Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Grinnell College/Language Change (Spring 2016)
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- Course name
- Language Change
- Institution
- Grinnell College
- Instructor
- Cynthia Hansen
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Historical linguistics
- Course dates
- 2016-01-25 – 2016-05-23
- Approximate number of student editors
- 8
This course investigates the nature of language change and the principles developed by linguists to account for these changes. We will examine the various domains in which change occurs (phonological, morphological, syntactic, and lexical/semantic), and the social and linguistic motivations for change. We will also learn the methods linguists use to determine the earlier profile – the sounds, vocabulary, and grammar – of a language or its parent language, before identified changes occurred. Finally, we will explore how linguistic clues may be used to make hypotheses about the cultures of speakers in the past.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
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- Wednesday, 3 February 2016 | Friday, 5 February 2016
- In class - Wikipedia essentials
- 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
- In class - Editing basics
- 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, Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Practicing the basics
- Create an account and join this course page.
- Complete the introductory training modules. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
- Create a User page.
- To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk 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.
- Milestones
All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.
Week 2
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 8 February 2016 | Wednesday, 10 February 2016 | Friday, 12 February 2016
- In class - Exploring the topic area
- Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
Handouts: Choosing an article
Week 3
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 15 February 2016 | Wednesday, 17 February 2016 | Friday, 19 February 2016
Week 4
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 22 February 2016 | Wednesday, 24 February 2016 | Friday, 26 February 2016
- In class - Using sources
- Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/sources|Sources and Citations]]
- Assignment - Add to an article
- Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.
Week 5
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 29 February 2016 | Wednesday, 2 March 2016 | Friday, 4 March 2016
- Assignment - Choosing your article
- 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.
- In class - Wikipedia culture and etiquette
- 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.
Week 6
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 7 March 2016 | Wednesday, 9 March 2016 | Friday, 11 March 2016
- In class - Discuss the article topics
- Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.
Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/sandboxes|Sandboxes and Mainspace]]
- Assignment - Finalize your topic and start researching
- Select an article to work on, removing the rest from your user page. Add your topic on the 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.
- Assignment - Drafting starter articles
- 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 7
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 14 March 2016 | Wednesday, 16 March 2016 | Friday, 18 March 2016
- In class - Moving articles to mainspace
- We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
- 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.
Handout: Moving out of your Sandbox
- Assignment - Moving articles to mainspace
- 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 the instructions in the "Moving out of your sandbox" handout.
- Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
Week 8
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 4 April 2016 | Wednesday, 6 April 2016 | Friday, 8 April 2016
- Assignment - Complete first draft
- Expand your article into a complete first draft.
Week 9
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 11 April 2016 | Wednesday, 13 April 2016 | Friday, 15 April 2016
- In class - Group suggestions
- As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.
Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/peer-review|Peer Review]]
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
- In class - Media literacy discussion
- Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.
- Assignment - Address peer review suggestions
- Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.
Week 10
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 18 April 2016 | Wednesday, 20 April 2016 | Friday, 22 April 2016
- In class - Discuss further article improvements
- Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.
- Assignment - Continue improving articles
- Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.
- Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.
Week 11
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 25 April 2016 | Wednesday, 27 April 2016 | Friday, 29 April 2016
- Assignment - Final article
- Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.
Handout: Polishing your article
- Assignment - Original analytical paper
- Write a paper going beyond your Wikipedia article to advance your own ideas, arguments, and original research about your topic.
Week 12
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 2 May 2016 | Wednesday, 4 May 2016 | Friday, 6 May 2016
- Milestones
Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.