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Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/UCLA/Chem 153A Honors (Winter 2016)

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Course name
Chem 153A Honors
Institution
UCLA
Instructor
Heather Tienson
Wikipedia Expert
Ian (Wiki Ed)
Subject
Introduction to Biochemistry
Course dates
2016-01-12 – 2016-03-08
Approximate number of student editors
39


Introduction to biochemistry: Macromolecular structure, Enzymes, and Metabolism

Student Assigned Reviewing
Nathanucla
Mpotes12 RHEB
Anordquist
Dmeyer314
Jessicook
Sprisacaru
Efazzari
ZhenC
CindyLi2016
Sven625

Timeline

Week 1

Course meetings
Tuesday, 12 January 2016
In class - Wikipedia essentials
  • Overview of the course
  • Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
  • Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.



Handout: Editing Wikipedia


Assignment - Practicing the basics
  • Create an account and then complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
  • Create a User page.
  • 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.



Resources: Online Training for Students


In class - Editing basics
  • Basics of editing
  • 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



Handouts: Using Talk Pages, Evaluating Wikipedia

Milestones

All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.

Week 2

Course meetings
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
In class - Exploring the topic area
  • Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.



Handouts: Choosing an article


Assignment - 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.

Week 3

Course meetings
Tuesday, 26 January 2016
In class - Using sources
  • Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.



Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism


In class - Discuss the article topics
  • 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.

Week 4

Course meetings
Tuesday, 2 February 2016
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.


Assignment - Drafting starter articles
  • If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox. If you are improving an existing article, create a detailed outline reflecting your proposed changes, and post this for community feedback, along with a brief description of your plans, on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check back on the talk page often and engage with any responses.
  • Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your short starter article and fix any major issues.
  • Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.
Milestones

All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 5

Course meetings
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
In class - Building articles
  • Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
  • Share experiences and discuss problems.



Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia


Assignment - Contributing Images and Media Files

Complete training on adding media files to Wikipedia.  

Week 6

Course meetings
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
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


Assignment - Choose articles to peer review
  • Select two classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you will peer review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)


Assignment - Complete first draft
  • Expand your article into a complete first draft.

Week 7

Course meetings
Tuesday, 23 February 2016
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 - Peer review and copyedit
  • Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
  • Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.
Milestones

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


In class - Media literacy discussion
  • Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.

Week 8

Course meetings
Tuesday, 1 March 2016
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.


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 - Prepare for in-class presentation
  • Prepare for an in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience.

Week 9

Course meetings
Tuesday, 8 March 2016
In class - In-class presentation
  • Students give in-class presentations about their experiences editing Wikipedia.


Assignment - Final article
  • Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.



Handout: Polishing your article


Assignment - Reflective essay
  • Write a reflective essay (2–3 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.

Week 10

Milestones

Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.