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Best Practices

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What works well in assigning Wikipedia editing for students? Let's put our heads and experience together and figure out. Add a sub-topic below if you have other questions.

For long blocks of text (like assignments), please surround them with {{Collapse_top}} and {{Collapse_bottom}} templates so that the talk page will be easier to read.

Community pages for students

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As I've been thinking about teaching students to edit Wikipedia, I've wondered about how to best introduce them to the community and collaboration aspect of it. Does it work better to have a separate talk page for the class to ask and answer one another's questions and/or request peer review? (Sudden influxes of many new editors on the talk page for WP:WMNHIST are likely to create confusion, whether or not they're students.)---Shane Landrum (cliotropic | talk | contribs) 19:14, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Guidelines and Grading Criteria in Assigning Wikipedia Articles

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Writing a Wikipedia article was an assignment in my undergraduate history class. Here's the directions on the assignment from my syllabus (comments/recommendations for improvement are welcome):

Individual Project in Interpreting History: Building a Wikipedia Entry
Individual Project in Interpreting History: Building a Wikipedia Entry – 30%

Students will also complete an individual project that either a) develops a biography of a Kentucky woman whose life was impacted by or was a critical influence on the civil rights movement, or b) explores in depth a political event involving women that is a key part of the Kentucky civil rights movement but is not examined closely in the course. Students will build and refine an general encyclopedic entry of not less than 1,000 words. This article will be published in Wikipedia. It should draw on high-quality scholarly sources, use Wikipedia Style Guidelines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_style_guidelines), and adhere to the three fundamental principles of the Wikimedia Foundation: neutral point of view, verifiability and no original research (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Simplified_ruleset). Students should also request a peer review of the entry from the Wikipedia editor community (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Peer_review). Each student must craft a carefully prepared prospectus, consisting of a 1 page description of the project and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources no later than the afternoon of October 7th. Each student should meet with me by appointment to discuss her/his proposed project topic before preparing the prospectus. Each student will create her or his own Wikipedia login ID, will become familiar with Wikipedia as a community and as a knowledge resource. The final project must be published on Wikipedia and completed before the Thanksgiving break. Late projects will lose 5 points for each day they are late up to three days; no entries will be accepted after 5 pm on November 27. Writing about Events: You may choose to focus on an event central to women in a local community or significant at a state or national level – either way these questions offer a way to get started:

  • What happened and how does this relate to the course topic and readings?
  • Who did it? When did it happen? What was it like?
  • What does it mean within a women’s history context?

Writing about People: You might examine a woman’s life within the context of a national event or you might examine the effect that that person had on a particular local or statewide movement – either way, these questions may help get your investigation going:

  • When and where did she live? What is her background? What did she do and how does this relate to the course topic and readings?
  • What are her important ideas, acts and relationships with others you are studying in this class?
  • What is her contribution to her times?

It also helped to have a criteria sheet as part of the syllabus so that they could see up front what was expected. They were expected also to use the criteria list as a self-assessment of their work after it was posted in Wikipedia.

Grading Criteria for HIS 351 Individual Project (total 30%) Grade Weight Comments
PRESENTATION 15% General Notes, Specific Examples
Writing Skills:
  • Entry includes an introductory paragraph that establishes a context for the entry and provides a succinct statement that addresses the question, "Why is this entry included?"
  • Organization and form enhance the central idea and theme; ideas are presented coherently to move the reader through the text. Paragraphs are well developed with logical sentence transitions. Sentences are complete, clear and concise.
  • The voice of the writer is compelling and conveys the writer's meaning through effective sentence structure and precise word choices. The prose is clear, accessible and understandable to the general public. An average reader unfamiliar with the topic would be able to grasp the material and information presented. Avoids jargon or specialized terms.
  • The entry has few to no errors in mechanics, including spelling, grammar, usage and punctuation. Follows Wikipedia Style Guidelines.
 10% comments
Research Skills:
  • Entry includes hyperlinks to other Wikipedia entries that help inform the meaning and interrelationships of the entry's topic to other subjects.
  • Entry includes properly formatted citations and references as required by Wikipedia.
 5% comments
CONTENT 15% General Notes, Specific Examples
Writing Skills:
  • Key points in the entry identify and outline the role of twentieth century women in the life and experiences of the selected woman/women.
  • The entry shows clearly how the assigned course readings and the writer's own research are applied, demonstrating an understanding of how women's roles and experiences have helped shape their times and our world today.
  • The entry posits at least two challenges and opportunities affecting the roles of Kentucky women in the twentieth century.
 10% comments
Research Skills:
  • Entry includes citations from at least five scholarly, peer-reviewed sources.
  • Entry refers to at least one oral history resource available to the general public.
 5% comments
Grade 30% Total out of 30% Possible

Your comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome. See more about the class and syllabus at the SAWH Teaching wiki. Randolph.hollingsworth (talk) 16:14, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Randolph, this is great. I've taken the unusual step of editing your comment to add {{Collapse_top}} and {{Collapse_bottom}} templates so that it's easier to read the talk page.
I especially like the grading-criteria rubric; it seems very specific and clear about your expectations. What did you find worked well about this assignment, and what would you change about the wording for the next time you offer it?
Also, I hadn't previously seen the SAWH teaching site; I'm going to add that to the subproject page because I think it could be useful for others. ---Shane Landrum (cliotropic | talk | contribs) 16:58, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
thanks! I removed the sentence re concluding paragraph and the word "thesis" from "thesis statement" - these directions might be misdirect someone else's students writing for Wikipedia if they use the rubric verbatim. Since we spend a lot of time in class looking at historical writing and looking for the author's open or hidden thesis statements, I didn't have a problem with including "thesis" in the phrase "thesis statement" but I understand where you're coming from... thanks for improving the rubric. Randolph.hollingsworth (talk) 18:22, 3 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
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