Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/New York University/Research Process and Methodology - RPM SP 2 2018 (Spring 2, 2018)
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- Course name
- Research Process and Methodology - RPM SP 2 2018
- Institution
- New York University
- Instructor
- Samantha Weald
- Wikipedia Expert
- Shalor (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Research
- Course dates
- 2018-03-27 00:00:00 UTC – 2018-05-12 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 12
The purpose of this 6-week Wikipedia Extra Credit assignment for our Research Process and Methodology #SPSRPM course is for students to take what they learn through critical reading and analysis of the literature and share it in an open and accessible way with others interested in the same area of interest.
This comes from a belief that knowledge sharing, like karma, benefits both sharer and receiver. As the primary deliverable of the Research Process and Methodology course is the identification of a researchable problem, a research question, and a literature review, sharing our depth of knowledge with a wider community benefits our credibility as developing experts in our own areas of interest.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 27 March 2018 | Thursday, 29 March 2018
- Assignment - Wikipedia 101
- Getting started (3/25-3/31)
Complete the 4 parts to this week's assignment (in order); they will lay the foundation for your work within Wikipedia. Please read this assignment in its entirety before starting it. While this is extra credit, it is intended to be completed on an ongoing basis, so the final date this week's work will be accepted will be 4/17.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR WEEK 1
By the end of Week 1, students will be able to:
- Identify Wikipedia fundamentals of editing and evaluating
- Create their own Wikipedia account
- Construct their own User page, Talk page, and Sandbox
- Post and sign a new section check-in message on the professor's Talk page
These first 4 steps in this extra credit course will establish your presence on Wikipedia and introduce you to the democratic processes used here that are open to all.
1. Introduction to the Wikipedia Extra Credit
Welcome to our Wikipedia Extra Credit course! While Wikipedia is free and open to everybody to use and edit, getting a handle on it takes some effort. However, the benefits likely far outweigh the efforts, so pace yourself and realize all this will take a little time to get the hang of.
Our course has been assigned a Wikipedia Content Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the "Get Help" button on this page for anything related to how Wikipedia works or hurdles we confront. This person works on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation, and it is this person's role to help us with things that we get stuck on. Likewise, email the professor through the university email / course system or via the professor's Talk page for any questions about this extra credit at any time during (or after!) our six weeks together.
While all things on Wikipedia are intended to be open and public, your name and contact information will not be available to anybody except the professor and the Wikipedia Content Expert. In the world of Wikipedia editing, you will be known and respected by your contributions and edits, and not by your name, title, or other personally-identifiable information. To this point, the professor uses the Wikipedia username FULBERT.
To get started, please read the following two documents:
- Editing Wikipedia: A guide for student editors supported by the Wiki Education Foundation (pages 1–5)
- Evaluating Wikipedia: Tracing the evolution and evaluating the quality of articles
HINT:
You may want to right-click on all the links listed on this page and open them in a new browser tab so you do not lose your place here. Likewise, you may want to bookmark this page in your web browser.
2. Create your Wikipedia account
Create a Wikipedia account using any user name you want and join this course page, using the enrollment link above. It is not easy to change your user name once created, so consider if you should use your real name or any other user name you wish to use (consider FERPA and any potential work requirements). Avoid using a username that makes you appear like a company to avoid administrators freezing your account (only people can have accounts on Wikipedia, not companies).
You MUST be logged into Wikipedia for all subsequent work related to this extra credit assignment AND should be logged on via this page's Wiki Education course dashboard (via the link in NYU Classes).
OPTIONAL:
The Wikipedia editing in under 25 mins video is an excellent introduction to the work we will be doing in this extra credit assignment. PLEASE VIEW IT.
You may want to create your Wikipedia account user name and earn badges through completing the online The Wikipedia Adventure. People have reported that using this free online training module is helpful in learning the system, and the badges you will acquire through the process may look pretty nifty on your User page as well!
3. Get started on Wikipedia
It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online trainings you need to take (don't worry, they are short, easy, and do not have to be done all in a single sitting).
When you finish the two Training modules, you should then be able to edit within Wikipedia. Create a new section (including the assignment / week and your Wikipedia name) and introduce yourself on the professor's FULBERT Talk page. Make sure each assignment starts with its own new section at the bottom of the Talk page and mentions which assignment / user it is. Be sure to sign all your Talk page comments with " Samantha (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:40, 29 August 2018 (UTC) " (that will stamp your entries with your username and time/date).
OPTIONAL:
You may find some additional resources on Using talk pages and the Wiki markup cheatsheet helpful, along with the short video Navigating Wikipedia's front page.
HINT:
While this extra credit is intended to be done weekly, allowing for questions to be asked and answered, you can move faster or slower through it as you need. However, any sessions you complete must be done sequentially.
4. Wikipedia Preferences
Make sure in your Wikipedia account Preferences you enter an email address in Preferences > User profile > Email options (and turn all the options on so you will get notifications) AND in Preferences > Notifications you select all of them via Web and Email as they happen. Without making sure this happens, you will not be alerted to system or user (or my) notices through the system.
Please review that you completed all 4 parts of the assignment (meeting the 4 Learning Objectives) in order to receive the extra credit for Week 1.
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 3 April 2018 | Thursday, 5 April 2018
- Assignment - Evaluate a Wikipedia article (4/1-4/7)
Complete the 5 parts to this week's assignment (in order). This will lay the foundation for your work within Wikipedia. Please read this assignment in its entirety before starting it. While this is extra credit, it is intended to be completed on an ongoing basis, so the final date this week's work will be accepted will be 4/17.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR WEEK 2
By the end of Week 2, students will be able to:
- Critically read and evaluate a Wikipedia article related to their area of interest
- Write a brief review of a Wikipedia article in their in their own sandbox
- Post and sign a new section message on the professor's Talk page with a link to their edit
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 on the article's Talk page.
- Complete the "Evaluating Articles and Sources" and "Sandboxes and Mainspace" trainings (linked below).
- Create a new section in your own individual sandbox titled "Article evaluation." This is where you will leave notes about your observations and learnings on this assignment. While very few people will see your sandbox, it will be public, so continue to be professional on it. This must be within your sandbox, NOT as a new article.
- Choose an existing Wikipedia article that is related to your course area of interest that you will read and evaluate. Mention which Wikipedia article it is and link to it. As you read, think about the following questions:
- 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 does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
- Choose at least 4 questions from the list above and answer them in your "Article evaluation" section in your sandbox.
- Create a new section (including the assignment / week and your Wikipedia name) and add a check-in message on the professor's FULBERT Talk page with a link to your Sandbox article review. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Samantha (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:40, 29 August 2018 (UTC).
HINT:
You may want to see the Preferences, such as for notifications and appearance, for your Wikipedia account. Set them as you want, and make sure you are logged in before doing any activity!
Please review that you completed all 5 parts of the assignment (meeting the 3 Learning Objectives) in order to receive the extra credit for Week 2.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 10 April 2018 | Thursday, 12 April 2018
- Assignment - Copyedit one article (4/8-4/14)
Complete the 5 parts to this week's assignment. Make sure you are signed into Wikipedia before doing any of the work. Please read this assignment in its entirety before starting it. While this is extra credit, it is intended to be completed on an ongoing basis, so the final date this week's work will be accepted will be 4/17.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR WEEK 3
By the end of Week 3, students will be able to:
- Complete at least one copyedit to an article on Wikipedia
- Summarize their edit in the Edit summary
- Post and sign a new section message on the professor's Talk page with a link to their edit
Now it is time to actually edit (fix or improve) Wikipedia articles that can benefit from your reading and knowledge!
- Complete the "Peer Review" training (linked below).
- Choose one course-related article on Wikipedia, such as the one you identified in the last assignment (above) or one based on your topical area of interest.
- Assign yourself a new (different) article through the Wiki Edu dashboard.
- Read through it, thinking about ways to improve the language, clarity, grammar, spelling, etc. Then, make the appropriate changes and make sure they are signed. You don’t need to contribute new information to the article. Summarize your edit in the Edit summary.
- Create a new section (including the assignment / week and your Wikipedia name) at the end of the professor's Talk page with a descriptive title and then a brief summary of the edits you did with a link to the copy-edited article. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Samantha (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:40, 29 August 2018 (UTC).
HINT:
While our university course uses the APA Manual of Style, that is not used on Wikipedia. You may find the Wikipedia Manual of Style helpful.
If you did not see the Using talk pages and the Wiki markup cheatsheet during the first week, now may be a good time to see them...
OPTIONAL:
You may want to put a This is a new user template, Newbie-biting template, and / or User student template on your own User page.
Please review that you completed all 5 parts of the assignment (meeting the 3 Learning Objectives) in order to receive the extra credit for Week 3.
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 17 April 2018 | Thursday, 19 April 2018
- Assignment - Contribute to one article (4/15-4/21)
Complete the 5 parts to this week's assignment. Make sure you are signed into Wikipedia before doing any of the work. Please read this assignment in its entirety before starting it. While this is extra credit, it is intended to be completed on an ongoing basis, so the final date this week's work will be accepted will be 4/29.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR WEEK 4
By the end of Week 4, students will be able to:
- Edit at least one article on Wikipedia (and include an edit summary and sign it via Samantha (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:40, 29 August 2018 (UTC))
- Insert a citation to provide evidence for the Wikipedia edit
- Identify elements of plagiarism and how to avoid it
- Post and sign a new section message on the professor's Talk page with a link to their edit
This week, you will familiarize yourself with editing Wikipedia by adding adding or editing a citation to an article.
- Assign yourself a new (different) article through the Wiki Edu dashboard.
- Add 1-2 sentences to it. These edits should help enhance or benefit an article, and can ideally be based on the research you are finding through your coursework.
- Be sure to provide citations (the DOI will be helpful when doing this) for your work, as all statements made on Wikipedia should be reliable and verifiable.
- Create a new section (including the assignment / week and your Wikipedia name) at the end of the professor's Talk page with a descriptive title and then a brief summary of the edits you did with a link to the article and a link to the changes (called diffs in Wikipedia language) to your article.
- Ensure you complete the Plagiarism training module (below) , as this will help in ensuring the edits you are making will not accidentally be plagiarism.
HINT:
You may find the Wikipedia editing in under 25 mins video useful, especially related to the Visual editor. Likewise, the Wikipedia Manual of Style is helpful, as are the Editing Basics training (linked below) and the Editing Wikipedia documentation may help.
OPTIONAL:
Want to see how this can work in new areas outside your areas of expertise? Check out the Citation Hunt tool, which 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.
Please review that you completed all 5 parts of the assignment (meeting the 4 Learning Objectives) in order to receive the extra credit for Week 4.
- Again, we introduce Intertwine, a video conferencing tool where you will do an hour-long edit-a-thon to improve a fun Wikipedia article with peer editors enrolled in other courses. Sign up for a session here using the Intertwine training module below.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 24 April 2018 | Thursday, 26 April 2018
- Assignment - Contribute to two more articles (4/22-4/28)
Complete the 4 parts to this week's assignment. Make sure you are signed into Wikipedia before doing any of the work. Please read this assignment in its entirety before starting it. While this is extra credit, it is intended to be completed on an ongoing basis, so the final date this week's work will be accepted will be 4/29.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR WEEK 5
By the end of Week 5, students will be able to:
- Edit at least two articles on Wikipedia (and include edit summaries + signing them via Samantha (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:40, 29 August 2018 (UTC))
- Insert citations to provide evidence for the Wikipedia edits
- Post and sign a new section message on the professor's Talk page with links to their edits
Based on the literature you are reading for your course project, add 1-2 sentences to any two course-related articles on Wikipedia, and cite the statement(s) to a reliable source, as you learned in the online training. This is the same task as last week, but you are doing it to two articles on Wikipedia based on any of the work you are doing for our course content.
- Assign yourself at least two new (different) articles through the Wiki Edu dashboard.
- Add 1-2 sentences to them. These edits should help enhance or benefit the articles, and can ideally be based on the research you are finding through your coursework.
- Be sure to provide citations (the DOI will be helpful when doing this) for your work, as all statements made on Wikipedia should be reliableand verifiable.
- Create a new section (including the assignment / week and your Wikipedia name) at the end of the professor's Talk page with a descriptive title and then a brief summary of the edits you did with a link to the articles and links to the changes (called diffs in Wikipedia language) to your article.
HINT:
You may find the Wikipedia editing in under 25 mins video useful, especially related to the Visual editor. Likewise, the Wikipedia Manual of Style is helpful, as are the Editing Basics training (linked below) and the Editing Wikipedia documentation may help.
Please review that you completed all 4 parts of the assignment (meeting the 3 Learning Objectives) in order to receive the extra credit for Week 5.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 1 May 2018 | Thursday, 3 May 2018
- Assignment - Contribute to two more articles ~ OR ~ Illustrate an article (4/29-5/3)
Complete the 7+- parts to this week's assignment. Make sure you are signed into Wikipedia before doing any of the work. Please read this assignment in its entirety before starting it.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR WEEK 6
By the end of Week 6, students will be able to:
- Edit at least two articles on Wikipedia (and include edit summaries + signing them via Samantha (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:40, 29 August 2018 (UTC))
OR
- Locate or create an appropriate photo, illustration, or piece of video/audio to add to an article.
- Insert citations to provide evidence for the Wikipedia edits
- Post and sign a new section message on the professor's Talk page with links to their edits
You will either repeat the same assignment as last week with two additional articles OR add visuals to an article on Wikipedia.
- Before you start, review the Illustrating Wikipedia handbook or see Editing Wikipedia pages 10–11.
- Take the "Contributing Images and Media Files" training below (regardless of which option you select).
- Assign yourself at least two new (different) articles through the Wiki Edu dashboard. Then complete either #4 & #7 (+#8) or #5-#7 (+#8) below.
- Add 1-2 sentences to them. These edits should help enhance or benefit the articles, and can ideally be based on the research you are finding through your coursework. Be sure to provide citations (the DOI will be helpful when doing this) for your work, as all statements made on Wikipedia should be reliableand verifiable.
- If you are working with visuals and images, remember: Never grab images you find through an image search (like Google Images) nor those found on Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, or even so-called "Free image" or "free stock photo" websites. Instead, you'll want to find images with clear proof that the creator has given permission to use their work. Many of these images can be found on search.creativecommons.org. Upload the image to Wikipedia's sister site for images, Wikimedia Commons. For instructions, read through the Illustrating Wikipedia handbook.
- Insert your image from Wikimedia Commons to the article that you believe can benefit from the image.
- Post a new section to the end of the professor's Talk page with a descriptive title and then a brief summary of the edits you did with a link to the article.
- ** BONUS ** (one EXTRA point!)
Post a new section to the end of the professor's Talk page stating:
- What your experience was like (overall) with this Wikipedia course assignment.
- What you learned.
- Why / why not you intend to continue editing on Wikipedia.
Please review that you completed all parts of the assignment (meeting the 4 Learning Objectives) in order to receive the extra credit for Week 6.
- 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.