Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/UC Berkeley/Global Poverty and Practice (Spring 2018)
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- Course name
- Global Poverty and Practice
- Institution
- UC Berkeley
- Instructor
- Khalid Kadir
- Wikipedia Expert
- Shalor (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Global Poverty and Practice
- Course dates
- 2018-01-17 00:00:00 UTC – 2018-06-16 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 30
This assignment is meant to help students prepare for their “Practice Experience” (PE) of the Global Poverty and Practice (GPP) minor at UC Berkeley.
Each student will work on two Wikipedia articles – one focused on an aspect of the history and political economy of their PE site (eg. a country, a city, or region); and the second focused on an aspect of the approaches used in their PE organization’s sector (eg. water and sanitation, community health, microfinance, worker-cooperatives, community organizing, food justice, affordable housing).
Timeline
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 24 January 2018
- In class - Introduction to 105WikiR
Welcome to the timeline for 105WikiR. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for GPP 105, breaking down GPP-related Wikipedia editing/adding into a series of steps. These steps include online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia
Our 105WikiR course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Expert, who is an additional resource for you. Check your Talk page for notes from the course Wikipedia Expert or reach them through the "Get Help" button on this page. You can also contact Khalid in class, or at any time via email with questions or concerns.
To get started, please review the following handouts:
- Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Getting Started on Wikipedia
- Create an account and join this 105WikiR page using the enrollment link Khalid sent you.
- To avoid hitting Wikipedia's account creation limits, this is best done outside of class. Only 6 new accounts may be created per day from the same IP address.
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.
- Milestones
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 31 January 2018
- Assignment - Selecting Possible Articles
- Review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook and complete this week's training modules.
- Spend some time looking for potential articles that cover relevant aspects of your PE area sector. Review the content of the articles and check the Talk pages to see what other Wikipedians are already contributing.
- Keep in mind the questions: What is not here? What could I possible add here
- Remember you should aim to pick stub or start articles over well-developed articles since they are easier to improve.
- Choose 2-3 potential articles from each (area and sector), and post links to the articles in your sandbox under a new section "Selecting Possible Articles".
- Submit a 1-2 page memo listing your choices to bCourses (assignment, "Selecting Possible Articles"). Make two separate lists of articles your are considering contributing to, one for area and one for sector. Under each article, explain how working on it could prepare you for your PE and briefly note your ideas for adding/editing/improving the article (including your thoughts on any activity on their Talk pages).
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 7 February 2018
- Assignment - Copyedit an Article, Add a Citation
- Choose one of the articles on your list. Read through it and think about ways to improve the language (such as fixing grammatical mistakes). Then, make the appropriate changes. You don’t need to contribute new information to the article, but you do need to make changes. Be sure to describe your change before you hit "Save".
- Add a citation to one of the articles on your lists. There are two ways you can do this:
- Add 1-2 sentences to one of your articles and cite that statement to a reliable source, as you learned in the online training.
- The Citation 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.
- Assignment - Review the Rules for Medical Topics
Review Wikipedia's rules for topics related to medicine, human health, and psychology.
- Guides for Writing Articles in Your Topic Areas
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 14 February 2018
- Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia Articles
This assignment is meant to get you thinking more deeply and critically about Wikipedia articles. You'll evaluate one article each for your PE area and sector (from your list of possible articles) and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's Talk page.
- Complete the "Evaluating Articles and Sources" training (linked below).
- Create a section in your sandbox titled "Evaluating two articles" where you'll leave notes about your observations and learning.
- Select articles (one for area and one for sector) 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?
- What avenues do you find here for further learning that is relevant to your PE preparation?
- Does the article appear balanced or 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?
- Look for links to other Wikipedia articles. Can you think of more such links that are relevant and that you could add?
- 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?
- What about your learning in GPP so far is different from how Wikipedia discusses this topic?
- 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 — Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 13:22, 8 June 2018 (UTC).
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 21 February 2018
- Assignment - Beginning Bibliography (and finalize article selection)
- By now you should have discussed and confirmed your choice of articles with Prof Kadir (ideally in person, either in class or in office hours), assign your chosen articles to yourself on the Students tab.
- In your sandbox, under your section "Selecting possible articles", update your plan for contributing to your selected articles. Think back to when you did the article critiques. What can you add?
- Start a new section in your sandbox entitled "Bibliography". Here, for each article, begin lists of relevant, reliable books, journal articles, or other sources, and write a line or two for each source describing how it is relevant to your Wikipedia writing plans (highlighting both facts as well as concepts/frameworks/arguments you will reference). Do not paste a link to the electronic version of the article -- rather, instead, use Wikipedia's Citation Tool (doing so in your sandbox is good practice for when you eventually move to Mainspace). Keep in mind that 105WikiR will ask you eventually to have 7-10 scholarly sources for each article you contribute to. You can use non-scholarly sources too, but they will not count towards your total required sources. For this assignment, list at least 6 scholarly sources (roughly 3 for each article).
- Note that the training module "Evaluating Articles and Sources" will nudge you away from overly specialized articles and away from strongly opinionated articles to overview/review articles. This is generally good advice. Review articles on the topics you've selected will serve you very well for 105WikiR and in your preparation for your PE. That said, it is also valuable to bring strong opinions and critical thinking to Wikipedia. The challenge is to do so in a neutral, encyclopedic tone, with proper citation, and with a view to reframing issues where necessary.
- For example, the mainstream view of "human trafficking" would benefit from considering scholarship that reframes it as a form of migration since the former victimizes individuals and the latter highlights individual choices made/actions taken in difficult circumstances. A sentence stating as such (citing sources) would be a valuable addition to a Wikipedia article on human trafficking (see it's section "Problems with the concept").
- Post your ideas for contributing and your beginning bibliography to the articles' Talk pages. Remember to check in regularly on the Talk pages to see if anyone has advice on your plans or bibliography.
- Note that the training module "Evaluating Articles and Sources" will nudge you away from overly specialized articles and away from strongly opinionated articles to overview/review articles. This is generally good advice. Review articles on the topics you've selected will serve you very well for 105WikiR and in your preparation for your PE. That said, it is also valuable to bring strong opinions and critical thinking to Wikipedia. The challenge is to do so in a neutral, encyclopedic tone, with proper citation, and with a view to reframing issues where necessary.
- Submit your Bibliography (list of at least 6 with explanatory lines) to bCourses (assignment, "Beginning Bibliography").
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 28 February 2018
- Assignment - Start Drafting Your Contributions (summarizing and synthesizing)
You've picked articles and begun finding your scholarly sources. Now it's time to start writing. Specifically, it's time to begin summarizing and synthesizing sources while at the same time finding more sources as you need them.
- Start a new section in your sandbox and call it "Summarizing and Synthesizing". Here, drawing on your sources, begin writing phrases/sentences/paragraphs that could be added to your articles. Create sub-heads to indicate where your contributions would go in each article. Do this separately for area and sector.
- As you begin to draft, you will likely find that you need to search for more sources. Update your Bibliography in your sandbox, as you find more sources. As you read new sources, add in lines describing what they say and how you might use them, mentioning both facts as well as concepts/frameworks/arguments you will reference. This is not merely a summary; this should be your notes to yourself to help your later drafting. Remember to use the Wikipedia citation tool (no link to articles).
Most of you will be planning to improve two (or more) existing articles, one related to the area where you will conduct your PE and one to the sector in which your PE is working. If any of you is considering creating a new article, then make note of the following:
- In your sandbox, write an outline of the article in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section."
- 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.
Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9
- Milestones
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 7 March 2018
- Assignment - Expand Your Draft
- Keep working on transforming your contributions to both articles into complete first drafts. Your goal should be to keep working in small and regular steps, daily if possible. Wikipedia tracks when and what you do (and Prof Kadir is able to follow this). Your grades will be based on your consistent movement forward. Get your draft ready for peer-review.
- You may discover that your contributions don't fit neatly into two articles, but instead as smaller contributions to three or four articles (1-2 for area and 1-2 for sector). This is fine. Keep updating your "Selecting possible articles", "Bibliography" and "Summarizing and Synthesizing" sections in your sandbox accordingly.
- 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.
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 14 March 2018
- Assignment - Peer Review and Copy Edit
- First, take the "Peer Review" online training. This is very useful, and you'll need the tips in this training to complete the assignment.
- You will be assigned two classmates whose draft contributions you will peer review and copy edit (so you will be editing a total of four articles). On the Articles tab, find their articles; then in the "My Articles" section of the Home tab, assign these to yourself to review.
- Locate the sandboxes of the two classmates whose work you have been assigned, and go to their sections "Summarizing and Synthesizing". Peer review your classmates' contributions. Go to the Talk pages of these classmates' sandboxes and leave your suggestions there in a new section, clearly marking your name as the author of this feedback.
- As you review, make spelling, grammar, and other adjustments (copy editing). Pay attention to the tone of the article. Is it encyclopedic?
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 21 March 2018
- Assignment - Revised Draft and Response to 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 contributions 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.
- Other editors besides your classmates may be reviewing your work, so look for their comments! Be sure to acknowledge feedback from other Wikipedians.
- Submit your revised draft contributions as a word document on bCourses (assignment, "Revised Draft").
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 4 April 2018
- Assignment - Continue Improving Your Drafts and Move Your Work to Wikipedia
Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your contributions, based on suggestions and your own critique. Once you've made these improvements, it's time to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the "mainspace."
- 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.
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 12
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 11 April 2018
- 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!
Week 13
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 18 April 2018
- In class - 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!
Week 14
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 25 April 2018
- Assignment - Finalize Wikipedia Contributions
It's the final week to develop your contributions.
- 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!
- Review the following 105WikiR check-list:
- You must have 7-10 scholarly sources each for area and sector (total 14-20 scholarly sources, evenly divided between area and sector). Update your "Bibliography" section in your sandbox with these final sources, along with the 2-3 line summary of how each is useful to you for your drafting -- address both facts and concepts/frameworks/arguments that each contributes.
- Add a new section in your sandbox titled "My Contributions", and here briefly list your work throughout this semester (eg. minor edits throughout the History section of "x" article; updated 4 citations on "y" article; added 3 new citations on "x" article; wrote 4 sentences on "z" article, major rewriting of 'Recent Contributions' section of "z" article, creating of new section in "x" article with # sentences in it ... etc.)
- Milestones
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.
Week 15
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 2 May 2018
- Assignment - Final Annotated Bibliography
Compile all of your sources and annotations into a document and submit this to bCourses (assignment "Final Annotated Bibliography"). Be sure to use a consistent citation format.
- Assignment - Final Analytical Paper
Write a 6-8 page paper going beyond your Wikipedia contributions to advance your own ideas and arguments about the issues addressed by your PE organization in the place where it works.
You should draw upon the library research you have done this semester (and for GPP 115), as well as your reflections on GPP 105 course materials. Present this paper as an original argument about the problem being solved by your PE organization, and your analysis of its approach (including your analysis of the historical context of such work). Submit this to bCourses (assignment, "Analytical Paper").