Wikipedia:WikiProject United States Public Policy/Courses/Spring 2011/Advanced Seminar in Political Communication (Robert Mann)

Course description

This course explores political and public affairs communications strategy, how it evolves, how it translates into political communications planning, and how it adapts as campaign factors alter the landscape after the campaign is engaged. The primary focus of the course will be strategy in political campaigns. The course will also address the role of the communications director in other politically related environments, such as congressional staff, issue campaigns and within advocacy groups. The course will focus on writing for political campaigns, i.e., on-line communications plans, audience targeting, messaging to specific audiences, press releases, TV advertising, statements and speeches.

Assignment overview

Each student will select an actual forthcoming 2011 gubernatorial, lieutenant governor or attorney general campaign of his or her choosing in Louisiana, Mississippi or Kentucky (there is also a governor’s race in West Virginia this year). Throughout the semester, students will complete a series of assignments (creating a media plan, TV spot, memos, press releases, etc.) that follow the natural progression of developing a campaign strategy and message using the real information related to the political campaign they selected. To prepare for these assignments, students will first research and edit Wikipedia articles on a U.S. domestic public policy issue that relates to the campaign they have chosen.

The Wikipedia portion of this course will allow students to engage in meaningful, scholarly research and worldwide knowledge dissemination on U.S. domestic policy. It will also enable students a unique opportunity to participate in dialogue with others outside of LSU about policy topics in which they are personally interested.

Assignment timeline

NOTE: The below timeline only describes the assignments specifically related to Wikipedia and is subject to change at the discretion of the professor. Please see the syllabus for the full course timeline and requirements.

Week 1, Jan. 17	Introduction/Overview of course/Introduction to Wikipedia portion of the course Reading for Thursday: “Welcome to Wikipedia”
Week 2, Jan. 24	Readings: “Wikipedia: Five pillars” By Tuesday: Submit name of gubernatorial candidate you have chosen for your semester’s writing assignments
Week 3, Jan. 31	By Tuesday, each student should have created a Wikipedia account and added their name to the Student section of our Wikipedia Course Page. Readings: "Wikipedia tutorial" and "How to edit a page" Video tutorial on creating a user account
Week 5, Feb. 14	Due on Tuesday: 1) Critically evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to an issue that will be discussed in your chosen gubernatorial campaign. Leave suggestions for improving it on the article’s discussion page. Submit printed copy of suggestions to the professor. 2) Research and list 3-5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main Wikipedia project. Submit printed copy to the professor. Ask our Campus Ambassador for comments and support as needed.
Week 6, Feb. 21	By Thursday: Decide which article you will work on and list it under your name on the Student section of our Wikipedia Course Page. Compile a bibliography of relevant sources, and begin researching the topic. Readings: “Referencing on Wikipedia”
Week 7, Feb. 28	By Thursday: Write a 3-4 paragraph summary version of your article (with citations) in your Wikipedia sandbox; share a printed copy with your professor. Begin working with our Campus Ambassador to polish your short starter article and fix any major transgressions of Wikipedia norms; continue research in preparation for expanding your article. Readings: Wikipedia: “Moving Out of the Sandbox”
Week 10, Mar. 21	By Thursday: Expand your article into an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of the topic; share printed copy with the professor.
Week 11, Mar. 28	By Thursday: Peer review two classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions and comments on those classmates’ article discussion pages; copy-edit peers’ articles; print out and share all comments with the professor.
Week 12, Apr. 4	By Thursday: Revise your article based on peers’ feedback; nominate your article for “Good Article” status; prepare for in-class presentation about your Wikipedia-editing experience.
Week 13, Apr. 11	First draft of Wikipedia article due on Tuesday
Week 16, May 2	Final version of Wikipedia article due on Tuesday Tuesday and Thursday: in-class presentations on Wikipedia articles

Students

This is a list of MC4520 students' Wikipedia usernames and links to their respective Wikipedia articles on which they will be working.

Live Articles

• Emilyhholden (talk · contribs) - Minimum Foundation Program
• Seth Irby (talk · contribs) - Louisiana's Film Industry
• Ashcarv (talk · contribs) - Back to Work Coalition
• khigdo2 (talk · contribs) - Education in Kentucky
• John_rb11 (talk · contribs) - FCC Open Internet Order 2010
• awomb (talk · contribs) - Illegal Immigration in Mississippi
• DCamille (talk · contribs) - Graduation Completion Rates and College Drop-outs in the US
• erinfhymel (talk · contribs) - Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force
• Swolf2lsu (talk · contribs) - Anti-Bullying Legislation

Draft Articles

• mdevil5 (talk · contribs)
• Jtaylorjohnson (talk · contribs) - Draft of "Kentucky Education Association"
• Sammy_nichole (talk · contribs) - Draft of "The Kemper Project"
• nkobet1 (talk · contribs) - Draft of "Major Education Reform"
• rmill39 (talk · contribs) - Draft of "Kentucky Education Reform"
• kadam28 (talk · contribs) - Draft of "Mississippi and Education"

Quick Resources for Students

• Wikipedia:Creating an account - Explains how and why to make a Wikipedia account
• Wikipedia:Starting an article - Explains how to create an article
• Wikipedia:How to edit a page - Explains the basics on article editing
• Wikipedia:Verifiability - Everything in Wikipedia that must be verifiable or else it will be removed.
• Wikipedia:References - Explains how to cite references
• WP:Reliable Sources - Explains what is and how to use reliable sources in order to verify your claims
• Wikipedia:Tutorial/Editing - Takes all the things above and gives you tutorials on how to do them

Campus Ambassador

The campus ambassador for this course is Dylan Staley.