Need help? Click the "Discussion" tab and leave a question or request, or #wikipedia-en-classroom connect |
WRTC 240 Semester-long Project –Spring 2011
Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative: Writing and Editing for Wikipedia
I am so enthusiastic and excited that during this semester, we will have the opportunity to research, write, and edit for Wikipedia with the guidance of Wikipedia Ambassadors here at JMU. According to the requirements for this project, “Editing Wikipedia is an opportunity for students to write for a real-world audience of thousands of readers and to gain quick feedback from the large community of Wikipedia editors. Students also learn to follow editorial policies and how to collaborate with other editors. Wikipedia-editing, furthermore, has been found to improve students’ media literacy as well as their understanding of scholarly citations.” What this means is that this opportunity more than meets the objectives for my technical writing class.
Following are some of the assignment design mandates that we will follow throughout the semester:
Following is Wikipedia’s proposed schedule of Public Policy activities. Because this is a new project, I am reluctant to change much about Wikipedia’s recommended schedule; however, we will change this schedule during the semester if it makes sense, but we must work within the guidelines of this initiative. In addition, we will work together to figure out the best way to grade these assignments. As first-time Wikipedia contributors and editors, I am going to rely heavily on your input about every aspect of this assignment, including a fair grading schedule.
This is a list of the students in your class (or rather their Wikipedia usernames), along with their Wikipedia articles (which students will select at the appropriate time). Please wiklink the articles where possible.
Item | Preview | Level | Description | Download |
---|---|---|---|---|
Welcome to Wikipedia brochure | Beginner | "Welcome to Wikipedia" gives you a basic introduction into contributing to Wikipedia. You will learn how to create a Wikipedia user account, how to start editing, and how to communicate with other contributors. You will also learn how articles evolve on Wikipedia and how to rate the quality of an existing article. The "Welcome to Wikipedia" brochure contains 17 pages and an additional quick reference that helps you to remember the most frequently used wiki markup commands. | ||
Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia | Beginner | " Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia" is an editorial published in PLoS Computational Biology that gives advice for scientists (also relevant to other scholars and experts) on how to effectively contribute to Wikipedia. | ||
Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure | Beginner | Evaluating Wikipedia article quality is a reference guide with specific steps you can take to get the most out of Wikipedia, as well as a look at how its quality system works. | ||
Introduction to free licenses pamphlet | Beginner | Introduction to free licenses helps you understand the basic concepts of free licenses. It explains the idea of free licenses, as well as terms like "CC-by-SA" and "public domain". |
Item | Preview | Level | Description | Download |
---|---|---|---|---|
Editing reference sheet | Beginner | This one-page quick reference helps you to remember the most frequently used wiki markup commands. | ||
How to get help handout | Beginner | This one-page handout explains the recommended way to get help and feedback for classes supported by Wikipedia Ambassadors: by posting on their course talk page and notifying their mentor. It also includes a glossary of additional help resources students might use. | ||
Citing sources handout | Intermediate | This handout explains why references are important, where to place them, and the basics of adding "ref" tags. | ||
Plagiarism handout | Intermediate | This handout explains what plagiarism is on Wikipedia in addition to why and how to avoid it. | ||
Moving out of your sandbox instructions | Intermediate | This handout walks through how to move an article draft from a userpage sandbox into Wikipedia | ||
File licensing tutorial | Beginner | This short handout explains why and how uploaded files (images) should be licensed. | SVG image | |
Referencing: WikiCode Handout | Beginner | This handout explains the basics of "ref" tags and the "name" parameter as well as "citation templates." | ||
Image uploading handout | Intermediate | This handout explains the basics of uploading an image on the English Wikipedia. | ||
Submitting an article to the Did You Know process instructions | Advanced | This handout walks through how to submit a new or newly expanded article to the Did You Know process so that it will appear on the Main Page. | ||
Visual explanation of the user contribution page | Beginner | Visual explanation of the user contribution page | SVG |
Need help? Click the "Discussion" tab and leave a question or request, or #wikipedia-en-classroom connect |
WRTC 240 Semester-long Project –Spring 2011
Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative: Writing and Editing for Wikipedia
I am so enthusiastic and excited that during this semester, we will have the opportunity to research, write, and edit for Wikipedia with the guidance of Wikipedia Ambassadors here at JMU. According to the requirements for this project, “Editing Wikipedia is an opportunity for students to write for a real-world audience of thousands of readers and to gain quick feedback from the large community of Wikipedia editors. Students also learn to follow editorial policies and how to collaborate with other editors. Wikipedia-editing, furthermore, has been found to improve students’ media literacy as well as their understanding of scholarly citations.” What this means is that this opportunity more than meets the objectives for my technical writing class.
Following are some of the assignment design mandates that we will follow throughout the semester:
Following is Wikipedia’s proposed schedule of Public Policy activities. Because this is a new project, I am reluctant to change much about Wikipedia’s recommended schedule; however, we will change this schedule during the semester if it makes sense, but we must work within the guidelines of this initiative. In addition, we will work together to figure out the best way to grade these assignments. As first-time Wikipedia contributors and editors, I am going to rely heavily on your input about every aspect of this assignment, including a fair grading schedule.
This is a list of the students in your class (or rather their Wikipedia usernames), along with their Wikipedia articles (which students will select at the appropriate time). Please wiklink the articles where possible.
Item | Preview | Level | Description | Download |
---|---|---|---|---|
Welcome to Wikipedia brochure | Beginner | "Welcome to Wikipedia" gives you a basic introduction into contributing to Wikipedia. You will learn how to create a Wikipedia user account, how to start editing, and how to communicate with other contributors. You will also learn how articles evolve on Wikipedia and how to rate the quality of an existing article. The "Welcome to Wikipedia" brochure contains 17 pages and an additional quick reference that helps you to remember the most frequently used wiki markup commands. | ||
Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia | Beginner | " Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia" is an editorial published in PLoS Computational Biology that gives advice for scientists (also relevant to other scholars and experts) on how to effectively contribute to Wikipedia. | ||
Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure | Beginner | Evaluating Wikipedia article quality is a reference guide with specific steps you can take to get the most out of Wikipedia, as well as a look at how its quality system works. | ||
Introduction to free licenses pamphlet | Beginner | Introduction to free licenses helps you understand the basic concepts of free licenses. It explains the idea of free licenses, as well as terms like "CC-by-SA" and "public domain". |
Item | Preview | Level | Description | Download |
---|---|---|---|---|
Editing reference sheet | Beginner | This one-page quick reference helps you to remember the most frequently used wiki markup commands. | ||
How to get help handout | Beginner | This one-page handout explains the recommended way to get help and feedback for classes supported by Wikipedia Ambassadors: by posting on their course talk page and notifying their mentor. It also includes a glossary of additional help resources students might use. | ||
Citing sources handout | Intermediate | This handout explains why references are important, where to place them, and the basics of adding "ref" tags. | ||
Plagiarism handout | Intermediate | This handout explains what plagiarism is on Wikipedia in addition to why and how to avoid it. | ||
Moving out of your sandbox instructions | Intermediate | This handout walks through how to move an article draft from a userpage sandbox into Wikipedia | ||
File licensing tutorial | Beginner | This short handout explains why and how uploaded files (images) should be licensed. | SVG image | |
Referencing: WikiCode Handout | Beginner | This handout explains the basics of "ref" tags and the "name" parameter as well as "citation templates." | ||
Image uploading handout | Intermediate | This handout explains the basics of uploading an image on the English Wikipedia. | ||
Submitting an article to the Did You Know process instructions | Advanced | This handout walks through how to submit a new or newly expanded article to the Did You Know process so that it will appear on the Main Page. | ||
Visual explanation of the user contribution page | Beginner | Visual explanation of the user contribution page | SVG |