails, TED-style talks, blogs, procedures, peer reviews, explanatory articles for public audiences, and even research report videos. In the Wikipedia portion of ENGW3307 CRN 14421, students will practice presenting information on a topic of their choice in a well-researched, objective way that contributes to the Wikipedia community.
Timeline
Week 1: Meet Wikipedia!
- In class - Wikipedia essentials
- Meet NU's Wikipedia Campus Ambassador, Amanda Rust
- Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
- Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.
- Create an account.
- Create a User page.
- Basics of editing
- To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.
- Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.
Handout: Editing Wikipedia
- Milestones
All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.
Week 2: Credibility and Community
- Assignment - Training for students
- Complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
Resources: Online Training for Students
- Milestones
All students have completed the Wikipedia Training for Students.
Week 3: Research and set-up for writing
- In class - Editing basics
- Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
- Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
- Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
- Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
- Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism Handouts: Choosing an article Handouts: Using Talk Pages, Evaluating Wikipedia
- In class - Choosing your article
- Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing. Describe your choices to your instructor for feedback.
- Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.
- Assignment - Add to an article
- Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.
- Assignment - Finalize your topic and start researching
- Select an article to work on, removing the rest from your user page. Add your topic on the course page.
- Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
- In class - Wikipedia culture and etiquette
- Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
- Q&A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.
- Milestones
All students have settled on an article to work on and have gotten instructor approval on their choice.
Week 4: Writing your article
- Assignment - Drafting starter articles
- If you are starting a new article, write an outline of the topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia lead section of 3–4 paragraphs in your sandbox. Wikipedia articles use "summary style", in which the lead section provides a balanced summary of the entire body of the article, with the first sentence serving to define the topic and place it in context. The lead section should summarize, very briefly, each of the main aspects of the topic that will be covered in detail in the rest of the article. If you are improving an existing article, draft a new lead section reflecting your proposed changes, and post this along with a brief description of your plans on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check that page often to gather any feedback the community might provide.
- Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your lead section and fix any major issues.
- Continue research in preparation for writing the body of the article.
- In class - Moving articles to mainspace
- We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
- A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
- Check to see if there is an explanation of the edit on the article's talk page. If not, (politely) ask why it was removed.
- Contact your instructor or Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.
Handout: Moving out of your Sandbox
- In class - Building articles
- Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
- Share experiences and discuss problems.
Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia
- Milestones
All students have begun editing their articles.
Week 5
- Assignment - Complete first draft
- Expand your article into a complete first draft.
- In class - Group suggestions
- As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.
- Assignment - Moving articles to mainspace
- Move your sandbox articles into main space.
- If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article.
- If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow the instructions in the "Moving out of your sandbox" handout.
- Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
- Assignment - Peer review and copyedit
- Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
- On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you peer review.
- Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.
- In class - Media literacy discussion
- Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.
- Assignment - Address peer review suggestions
- Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.
- In class - Discuss further article improvements
- Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.
Week 6: Concluding our project
- Assignment - Continue improving articles
- Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.
- Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.
- Assignment - Final article
- Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.
Handout: Polishing your article
- Assignment - Reflective essay
- Write a reflective essay (2–5 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.