Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Butte Community College/LIS 11 Research Strategies (Spring 2018)
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- Course name
- LIS 11 Research Strategies
- Institution
- Butte Community College
- Instructor
- Tia Germar
- Wikipedia Expert
- Shalor (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Library
- Course dates
- 2018-03-13 00:00:00 UTC – 2018-06-02 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 20
This course is intended for students wishing to improve their information research skills. Students will develop their abilities to locate, interpret, analyze, synthesize, evaluate and communicate information effectively. Students will learn how to identify and define the scope of a research topic and how to effectively research relevant online catalogs, electronic databases and the World Wide Web. Your semester long class project will be to edit a Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 13 March 2018
- In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia project
Welcome to your Wikipedia project's course timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for your course. The exercises and assignments that you find on the WikiEd timeline will be done in your Wikipedia page. For instance, in the timeline below you will see an assignment to evaluate an article. Your evaluation will go in your Wikipedia Sandbox. As the instructor I have access to your Wikipedia edits. I also have access to timestamps that tell when you complete the trainings. In addition, be sure to check Canvas as well because there are also assignments, etc. that are due through Canvas.
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.
- Finally, we introduce Intertwine, a video conferencing tool where you can 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
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- Tuesday, 27 March 2018
- Assignment - Evaluate a Wikipedia Article
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 in your sandbox.
- 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 research to read and evaluate. Here are some suggested pages: Information Privilege, Open Access, Academic Publishing, Scholarly Communication, Peer Review, Fake News, Media Bias, Google Scholar, and Information Literacy. 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: If you want, as you are answering the questions above, if you feel like contributing to the article you chose to evaluate, leave a comment on the article's Talk page. For instance, if there's a section you'd like to see expanded, or you feel there is information missing, you can leave your comment on the Talk page. This is optional, you wont get extra points, but it's good practice. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 01:25, 29 May 2018 (UTC).
Week 3
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 3 April 2018
- Assignment - Add to citation to your sandbox
Familiarize yourself with editing Wikipedia by adding a citation to your sandbox.
- Create a new heading in your sandbox titled "My Favorite Artist". Add 1-2 sentences under that heading on who your favorite artist is and why and include a citation from a book from the Butte College Library catalog. Be sure to read Finding Books at Butte College Library if you haven't done so already. Once you find a book in the catalog you can get the citation by clicking on the "Cite/Export" link. Use that information to add a citation to your Wikipedia sandbox. Just to clarify, you don't actually need to checkout the book (or download if it's an ebook), we are just searching the catalog and capturing the citation information to add to your Wikipedia sandbox.
Week 4
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 10 April 2018
- 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.
- Add a new Heading to your sandbox with the title of the article you will be editing and write a few sentences about what you plan to contribute to the selected article. Your plans may change once you begin researching and that's okay! Once you assign yourself an article, I will also add some Feedback for information you want to contribute.
- Think back to when you did an article critique. What can you add?
- Start compiling a list of relevant, reliable books, journal articles, or other sources. Post a bibliography to a new heading of your sandbox that you'll title "Bibliography". I expect to see 3 or more credible sources listed by 4/16. If you need a refresher for the types of sources Wikipedia prefers, please review the Sources and Citations training.
Week 5
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 17 April 2018
- In class - Continue to Find Sources and Keep Taking Notes
In Canvas, this week you will be learning how to find scholarly articles and learning what to do with the sources you find. This week you will continue building your list of sources by adding more scholarly sources. Keep taking notes on the sources you find, summarizing in your own words, and thinking about how you can add the information you are learning to your Wikipedia article. A rough draft of your edits will be due 4/30.
Week 6
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 24 April 2018
- Assignment - Draft due
You should have started compiling a list of resources for your topic that you picked during Week 5. This week, in Canvas, you are learning how to find scholarly articles in the the more advanced databases. I want you to include a few (3-5) scholarly articles on your topic in your list of resources you started in your Sandbox.
You've picked a topic and found your sources. Now it's time to start writing. Here are some tips to get started:
- 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.
- Create an outline of the sections/headings you want to add to an article, or use the headings in the Wikipedia article that you want to expand upon.
Keep reading your sources, too. You should be taking notes, making annotations, and summarizing the sources you've found (in your own words). Your note taking strategies will prevent you from plagiarizing. Also, if you're feeling overwhelmed by all your sources, take a few minutes to find an organization technique that will help you.
In summary, this week you should be adding 3-5 scholarly sources to your Bibliography section in your Sandbox, and complete very rough edits for the information you want to add to your article. This may look like an outline, it may be a bullet list of notes and annotations, or it may be full written paragraphs. You will be adding to this draft through the rest of the semester. Next week, another student will be assigned your article and will review your draft.
Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9
- Milestones
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.
Week 7
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 1 May 2018
- Assignment - Expand your draft
- Keep working on transforming your article into a complete first draft.
- 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 one classmate's article that you will peer review and copyedit. On the Articles tab, find the article that you want to review, and then assign it to yourself in the Review column. Only one person may review an article, please pick an article that has not already been taken.
- Peer review your classmate's draft. Leave suggestions 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?
- 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.
Week 8
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 8 May 2018
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed. 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 9
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 15 May 2018
- 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 - 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.
Week 10
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 22 May 2018
- Milestones
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.
- 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!
- Assignment - Reflective essay
Write a reflective essay (2–5 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.
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?
- Research: What did you learn about doing research in general? What skills will you take with you in your future classes?