Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Georgetown University/WRIT 015-10- Banned and Challenged Books (Spring 2021)

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Course name
WRIT 015-10- Banned and Challenged Books
Institution
Georgetown University
Instructor
Lisbeth Fuisz
Wikipedia Expert
Ian (Wiki Ed)
Subject
writing and culture
Course dates
2021-01-26 00:00:00 UTC – 2021-05-19 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
15


This class examines censorship in U.S. public schools and libraries. Hundreds of challenges are made yearly to texts for containing sexually explicit material, violence, homosexuality, anti-family sentiment, offensive language and Satanic themes, amongst others. This class will explore what is at stake in these arguments over appropriate reading materials. Students will share their growing knowledge about book censorship with a wider audience through their contributions to Wikipedia.

Student Assigned Reviewing
Demellozach2 The Boys in the Boat
Spkarp Curious George (book)
Amycazares Heather Has Two Mommies
Hoya38 Alexandra Botez
Ccoyle1231 National legion of decency
Student.Madeline The Witches (novel)
Alexycorrales My Brother Sam Is Dead
Oliviajones14 Matriarchy
Dg954 George (novel)
Emilyc6411 All American Boys
Anthonyabat Boy Erased
NinoBarbati The Sellout (novel)
Saconway22 The Glass Castle
Dma90 Climate change and cities
JE215 Pansexuality

Timeline

Week 1

Course meetings
Wednesday, 27 January 2021
Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. 

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:

Week 2

Course meetings
Monday, 1 February 2021   |   Wednesday, 3 February 2021

Week 3

Course meetings
Monday, 8 February 2021   |   Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia

Please complete these trainings. Each training is worth 10 points towards your Wikipedia Project, Phase One grade. 

In class - Discussion

Week 4

Course meetings
Monday, 15 February 2021   |   Wednesday, 17 February 2021
Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia

Go slowly and be sure to complete the practice activities contained in the training "How to edit," which has two tutorials to complete (see pages 10 and 17 within the training). These trainings count 10 points each towards your Wikipedia Project, Phase One grade.

Week 5

Course meetings
Monday, 22 February 2021   |   Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Assignment - Evaluate a Wikipedia article (Exercise)

Week 6

Course meetings
Monday, 1 March 2021   |   Wednesday, 3 March 2021

Week 7

Course meetings
Monday, 8 March 2021   |   Wednesday, 10 March 2021

Week 8

Course meetings
Monday, 15 March 2021   |   Wednesday, 17 March 2021

Week 9

Course meetings
Monday, 22 March 2021   |   Wednesday, 24 March 2021
Assignment - Edit to a Wikipedia article

Complete one activity in Wikipedia. This is worth 10 points towards your Wikipedia Project, Phase One grade. Pick one Wikipedia article to which to make a live edit.  Be sure that you are signed into your Wikipedia account. Pick a small issue to fix (italicize a title, put a period inside a quotation mark, fix a proofreading error, etc.). Or add a “citation needed” tag to a sentence that is not sourced. Directions for adding a citation needed tag are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed (Links to an external site.).

To receive full credit, you must include an “edit summary” that explains what you did. What was your exigence for making this edit?

 

In class - Discussion

Week 10

Course meetings
Monday, 5 April 2021   |   Wednesday, 7 April 2021
Assignment - Choose possible topics

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

The training is worth 10 points and the exercise is worth 30 points towards the Wikipedia Project, Phase One.

In the "Choose your article" exercise, be sure that on page 3, you click on the the link to "Article Selection." Clicking that link opens a template with 5 options. Be sure that you click "publish changes" to save this page. Come up with three new options of articles you would be willing to work on for Wikipedia Project, Phase Two. If there is an article(s) that you've already evaluated, it/they can be options #4-5. These should be articles rated stub or start class that have content gaps and other problems, offering you avenues to improve the article. In consultation with me, you will select one article to work on for the rest of the semester.

To find potential sources for the articles, please search in a database we have access to through GU, ProQuest Central: ProQuest Central. You must be logged in to GU to search this database.

Week 11

Course meetings
Monday, 12 April 2021   |   Wednesday, 14 April 2021
Assignment - Add to an article

The training is worth 10 points towards the Wikipedia Project, Phase One

 

In class - Discussion

Week 12

Course meetings
Monday, 19 April 2021   |   Wednesday, 21 April 2021
Assignment - Exercise

Please complete by class time on Wed., April 21, 2021.

Assignment - Start drafting your contributions

Please complete this training as you start to draft your new content for the Wikipedia article. It is worth 10 points towards Phase 1 of the Wikipedia Project.

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

Milestones

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 13

Course meetings
Monday, 26 April 2021   |   Wednesday, 28 April 2021
Assignment - Peer review two articles

Guiding framework

Milestones

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

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 14

Course meetings
Monday, 3 May 2021   |   Wednesday, 5 May 2021
In class - Directions on how to add Wikilinks

Please see directions on page 1 of this exercise.

Assignment - Continue improving your article

Please complete this training by class time on Monday, May 3, 2021. It is worth 10 points towards Phase One of the Wikipedia Project.

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.

In class - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia

Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, move your draft into the appropriate sandbox. Add Wikipedia style citations. 

Once your draft is in the sandbox, you can begin to move it sentence by sentence or small chunk by small chunk into the mainspace of the article, following directions on pages 2-3 in the training listed above.

The training is worth 10 points towards Phase 1 of the Wikipedia Project.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Week 15

Course meetings
Monday, 10 May 2021
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!
Assignment - Reflective essay
Milestones

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