Wikipedia:School and university projects/University of Applied Sciences, Mainz, Germany - LLM English Project

Introduction

This is a project involving advanced Legal English courses in the MA program Commercial Law at the University of Applied Sciences Mainz taught by Prof. Stephanie Swartz-Janat Makan in the Summer Semester 2011. It will be carried out both with full-time LLM students as well as with professionals doing a part-time LLM study course at our university. While learning more about the common law system and expanding their English legal vocabulary, they will be asked to contribute to Wikipedia, first by editing an article of their choice and then by creating a new article or expanding on an existing one. There will be individual as well as group contributions, and the final grade is based on a portfolio handed in at the end of the semester with proof of both off-line as well as on-line contributions. The project will take place over the course of 12 and 15 weeks and each assignment must be fulfilled within the given time period in order to receive credit.

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to develop students' knowledge of English while at the same time fine-tuning their skills in academic writing and research through contributions to Wikipedia.

Learning targets

Students are to strengthen their ability to think critically and evaluate the reliability of sources; they will develop their analytical writing skills while, at the same time, gaining information and contributing their knowledge to a global audience; they will experience that others contributing to their work and hopefully continue to contribute to Wikipedia after the assignment has ended. Perhaps most importantly, students learn that they not only consume information but also help to create it. During the course of the assignment, they learn how to work in a collaborative environment and gain insights into the creative process of text writing on Wikipedia, thus developing essential skills in today's digital workplace.

Coursework

Regular assignments, class discussion, vocabulary training, as well as one individually edited article and one collaboratively expanded or created article in an area of students’ choice in Wikipedia; individually conducted peer reviews.

Grade

The final grade is based on in-class participation and an individually submitted portfolio at the end of the semester documenting all contributions to Wikipedia, both off-line and on-line.

Course overview

• Step One: students are to acquaint themselves with the Wikipedia:Five pillars and Wikipedia:EtiquetteThen students read diverse articles to familiarize themselves with style and format of Wikipedia and search for topics for potential article editing and creating own articles. The missing articles and requested articles lists can help students find areas for contributions.

• Step Two: students read through Wikipedia:Tutorial on how to register as well as format and edit Wikipedia articles. In addition, they should familiarize themselves with Wikipedia:Manual of Style for information on citing sources, etc.

They then create an own account and log in. For help, they can refer to the tutorial page again Wikipedia:Tutorial/Registration. Then they should create a user page. For tips on creating and using a user page, read user pages, as well as how to use your user space.

Students should not forget the importance of the name they choose for their pages. Some tips can be found on: Wikipedia:Namespace

• Step Three: students choose an existing article and edit it. For help on editing, they can refer to Tutorial/Editing
• Step Four: in a group of two or no more than three, students choose an already existing article and expand on it (1,500 words) or write their own article (1,500 words). For suggestions on articles, see above links. Please note that you should edit your article while logged in your personal account and don't copy copyrighted material (Plagiarism). Develop your contribution out of scientific literature but as your own piece of work.

For help on naming and writing an article, see: user space draft and Article wizard, naming conventions and starting a new page.

• Step Five: students choose an article or expanded article written by another group of students and write a peer review on it Wikipedia:User talk. For help see peer review and requests for feedback.
• Step Six: students put together contributions in an organized portfolio to hand in by a due date.

Etiquette

Remember that we are guests in Wikipedia and should behave accordingly. We also represent our university (this is a university project which is being followed on Wikipedia) and keep in mind what impression you want other Wikipedians to have of our institution. Failure to obey the rules and standards of Wikipedia may result in your expulsion from Wikipedia or even the exclusion of our university from Wikipedia as a whole.

Editing

Students should always view a preview of your page before saving and not forget to fill out the summary page. To experiment, they should create a Sandbox to their userpage but remember that drafts are deleted every 12 hours.

Remember: you do not “own” your page! Anyone can work on “your article”. And your page can be deleted by someone who finds it inappropriate or badly cited. So: make sure to save your work with a screen shot and print it out to be collected in your portfolio for your final grade! You can also put the words newpage at the beginning of your page so that other Wikipedians know it is a work in progress. The result looks like this: {{newpage}}

For more information see : deletion of newly created pages.

Formatting

For formatting articles, students should refer to the following links: Wikipedia:Tutorial/Formatting as well as Wikipedia: Cheat sheet The cheat sheet is an excellant quick reference for help in the beginning!

Feedback

Students are to create a talk page by following the instructions on Wikipedia:User talk. They are also expected to look out for messages every day. Please reply to the messages, even if only acknowledging the author’s feedback, on the other’s talk page so that they will be sure to receive the message. Always sign talk and discussion contributions. Changes made by others to articles can be found on the page history tool and the watchlist tools.

Help

Students can first ask their instructor for assistance. As my knowledge is also limited, one can then refer to Wikipedia:Help desk. The Help live chat available on the help desk site is a very useful resource. For continous assistance see Wikipedia:Ambassadors for available mentors.

Sources and references

It is imperative that information is cited. Failure to do so can mean the disappearance of the page. Students are to familiarize themselves with the Manual of Style as well as the correct form for citation of sources in Wikipedia. citations quick reference is a valuable source of help in citing on Wikipedia.

Criteria

Students should be aiming towards fulfilling the criteria of the Wikipedia Did You Know? section. For information on the selection criteria for DYK, see: DYK.

Final remarks

As this is a pilot project and this means that there will be unforeseen difficulties, students’ grades will weigh heavily on the effort put into the research, writing and peer reviews, both off-line and on-line. This must be documented by the individual student through a portfolio. Difficulties with the technology are not an excuse for lack of participation or failure to complete the assignment. Once more: remember to save your work through printing out and saving screen shots!

Articles

Limited liability company (Poland)

This article gives a legal overview about the (polish) limited liability company (sp. z o.o.). Its theme is the formation of a “sp. z o.o.” (overview, content of the articles of incorporation, costs of formation), financial condition of the “sp. z o.o.” (capital raising and capital maintenance, change in the share capital amount), constitutional organ of the "sp. z o.o. " (the Board of Directors, other bodies at a glance), rights and obligations of shareholders and finally the liquidation and insolvency of “sp. z o.o.”.

The Maltese Private Limited Company

The article summarizes the most important issues concerning the company formation, constitutional documents, share capital requirements and bodies of a Maltese Private Limited Company. Furthermore it explains a special form predominantly used for tax saving purposes. User:Llm86/Maltese private limited company

Legal Professions

The article Legal Professions deals with different kind of careers in legal circles. It describes the educational way, the organisations and the areas of practise. Additional the duties and obligations of judges are explained.

Arsenal Football Club vs. Matthew Reed

This article is about a legal case about trade mark infringement. Arsenal FC is a football club, which owns registered trademarks. Matthew Reed had sold souvenirs bearing the registered trademarks of the Arsenal FC. It was determind by the European Court of Justice. It pointed out that the important requirements are the specific interests and as a consequence of that the essential function.

Agreements on objectives

The article is about an agreement between employer and employee concerning the goals to be achieved by the employee. It is a motivational technique and standardly used in field service and in project work, but also in other areas. Among other things the article discloses advantages and disadvantages of the agreement system, its inclusion in the compensation system and describes the goal setting process.

Shelf Ready Packaging

This article is about a very current topic, called "Shelf Ready Packaging".

Shelf Ready Packaging (SRP) refers to a product that comes in a ready merchandised unit. Products which come in a SRP can be placed easily into the shelf, without unpacking or repacking.

SRP covers all types of packaging, which are designed for the retail outlet. SRP is not limited to packaging which goes in the shelf; it also includes sales support mechanisms in all major distribution channels.

Retention Management

This article shows the importance of Retention Mangement in a time of demographic change. The article gives a clear definition of retention management, its objctives and principles. Besides, it describes the procedure and gives an example of the firm which is the founder of retention management.

Mobile marketing research

This article gives an introduction to the young field of mobile marketing research. Since it has become more difficult to nowadays reach people via traditional marketing research methods, new ways as well as new media are taken into consideration conducting surveys in marketing research. This text tries to give an overview of the development of mobile marketing research, its basic method types and difficulties as well possibilities. (Authors: Thomas Schneider and Alexander Best)

Work-Life-Balance in Germany

This article deals with the actual topic of the work-life-balance discussion in Germany. It refers to the demographic change and why it is therefore very important for companies to react. Also the combination of work-life-balance and family is mentioned in the article. Moreover the motives of companies to integrate work-life-balance measures were discussed as well as the benefits of companies which support work-life-balance measures.

German public banks

This article describes the three-pillar structure of the banking industry in Germany. In daily discussions, especially after the financial crisis, typically the Landesbanken are supposed to be the only public banks in Germany. Aim of the article is to show, that the Landesbanken are just a small part of the public banking system, although they are part of the dominating Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe.

Principles of European Contract Law

This article shall comment on the history and meaning of the PECL as a set of rules which were designed by the Commission on European Contract Law in order to influence the future development in legal thinking in the field of contract law in the European Union.

Bill of lading

Added chapters

• BoL and fraud
• BoL and electronic data interchange (EDI)

German Renewable Energy Act

This article describes the German Renewable Energy Act (in German: Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, EEG) that was designed to encourage cost reductions based on improved energy efficiency from economies of scale over time. The Act came into force in the year 2000 and was the initial spark of a tremendous boost of Renewable Energies in Germany.

EU Directive 2004/109/EG (EU Transparency Directive)

This article depicts the history of the development of the EU Directive 2004/109/EG (EU Transparency Directive) and the main regulations of the final version, adopted on 17th December 2004.

Shield Mark BV vs Joost Kist

This article introduces the verdict in the legal case Shield Mark BV versus Joost Kist before the European Court of Justice (ECJ), case number C- 283/01. The case lead to one of the landmark decisions about Directive 89/104/EEC, discussing the question whether sound signs are allowed to be registered in order to get trademark protection. Furthermore, the ECJ laid out which legal prerequisites have to be observed in the registration process.

Inter-municipal cooperation

Decreasing numbers of inhabitants and smaller public budgets force municipalities to search for efficient ways to provide public services. The inter-municipal cooperation is one way or accomplishes that. Whether with free arrangements like coordinated behaviour or by forming separate corporations municipals can benefit from economies of scale. A brief international overview shows that the legal prerequisites are different and so the forms of IMC are.

European Union competition law

Expansion of the subsection regarding the enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU through the European Commission and adding of a new chapter regarding the sector inquiry as additional instrument of the European Commission when investigation potential infringements of EU competition law.

Family mediation in Germany

This article deals with family mediation in Germany. After a short general introduction, the main principles of family mediation are introduced, followed by the process of family mediation, which is divided into 5 phases. Finally, the advantages of family mediation are compared to litigation.

Servant leadership

The article deals with the concept of servant leadership. First, a short general introduction is presented, followed by servant leadership in the context of leadership styles. The characteristics of a servant leader are defined and the history of servant leadership is represented as well as advantages and disadvantages.

Bundesdatenschutzgesetz

This article gives an overview of the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (BDSG). First is a brief introduction, then a historical overview. After that the purpose and scope of the BDSG are described. In addition, an overview of the principles of data protection is given and the various types of personal data are described. Finally, a glance is made to the European law and to the transfer of data to third countries

The last state of affairs of the jurisprudence in the affair “tariff system for solicitors in Italy“

In Italy exist legally attended fee caps for solicitors. The ECJ has decided in 03/29/2011, that neither freedom of services nor freedom of establishment are limited by the Italian tariff system

2008–2012 Irish financial crisis

This article deals with the Economic Crisis especially in Irland. We show in our article what a economic crise is and which reasons lead to the crisis in Ireland. The essay give an overview about the state Ireland (organisation, country and the population) and about the economy of Ireland. We talk about the history and the Celtic Tiger an of course about the Economic Crisis and the labour market. Concluding we disclose some future perspectives.

Pammer and Alpenhof cases

This article deals with the Pammer and Hotel Alpenhof cases. The judgement of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gives indications whether a website with products or services from a seller in one European state is aligned on a consumer in a other European state or not. The ECJ pointed out, that the national courts have to decide this question.

COEUR

The text is about the COEUR-project by the FH Mainz. It has the goal to get students (from Europe) in touch with entrepreneurship, innovation and business creativity.

Ownership unbundling

This article is about ownership unbundling. Because of the market power of the biggest energy firms in Europe (in Germany there are the big four – RWE, EON, EnBW and Vattenfall). Ownership unbundling is the strongest form to separate energy production from the transmission networks at the energy firms.

Flat rate withholding tax (Abgeltungsteuer)

This article deals with the flat rate withholding tax on private income from capital and capital gains in Germany. It was introduced in the Unternehmensteuerreformgesetz 2008 and came into force in 2009.

Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011

This article presents the Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011 which was adopted by the Council of the European Union on March 15, 2011. It is shown how the Implementing Regulation is set into context to other European ruling. Furthermore the main subjects of the Regulation are described.

Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011

End-of-Life Vehicle Directive 2000/53/EC

This article explains the Directive on end-of-life vehicle management. It clarifies the directive's order within the larger EU waste legislation. The article further explains the concept of the directive, its scope, and its elements.

End of Life Vehicles Directive#Legal Background

Interim tax management

This article describes the work as a interim tax manager. It includes also the tasks and the reason for working as a interim tax manager.

Directive on intra-EU-transfers of defence-related products (ICT)

This article gives a general overview about the content of the Directive 2009/43/EC. Especially, it describes the authorisation procedure for the intra-EU-transfer of defence-related products and names all types of licences provided by the Directive. User_talk:Calientetom