User:Nmcourtright/Rotherwas Fellows

Course name

Rotherwas Fellows

Institution

Amherst College

Instructor

Nicola Courtright

Subject

Rotherwas Room and other Jacobean architecture

Course dates

2015-07-01 – 2015-08-07

Approximate number of student editors

3

Students are continuing a research assignment from the spring semester in which they studied one example of Jacobean architecture and wrote a 20-page research prospectus on it. In this summer class, they have researched one example, a room in the Mead Art Museum of Amherst College, and are comparing it to other examples of similar rooms. (Jacobean rooms and houses are up to now little discussed on Wikipedia).To this end, they have researched English Elizabethan (Tudor) and Jacobean architecture as a whole, and have researched in depth the historical background of the Rotherwas Room in the Mead Art Museum, an excellent example of Jacobean architecture but worthy of an entry in its own right. They are writing an entry on the Rotherwas Room for Wikipedia. If time permits, they will expand the short article on Jacobean architecture for Wikipedia. At the end, they'll write an analytical paper focusing on original ideas they developed, not appropriate for Wikipedia, for further use in the display of this room at the museum.

Timeline

Week 1 (2015-06-29): Wikipedia essentials, Editing basics, Exploring the topic area

Course meetings

Monday, 29 June 2015   |   Tuesday, 30 June 2015   |   Wednesday, 1 July 2015   |   Thursday, 2 July 2015   |   Friday, 3 July 2015

In class

• 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 (available in print or online from the Wiki Education Foundation)

• 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 handout and Evaluating Wikipedia brochure

• Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
• Handouts: Choosing an article

Assignment (due Week 2)

• 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, and then click the "enroll" button on the top left of this course page.

• To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself on the user talk page of one of your classmates, who should also be enrolled in the table at the bottom of the 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.

• Review pages 4-7 of the Evaluating Wikipedia brochure. This will give you a good, brief overview of what to look for in other articles, and what other people will look for in your own.

• Evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's talk page.
  • A few questions to consider (don't feel limited to these):
    • Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
    • 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?
    • Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
    • Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
    • Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
    • Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?

• Choose one article, identify ways in which you can improve and correct its language and grammar, and make the appropriate changes. (You do not need to alter the article's content.)

Milestones

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

Week 2 (2015-07-06): Using sources and choosing articles

Course meetings

Monday, 6 July 2015   |   Tuesday, 7 July 2015   |   Wednesday, 8 July 2015   |   Thursday, 9 July 2015   |   Friday, 10 July 2015

In class

• Handouts: Citing sources on Wikipedia and Avoiding plagiarism on Wikipedia.
  • Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.

Assignment (due Week 3)

• Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.

• Identify an article that would benefit from illustration, create or find an appropriate photo, illustration, or audio/video, and add it to the article.
  • All media uploaded to Wikipedia must fall under a "free license," which means they can be used or shared by anyone. Examples of media you can use are photos that you take yourself, images and text in the public domain, and works created by someone else who has given permission for their work to be used by others. For more information about which types of media can be uploaded to Wikipedia, see Commons:Help desk.
  • To add a media file to an article, you must first upload it to Wikimedia Commons. For instructions on how to upload files to Commons, refer to Illustrating Wikipedia. This brochure will also provide you with detailed information about which files are acceptable to upload to Wikipedia and the value of contributing media to Wikipedia articles.

• 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.

For next week

• Instructor evaluates student's article selections, by next week.

Week 3 (2015-07-13): Finalizing topics and starting research, Drafting starter articles

Course meetings

Monday, 13 July 2015   |   Tuesday, 14 July 2015   |   Wednesday, 15 July 2015   |   Thursday, 16 July 2015   |   Friday, 17 July 2015

In class

• Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.

• 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 (due Week 4)

• Select an article to work on, removing the rest from your user page. Add your article to the class’s course page.

• By the start of our next class, find an article you want to work on and mark the article's talk page with a banner to let other editors know you're working on it. To add the banner, add this code in the top section of the talk page:

{{course assignment | course = User:Nmcourtright/Rotherwas Fellows | term = Fall 2015 }}

• Add a link to your selected article to the table at the bottom of this 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.

• 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 4 (2015-07-20): Moving articles to the main space

Course meetings

Monday, 20 July 2015   |   Tuesday, 21 July 2015   |   Wednesday, 22 July 2015   |   Thursday, 23 July 2015   |   Friday, 24 July 2015

In class

• We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
• Handout: Moving out of your sandbox
• 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.

Assignment (due Week 5)

• Move your sandbox articles into main space.
  • If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article.
  • If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow these instructions on how to move your work.

• Optional: For new articles or qualifying expansions of stubs, compose a one-sentence “hook,” nominate it for “Did you know,” (see detailed instructions) and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors. Wiki Education Foundation staff can provide support for this process.

• Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Week 5 (2015-07-27): Building articles, Creating first draft, Getting and giving feedback

Course meetings

Monday, 27 July 2015   |   Tuesday, 28 July 2015   |   Wednesday, 29 July 2015   |   Thursday, 30 July 2015   |   Friday, 31 July 2015

In class

• Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
• Share experiences and discuss problems.
• Handouts: "Illustrating Wikipedia" (pgs 4-7) and "Evaluating Wikipedia article quality" (handed out originally earlier in the course)

• 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 (due Week 6)

• 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.)

• Expand your article into an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

• 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.

Week 6 (2015-08-03): Due date

Course meetings

Monday, 3 August 2015   |   Tuesday, 4 August 2015   |   Wednesday, 5 August 2015   |   Thursday, 6 August 2015   |   Friday, 7 August 2015

Milestones

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

Grading

  15%  

   Early Wikipedia exercises

  10%  

   Quality of bibliography and outline

  10%  

   Peer reviews and collaboration with classmates

  50%  

   Quality of your main Wikipedia contributions

  10%  

   Supplementary assignments