Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Saint Mary's College/Women in STEM (Spring 2018)
| This Course
|
Wikipedia Resources
|
Connect
Questions? Ask us:
contact |
 | This course page is an automatically-updated version of the main course page at dashboard.wikiedu.org. Please do not edit this page directly; any changes will be overwritten the next time the main course page gets updated. |
- Course name
- Women in STEM
- Institution
- Saint Mary's College
- Instructor
- Kathryn Haas
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Chemistry
- Course dates
- 2018-01-15 00:00:00 UTC – 2018-05-03 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 21
Your Saint Mary's College education is unique. Through the Sophia program, you have the opportunity to discuss topics with your Science and Engineering faculty and peers which are important to your success, but are not part of a traditional chemistry curriculum. In this course, you will take advantage of the opportunities opened up by the Sophia program. You will read scientific articles about a softer side of Science and Engineering - the social constructs and biases that we deal with every day in our profession. You will explore implicit biases related to gender and consider the theories of stereotype threat and imposture syndrome. Most importantly, you will explore strategies to combat the effects of these social constructs. As a significant part of this project, you will research a woman scientist and contribute to a Wikipedia article about her.
Through this project, you will also learn how knowledge is constructed, and you will gain skills in digital literacy. I hope that this experience will help you in your life, career, and scholarship outside of this class.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 16 January 2018 | Thursday, 18 January 2018
- Assignment - Introduction to the WISEWiki project
Congratulations! If you are here, its because you've found the "Start Here" module on Blackboard and you've begun preparing for the first week of class! Thank you!
Welcome to your WISEWiki project timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project assignments for our course. We will use this page along with Blackboard to complete assignments for the WISEWiki project.
This page breaks down writing a Wikipedia article into a series of steps, or milestones. These steps include online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia.
Your course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the "Get Help" button on this page.
To get started, please review the following handouts:
- Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia
- Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you.
- It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online trainings you'll need to take. New modules will appear on this timeline as you get to new milestones. Be sure to check back and complete them! Incomplete trainings will be reflected in your grade.
- When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s Talk page.
- Finally, we introduce Intertwine, a video conferencing tool where you can will create your own User page and User Talk Page with peer editors enrolled in other courses. Sign up for a sessionhere or using the Intertwine training module below.
- Milestones
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 23 January 2018 | Thursday, 25 January 2018
- Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia
It's time to think critically about Wikipedia articles. You'll evaluate a Wikipedia article related to the course and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's Talk page. For these assignments, Dr. Haas recommends that you do some reading of the primary literature articles you found for your My Molecule project and to work on Wikipedia pages related to your My Molecule topic!
- Complete the "Evaluating Articles and Sources" training (linked below).
- Create a section in your sandbox titled "Article evaluation" where you'll leave notes about your observations and learnings.
- Choose an article on Wikipedia related to your course (My Molecule project or the Fundamental Theories) to read and evaluate. As you read, consider the following questions (but don't feel limited to these):
- Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
- Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
- Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
- Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
- Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
- Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
- Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
- How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
- How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
- Optional: Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Jami (Wiki Ed) (talk) 19:20, 28 March 2018 (UTC).
- Assignment - Discussion
- What's a content gap?
This assignment should be completed on the Blackboard discussion board within your "Week 2 Assignments" Module. Your first post is due on Tuesday at midnight, and a total of three posts should be completed by 12 pm on Thursday.
Now that you're thinking about what makes a "good" Wikipedia article, consider some additional questions.
- Wikipedians often talk about "content gaps." What do you think a content gap is, and what are some possible ways to identify them?
- What are some reasons a content gap might arise? What are some ways to remedy them?
- Does it matter who writes Wikipedia?
- What does it mean to be "unbiased" on Wikipedia? How is that different, or similar, to your own definition of "bias"?
- Assignment - Add to an article
Familiarize yourself with editing Wikipedia by adding a citation to an article. There are two ways you can do this:
- Add 1-2 sentences to a course-related article, and cite that statement to a reliable source, as you learned in the online training.
- TheCitation Hunt tool shows unreferenced statements from articles. First, evaluate whether the statement in question is true! An uncited statement could just be lacking a reference or it could be inaccurate or misleading. Reliable sources on the subject will help you choose whether to add it or correct the statement.
- Again, we introduce Intertwine, a video conferencing tool where you will do an hour-long edit-a-thon to improve a fun Wikipedia article with peer editors enrolled in other courses. Sign up for a session here using the Intertwine training module below.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 30 January 2018 | Thursday, 1 February 2018
- Assignment - Discussion
- Thinking about sources and plagiarism
This assignment should be completed on the Blackboard discussion board within your "Week 3 Assignments" Module. Your first post is due on Thursday before class, and a total of three posts should be completed by Friday night (Saturday at 6 AM).
- Blog posts and press releases are considered poor sources of reliable information. Why?
- What are some reasons you might not want to use a company's website as the main source of information about that company?
- What is the difference between a copyright violation and plagiarism?
- What are some good techniques to avoid close paraphrasing and plagiarism?
- Assignment - Illustrate an article
You'll want to find or create an appropriate photo, illustration, or piece of video/audio to add to an article. Fortunately, last week for class you already identified an article and created an original illustration related to your My Molecule project!
- Before you start, review the Illustrating Wikipedia handbook, or see Editing Wikipedia pages 10–11.
- When you've reviewed those pages, take the training linked below.
- When you're ready to start finding images, remember: Never grab images you find through an image search, or those found on Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, Imgur, or even so-called "Free image" or "free stock photo" websites. Instead, you'll want to find images with clear proof that the creator has given permission to use their work. Many of these images can be found on search.creativecommons.org.
- Don't just upload an image to Wikipedia. Instead, upload it to Wikipedia's sister site for images, Wikimedia Commons. For instructions, read through the Illustrating Wikipedia handbook.
- Best practices for working in groups
You will probably be working individually in this course because there are plenty of resources in our library and you should be able to find a unique article to work on. But just in case we decide that you need to work in a group, here are some guidelines:
- Once your group has a Wikipedia article to work on, make sure everyone in the group is assigned to that article on the Students tab of this course page.
- Select one group member whose Sandbox space you'll all share to draft your article. (It will be titled something like User:Diderot/sandbox.) Each person should link to that shared Sandbox from their own Sandbox page. A sandbox is like any other page on Wikipedia, and anyone can edit it.
- Wikipedia doesn't handle multiple people editing from different devices at the same time very well. If you're working together in person, one person should add the work to the Sandbox. If you are all working independently, make small edits and save often to avoid "editing conflicts" with classmates. Make sure that you're logged in under your own Wikipedia account while editing in your classmate's sandbox to ensure your edits are recorded.
- Don't create a group account for your project. Group accounts are prohibited.
- Assignment - Choose your topic / Find your sources
It's time to choose an article and assign it to yourself.
- Review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook.
- Find an article from the list of "Available Articles" on the Articles tab on this course page. When you find the one you want to work on, click Select to assign it to yourself.
- In your sandbox, write a few sentences about what you plan to contribute to the selected article.
- Think back to when you did an article critique. What can you add? Post some of your ideas to the article's talk page.
- Compile a list of relevant, reliable books, journal articles, or other sources. Post that bibliography to the talk page of the article you'll be working on, and in your sandbox. Make sure to check in on the Talk page to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
- Assignment - Draft your article
You've picked a topic and found your sources. Now it's time to start writing.
Creating a new article?
- Write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section." Write it in your sandbox.
- A "lead" 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?
- Identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Make notes for improvement in your sandbox.
Keep reading your sources, too, as you prepare to write the body of the article.
Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9
- Milestones
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 6 February 2018 | Thursday, 8 February 2018
- Assignment - Discussion
- Thinking about Wikipedia
This assignment should be completed on the Blackboard discussion board within your "Week 3 Assignments" Module. Your first post is due on Thursday before class, and a total of three posts should be completed by Friday night (Saturday at 6 AM).
- What do you think of Wikipedia's definition of "neutrality"?
- What are the impacts and limits of Wikipedia as a source of information?
- On Wikipedia, all material must be attributable to reliable, published sources. What kinds of sources does this exclude? Can you think of any problems that might create?
- If Wikipedia was written 100 years ago, how might its content (and contributors) be different? What about 100 years from now?
- Assignment - Expand your draft
- Keep working on transforming your article into a complete first draft. Get draft ready for peer-review.
- If you'd like a Wikipedia Expert to review your draft, now is the time! Click the "Get Help" button in your sandbox to request notes.
- Assignment - Peer review and copy edit
- First, take the "Peer Review" online training.
- Select two classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copyedit. On the Students tab, find the articles that you want to review, and then assign them to yourself by clicking the "Review an Article" button next to your username.
- Peer review your classmates' drafts. Leave suggestions on on the Talk page of the article, or sandbox, that your fellow student is working on. Other editors may be reviewing your work, so look for their comments! Be sure to acknowledge feedback from other Wikipedians.
- As you review, make spelling, grammar, and other adjustments. Pay attention to the tone of the article. Is it encyclopedic?
- OPTIONAL: Not only your classmates, but also a broader group of Wikipedia student editors can benefit from peer review! Here, we introduce Intertwine one more time. You will do an hour-long peer review session with peers from other courses. Sign up for a sessionhere using the Intertwine training module below.
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
- Assignment - Respond to your peer review
You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. It's time to work with that feedback to improve your article!
- Read Editing Wikipedia pages 12 and 14.
- Return to your draft or article and think about the suggestions. Decide which ones to start implementing. Reach out to your instructor or your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 13 February 2018 | Thursday, 15 February 2018
- Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia
Once you've made improvements to your article based on peer review feedback, it's time to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the "mainspace."
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!
- Be sure to copy text from your sandbox while the sandbox page is in 'Edit' mode. This ensures that the formatting is transferred correctly.
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.
- Assignment - Continue improving your article
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.
- Consider adding an image to your article. Wikipedia has strict rules about what media can be added, so make sure to take Contributing Images and Media Files training before you upload an image.
- Assignment - Polish your work
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!
- Assignment - Reading Assignment to Prepare for Week 6
This is the same reading assignment listed on your course syllabus to prepare for week 6.
Please take the Gender-Science IAT Social Attitudes test that is part of Harvard University’s “Project Implicit”.
Please also read
- “Most of us are Biased” (Raymond, J. Nature, 495, 33-34, 2013)
- “Science Faculty’s Subtle Gender Biases Favor Male Students” (Moss-Racusin et. al, PNAS, 109(41), 16474-16479)
- “Women, Work, and the Academy: Strategies for responding to ‘Post-Civil-Rights Era’ Gender Discrimination” (Wylie et. al., The Barnard Center for Research on Women, ©2007).
Feel free to also find outside resources to learn more about bias in your future profession. Next week you'll complete an essay on these readings.
- Assignment - Prepare for in-class presentation
- Prepare for an in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience. See the Week 6 timeline for for more details.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 20 February 2018 | Thursday, 22 February 2018
- In class - In-class presentation about your Woman Scientist and your experience
YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Make 1 or 2 slides. Make 1-2 slides about your woman scientist (click here) on the shared presentation slideshow and prepare at least a brief statement about what you learned through completing the Wikipedia assignments. In class on Tuesday and Thursday you and your classmates will give "WISEwiki blitz" rapid-fire presentations. You will have 5 minutes (and no more!!) to tell us about your topic and your experience. This is meant to be fun and challenging!
In preparing a statement about your experience, it may help you to consider the following questions as you reflect on your Wikipedia assignment:
- Critiquing articles: What did you learn about Wikipedia during the article evaluation? How did you approach critiquing the article you selected for this assignment? How did you decide what to add to your chosen article?
- Summarizing your contributions: include a summary of your edits and why you felt they were a valuable addition to the article. How does your article compare to earlier versions?
- Peer Review: Include information about the peer review process. What did you contribute in your review of your peers article? What did your peers recommend you change on your article?
- Feedback: Did you receive feedback from other Wikipedia editors, and if so, how did you respond to and handle that feedback?
- Wikipedia generally: What did you learn from contributing to Wikipedia? How does a Wikipedia assignment compare to other assignments you've done in the past? How can Wikipedia be used to improve public understanding of our field/your topic? Why is this important?
- Challenges: What challenges did you run into? What challenges are there in making Wikipedia a platform that is not biased toward gender? What have you learned about overcoming these challenges?
- Contributing to the community: What have you learned through doing an assignment where your audience is the whole world compared to a traditional assignment where only your instructor reads your writing?
- Assignment - Final article
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!
- Milestones
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.