Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/George Washington University/Public Opinion about US Foreign Policy (Spring 2018)
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- Course name
- Public Opinion about US Foreign Policy
- Institution
- George Washington University
- Instructor
- Rachel Stein
- Wikipedia Expert
- Shalor (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Course dates
- 2018-01-16 00:00:00 UTC – 2018-05-26 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 19
What do Americans think about U.S. foreign policy? How do they form their opinions about complex issues and events that they often know very little about? And how do those opinions influence the foreign policy-making process, if they do at all? This course will introduce students to the academic study of public opinion about foreign affairs as we explore these questions in several different policy areas including the use of U.S. military force abroad, international trade, foreign aid, and the environment.
Timeline
Week 2
- Course meetings
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- Friday, 26 January 2018
- In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia project
Welcome to your Wikipedia project's course timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for your course by breaking down writing a Wikipedia article into a series of steps. These steps include online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia.
Your course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the "Get Help" button on this page.
To get started, please review the following handouts:
- Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia
- Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (To avoid hitting Wikipedia's account creation limits, this is best done outside of class. Only 6 new accounts may be created per day from the same IP address.)
- It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online trainings you'll need to take. New modules will appear on this timeline as you get to new milestones. Be sure to check back and complete them! Incomplete trainings will be reflected in your grade.
- When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s Talk page.
- Milestones
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 2 February 2018
- Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia
It's time to think critically about Wikipedia articles. You'll evaluate a Wikipedia article related to the course and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's Talk page.
- Complete the "Evaluating Articles and Sources" training (linked below).
- Create a section in your sandbox titled "Article evaluation" where you'll leave notes about your observations and learnings.
- Choose an article on Wikipedia related to the course to read and evaluate (your article should be about public opinion about some aspect of U.S. foreign policy, past or present). As you read your articles, consider the following questions (but don't feel limited to these):
- Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
- Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
- Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
- Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
- Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
- Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
- Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
- How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
- How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 9 February 2018
- Assignment - Add to an article
Familiarize yourself with editing Wikipedia by adding a citation to an article. There are two ways you can do this:
- Add 1-2 sentences to a course-related article, and cite that statement to a reliable source, as you learned in the online training.
- The Citation Hunt tool shows unreferenced statements from articles. First, evaluate whether the statement in question is true! An uncited statement could just be lacking a reference or it could be inaccurate or misleading. Reliable sources on the subject will help you choose whether to add it or correct the statement.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 16 February 2018
- Assignment - Propose a topic
Getting started:
- Review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook.
- Look up 3-5 potential topics related to the course that you might want to update on Wikipedia. If no article exists, consider whether topic is "notable" enough to deserve its own Wikipedia article. Consult our Wikipedia content expert if you need help. If an article does exist, review the contents and check the Talk page to see what other Wikipedians are already contributing. Think about what material you can add to the article as well as other ways you might improve it.
- Investigate the availability of sources that you can add or include in your article.
- Choose one topic and write a short proposal (no more than one page). The proposal should explain why this topic needs to be added or expanded and describe what sources you plan to use. You will turn in your proposal via e-mail by 6pm on 2/16 .
Things to keep in mind when choosing your topic:
- Your topic should be relevant to the course. In other words, it should relate to some aspect of public opinion about U.S. foreign policy. You may choose a contemporary or historical topic.
- Your topic should be one that is underdeveloped or not covered at all on Wikipedia.
- Your topic should have a sufficient number of sources. You should be able to add/include a minimum of 5 new sources, at least one of which must be an academic book or journal article.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 23 February 2018
- Assignment - Finalize your topic / Find your sources
Finalize your topic:
- You will receive feedback on your proposal from Professor Stein. Once you have made any necessary revisions, go to the Students tab and assign your chosen topic to yourself.
Find your sources:
- Compile a list of relevant polling data, scholarly books and journal articles, or other sources.
- Post that bibliography to the talk page of the article you'll be working on, and in your sandbox. Make sure to check in on the Talk page to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 2 March 2018
- Assignment - Begin drafting your article
You've picked a topic and found your sources. Now it's time to start writing.
Creating a new article?
- Write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section." Write it in your sandbox.
- A "lead" section is not a traditional introduction. It should summarize, very briefly, what the rest of the article will say in detail. The first paragraph should include important, broad facts about the subject. A good example is Ada Lovelace. See Editing Wikipedia page 9 for more ideas.
Improving an existing article?
- Identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Make notes for improvement in your sandbox.
Keep reading your sources, too, as you prepare to write the body of the article.
Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9
- Milestones
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 9 March 2018
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 23 March 2018
- In class - Start drafting your article
You've picked a topic and found your sources. Now it's time to start writing.
Creating a new article?
- Write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section." Write it in your sandbox.
- A "lead" section is not a traditional introduction. It should summarize, very briefly, what the rest of the article will say in detail. The first paragraph should include important, broad facts about the subject. A good example is Ada Lovelace. See Editing Wikipedia page 9 for more ideas.
Improving an existing article?
- Identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Make notes for improvement in your sandbox.
Keep reading your sources, too, as you prepare to write the body of the article.
Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 30 March 2018
- Assignment - Continue drafting your article
This week, you should continue drafting your article. The quality of your work will depend on the quality of your sources, so please post a list of your sources in your sandbox by 5pm on 3/26 so that I can give you feedback.
You should also take the Wikipedia training module on avoiding plagiarism.
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 6 April 2018
- In class - Peer review activity
By now you should have a working draft of the content you are planning to add to Wikipedia. To help ensure that your content meets Wikipedia's standards, we will be doing a peer review activity in class on 4/2. Please bring a printed copy of your draft with you to class.
Week 12
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 13 April 2018
- Assignment - Respond to your peer review
You now have some feedback from your fellow students. It's time to work with that feedback to improve your article!
- Read Editing Wikipedia pages 12 and 14.
- Return to your draft or article and think about the suggestions. Decide which ones to start implementing. Reach out to your instructor or your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.
Week 13
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 20 April 2018
- Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia
Once you've made improvements to your article based on peer review feedback, it's time to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the "mainspace."
Editing an existing article?
- NEVER copy and paste your draft of an article over the entire article. Instead, edit small sections at a time.
- Copy your edits into the article. Make many small edits, saving each time, and leaving an edit summary. Never replace more than one to two sentences without saving!
- Be sure to copy text from your sandbox while the sandbox page is in 'Edit' mode. This ensures that the formatting is transferred correctly.
Creating a new article?
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 13, and follow those steps to move your article from your Sandbox to Mainspace.
- You can also review the [[../../../training/students/sandboxes|Sandboxes and Mainspace]] online training.
Week 14
- Course meetings
-
- Friday, 27 April 2018
- Assignment - Final article
It's the final week to develop your article.
- Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards.
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 12 to see how to create links from your article to others, and from other articles to your own. Try to link to 3–5 articles, and link to your article from 2–3 other articles.
- 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!
- Milestones
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading by 5pm on 4/23.