Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Everett Community College/English Composition 3748 (Fall)
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- Course name
- English Composition 3748
- Institution
- Everett Community College
- Instructor
- Steven Arntson
- Wikipedia Expert
- Shalor (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- English Composition
- Course dates
- 2018-09-24 00:00:00 UTC – 2018-12-05 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 25
The Wikipedia element of English Composition will involve basic learning about the policies and procedures of the encyclopedia, critiquing an article, and making a small improvement to an article. Complete specifications are located in our Canvas shell.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 24 September 2018 | Wednesday, 26 September 2018
- In class - Getting Started
Read this short overview: Evaluating Wikipedia
Week 2
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 1 October 2018 | Wednesday, 3 October 2018
- In class -
Week 3
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 8 October 2018 | Wednesday, 10 October 2018
- In class - Article Critique
For this assignment, you'll evaluate a Wikipedia article by posting an essay in your Wikipedia userspace and by making (or suggesting) a change to the article. Consider three of the following questions (you choose which three):
Citations
- Is each fact cited with an appropriate, reliable source?
- Are any of the sources biased?
- Are any of the links dead (click them, to see)?
Age
- Is the article up-to-date?
- Are the citations as current as possible?
Structure/Completeness
- Is anything left out of the article that should be there?
- Are some viewpoints over-represented or under-represented?
- Are there irrelevant sections or sentences?
Grammar/Voice
- Is the article itself neutral? Are there heavily biased claims or language?
- Are there grammar errors, or informal language?
Selecting an Article
Select an article about a topic that interests you, but keep in mind that some Wikipedia articles are extremely well-developed, and will be difficult to critique. Critiquing the article on Harry Potter or Michael Jackson would be almost impossible given the many hundreds of dedicated and experienced editors who have worked for years to ensure a high degree of excellence. Other subjects are less well covered.
Consider starting with a general area of interest, and follow links until you find an article that has some room for improvement. I might start looking at the Seattle page on Wikipedia, since I live there. I see an article on grunge music, which I follow to the page on the band Gruntruck. This page has some content, but not much. It would be a good article to critique.
Requirements
- Post a ~300-word thesis essay on your user page under the heading "Article Critique" (review the "Editing Basics" training at WikiEdu for a refresher on creating headings).
Use a thesis sentence and thesis format. Since this is our first outing with a thesis sentence, please use this template:
"I visited the _____ page on Wikipedia, and found three aspects of it worth commenting on: _____, _____, and _____."
- Edit for spelling, grammar, and formal language.
- Make a small change to the article to improve it (such as adding a citation, or rewriting a sentence to make it more clear), or post a question on the talk page for the article (and sign with "Bigbidness (talk) 17:13, 1 October 2018 (UTC)" while you're logged in).
Please note that once you submit your work on the due date, I consider it to be your final draft. If you've made a mistake or left something out, you'll have to live with it, so make sure your submission is as accurate and complete as possible.