Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Murray State University/JMC 397 In-depth Reporting (Spring 2020)

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Course name
JMC 397 In-depth Reporting
Institution
Murray State University
Instructor
Melony Shemberger
Wikipedia Expert
Elysia (Wiki Ed)
Subject
Journalism
Course dates
2020-01-13 00:00:00 UTC – 2020-05-08 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
7


Catalog description: Techniques of news gathering and reporting for print media. Provides both general assignment and beat reporting experiences.

Instructor's description: Reporters often specialize in a certain area or two, making these subjects their “beats" (e.g., education reporting, business journalism, sports, etc.). Students will learn the various forms of specialized reporting and methods of newsgathering in each.

Student Assigned Reviewing
BogerVII
Eshepherd2 History of the Republic of India, East India Company, Political science, Cuisine of Kentucky, Robertson County, Kentucky, Kentucky coffeetree
Gjohnson41
Hannahbbull Vertical farming, History of organic farming, Ecological farming, Farm-to-table, Hot container composting
AshliC Philip Testa, Milwaukee crime family, Genna crime family, D'Aquila crime family
Dwatson98
Kfaughn1

Timeline

Week 3

Course meetings
Tuesday, 28 January 2020   |   Thursday, 30 January 2020
In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment

Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:

Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

Assignment - Wikipedia assignment blog

Begin a blog about your experiences. You can use discussion questions to frame your entries, or reflect on the research and writing process. Create at least one blog entry each week during the Wikipedia assignment.

For JMC 397: Rather than writing a blog, you will participate in Canvas discussion board assignments, which will be a part of the course grade. However, you are welcome to discuss your experiences with Wikipedia on a personal blog that you create.

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 4

Course meetings
Tuesday, 4 February 2020   |   Thursday, 6 February 2020
Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia

Exercise

Evaluate an article

Week 5

Course meetings
Tuesday, 11 February 2020   |   Thursday, 13 February 2020
Assignment - Choose possible topics

Exercise

Choose a topic

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

In class - Discussion

What's a content gap?

Week 6

Course meetings
Tuesday, 18 February 2020   |   Thursday, 20 February 2020
Assignment - Add to an article

Exercise

Add a citation

Assignment - Exercise

Copyedit an article

Week 7

Course meetings
Tuesday, 25 February 2020   |   Thursday, 27 February 2020
Assignment - Start drafting your contributions

Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have questions using the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Milestones

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 8

Course meetings
Tuesday, 3 March 2020   |   Thursday, 5 March 2020
Assignment - Peer review three articles

Guiding framework

In class - Discussion

Thinking about Wikipedia

Milestones

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

Week 9

Course meetings
Tuesday, 10 March 2020   |   Thursday, 12 March 2020
Assignment - Respond to your peer review

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Resources:

  • Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
  • Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.

Week 10

Course meetings
Tuesday, 17 March 2020   |   Thursday, 19 March 2020
Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia

Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace."

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Week 11

Course meetings
Tuesday, 24 March 2020   |   Thursday, 26 March 2020
Assignment - Continue improving your article

Exercise

Add links to your article

Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

Week 12

Course meetings
Tuesday, 31 March 2020   |   Thursday, 2 April 2020
Assignment - Polish your work

Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 13

Course meetings
Tuesday, 7 April 2020   |   Thursday, 9 April 2020
Assignment - Final article

It's the final week to develop your article.

  • 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!
In class - In-class presentation

Guiding questions

Assignment - Reflective essay

Guiding questions

Week 14

Course meetings
Tuesday, 14 April 2020   |   Thursday, 16 April 2020
Milestones

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.