Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Skidmore College/Asian Religions in America (Fall 2022)

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Course name
Asian Religions in America
Institution
Skidmore College
Instructor
Eliza Kent
Wikipedia Expert
Ian (Wiki Ed)
Subject
Religious Studies
Course dates
2022-09-07 00:00:00 UTC – 2022-12-14 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
16


Our course investigates the history of Asian Religions in the US from the 18th century to the present day. Among the core learning goals of the course is to understand the history of (mis)representation of Asian Americans - from the racist caricatures that helped bolster support for the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1824 to the romanticized views of Eastern spirituality that informed 1960s counter-culture. Although they have a long history, they continue to inform culture and policy in the US today. This Wikipedia assignment presents us with an invitation to reflect on whose knowledge about Asian American religion is centered in Wikipedia. By contributing to existing articles, we will contribute to more responsible knowledge production about Asian religions in the US.

Student Assigned Reviewing
Jlharry12345 Buddhism in the United States, Persecution of Buddhists Hinduism in the United States, Mettā Forest Monastery
SChapter Shaolin Monastery 2016–17 California textbook controversy over South Asian topics, Buddhism in the United States
User20232 Sikhs for Justice Secular Buddhism, Buddhism in the West
SoloMunn Sikhism in the United States Sikhs for Justice, Dalip Singh Saund
Skidepedia23 Bhagat Singh Thind Shaolin Monastery, California textbook controversy over Hindu history
Beabeets Bell hooks Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery, Plum Village Monastery
Stormageddon623 2016–17 California textbook controversy over South Asian topics Bell hooks, Khalistan movement
Bootlegcleopatra Sikhs in the United States military Sikhism in the United States, Pali Text Society
Earlgray68 Mettā Forest Monastery Sikhs in the United States military, Murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi
RyGuyVerve Plum Village Monastery Bhagat Singh Thind, Hinduism in the United States
Beanguy2273
Natanxoza Dalip Singh Saund 2016–17 California textbook controversy over South Asian topics, Buddhism in the United States
The Purple Hamster Murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi Shaolin Monastery, California textbook controversy over Hindu history
Wifi22 Secular Buddhism Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery, Bell hooks
Dogwalker25 Khalistan movement Plum Village Monastery, Pali Text Society
Savoryyyy Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery Khalistan movement, Sikhs in the United States military
Wife.of.mothman Pali Text Society Sikhism in the United States, Buddhism in the West
IdekoTo Hinduism in the United States Murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi, Bhagat Singh Thind
Thewulk Buddhism in the West Hinduism in the United States, Sikhs for Justice
Coop444 Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting Dalip Singh Saund, Sikhs for Justice

Timeline

Week 3

Course meetings
Monday, 19 September 2022   |   Wednesday, 21 September 2022   |   Friday, 23 September 2022
In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment

Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:

Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 4

Course meetings
Monday, 26 September 2022   |   Wednesday, 28 September 2022   |   Friday, 30 September 2022
Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia
In class - Discussion

Week 5

Course meetings
Monday, 3 October 2022   |   Wednesday, 5 October 2022   |   Friday, 7 October 2022
Assignment - Exercise
In class - Discussion
Guide(s) for writing articles in your topic area

Cultural Anthropology

Films

History

Political Science

Sociology

Women's Studies

Week 6

Course meetings
Wednesday, 12 October 2022   |   Friday, 14 October 2022
Assignment - Add to an article

Week 7

Course meetings
Monday, 17 October 2022   |   Wednesday, 19 October 2022   |   Friday, 21 October 2022
In class - Breathe! What do you have to get caught up on?

What do you need to get caught up on?  Training modules?  Finding sources? Reading sources so you can feel confident about the big picture and the changes you'd like to make to the page?  Sleep? 

 

Week 8

Course meetings
Monday, 24 October 2022   |   Wednesday, 26 October 2022   |   Friday, 28 October 2022
Assignment - Send Prof. Kent Your Revision Plan and Bibliography

 

By 10/24 please send me a short essay (1-2 pages) with your plan for how you will improve the page you have selected.  In addition, please include a bibliography with your sources (at least 8).

The short essay (1-2 pages), to be submitted via theSpring, should answer: 

  • Which Wiki page you chose (include URL) and where and why it is problematic. 
  • How you will use at least one of the sources you have collected to make the Wiki page better. What you will do to make it better: Will you add content? Rearrange content? Delete content? Add references to existing content? Be concrete regarding specific changes you will make ("I'll make it less biased" - that's vague. "I'll add information on Pandita’s social activism in the 1880s” - that's concrete). Make sure you explain why these changes are important.

The bibliography should contain at least 8 sources, with all the necessary publication information in whatever format you know best (MLA in-text citation format is the default for our class). These sources may be:

·      An entry from specialized scholarly dictionary or encyclopedia

·      A scholarly book

·      A scholarly journal article

·      A scholarly essay from edited volume of essays

·      No more than 2 sources may be on-line sources (blog, media report, on-line popular reference such as the Pluralism Project pages, etc.)

 

 

Week 9

Course meetings
Monday, 31 October 2022   |   Wednesday, 2 November 2022   |   Friday, 4 November 2022
Assignment - Tell the Wikipedia Community What You Will Do

 

 

By now you have gathered relevant sources, received feedback from me and have a clear idea of what you will edit. The next stage is to inform the Wikipedia community of your plans. 

 

By 10/31: Communicate your plan to the Wikipedia Community on the Article’s talk page

In the article’s Talk Page, write several sentences on what you intend to do. How to find the Talk Page? Every Wiki article, on the top left, has an "Article" tab and a "Talk" tab. You need the latter. If you're still confused, go back to the initial tutorial, which speaks about Talk Pages in general. 

  • Be detailed regarding what needs adding, what needs correcting, and what sources you'll add. This is a shorter description than in the paper you wrote for me, but aim for a meaty paragraph with concrete details. State your exact references.  State who the author of your secondary source is and why that author is credible (professor of... a peer-reviewed publication... an expert on...). 
  • Be courteous (not "this article is rambling" but "this article could use some clarification").
  • Be neutral (not “this is biased and I’m going to fix it,” which suggests you have the opposite bias – but rather “there is wrong or missing information here and I’m going to correct or add it”).
  • State the scope of your changes ("altogether I'll add about 200-300 words"; “ altogether I’ll add five sources”)
  • End your plan with an invitation to other Wiki editors to weigh in on your changes, e.g. “If anyone wants to comment on these changes, please let me know on this Talk Page or on my Talk Page.” Make sure you do this while you’re logged in, and sign after your post (Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:17, 13 December 2022 (UTC)).[reply]

 

 

Week 10

Course meetings
Monday, 7 November 2022   |   Wednesday, 9 November 2022   |   Friday, 11 November 2022
Assignment - Warm up exercise for Peer Review (which will take place next week)

 

When you are logged in, leave a message on the Talk page of a classmate. How? Go to the list of enrolled students; under/next to each student name you'll see a username in parentheses (e.g. Ziegenbalg66) Copy-paste that name at the end of this url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/user_talk: (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/user_talk:Ziegenbalg66On upper right, select Edit tab. Add your sentence at the bottom of editable box. Keep it anonymous and neutral (e.g. “Hi, I’m a new Wikipedia user”). At the end of your sentence, add 4 tildes Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:17, 13 December 2022 (UTC). That ties the contribution to your username, like a signature. [reply]

 

Milestones

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Assignment - Start drafting your contributions

By 11/07, you will have drafted in your sandbox  at least 200-300 words of new text and added at least 5 new citations or references.  Recall that ultimately, you will have to add 10 new references, so if you can do more, keep going!

Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have questions using the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

In class - Discussion

Week 11

Course meetings
Monday, 14 November 2022   |   Wednesday, 16 November 2022   |   Friday, 18 November 2022
Assignment - Peer review two articles

Guiding frameworkOnce you've done the training module that describes the guiding framework for peer reviewing your fellow students' work, go and read their article very carefully.  Also, read they plan they have communicated on their Wiki article's talk page (Week 8), and read the section(s) they have edited in their sandbox.  Then, leave a message for them on their user talk page (at least 100 words), indicating: 1) what they did well, 2) what changes you would suggest, 3) what is the most important thing they could do to improve the article, 4) something that you learned from reading their article and plan for revising it that you could apply to your own work. 

Milestones

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

In class -

Week 12

Course meetings
Monday, 21 November 2022
Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia

Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace."

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Assignment - Respond to your peer review

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Resources:

  • Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
  • Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.

Week 13

Course meetings
Monday, 28 November 2022   |   Wednesday, 30 November 2022   |   Friday, 2 December 2022
Assignment - Continue improving your article

Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

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!

Assignment - Final article

It's the final week to develop your article.

  • 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!

Week 14

Course meetings
Monday, 5 December 2022   |   Wednesday, 7 December 2022   |   Friday, 9 December 2022
Assignment - Reflective essay

Guidelines coming to this space soon!

Milestones

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.