Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Saint Louis University/Evolutionary Biology (Fall 2017)

Welcome to your Wikipedia project's course timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for your course. Be sure to check with your instructor to see if there are other pages you should be following as well.

This page breaks down writing a Wikipedia article into a series of steps, or milestones. These steps include online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia.

Your course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Content 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

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 2

Course meetings

Tuesday, 26 September 2017 | Thursday, 28 September 2017

Assignment - 1. Practicing the basics

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you.
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.

Assignment - 2. Critique an article

It's time to think critically about Wikipedia articles. You'll evaluate a Wikipedia article, and note suggestions for improving it on the article's Talk page.

Complete the "Evaluating Articles and Sources" training (linked below).
Choose an article, and consider some questions (but don't feel limited to these):
- Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
- 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?
- Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
- Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
- Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
- Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
Choose at least 2 questions relevant to the article you're evaluating. Leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:49, 12 December 2017 (UTC). [reply]

Assignment - 3. Choose Topic

Review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook.
Work with your instructor to develop a topic for your wikipedia page.

Assignment - 4. 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.

Assignment - Meet with your instructor to discuss your topic

Meet with your instructor to finalize your topic

Week 3

Course meetings

Tuesday, 3 October 2017 | Thursday, 5 October 2017

Assignment - 5. Find 10 sources

On the Students tab, assign your chosen topic to yourself.
In your sandbox, write a few sentences about what you plan to contribute to the selected article.
- Think back to when you did an article critique in terms of the types of information you would add to a page, and post some ideas in your chosen topic article's talk page.
- Start compiling a list of relevant, reliable books, journal articles, or other sources. Post that bibliography to the talk page of the article you'll be working on, and in your sandbox (you should add 10 sources that have potential to be useful). Make sure to check in on the Talk page to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
- Start building an outline of your article, and post the outline to your sandbox as you develop it (for this week, just a quick sketch of the main topics you want to include is sufficient)

Week 4

Course meetings

Tuesday, 10 October 2017 | Thursday, 12 October 2017

Assignment - 6. Submit 2 annotations

Annotate 2 articles per the form provided by your instructor (email your instructor if you do not yet have the form)

Week 5

Course meetings

Tuesday, 17 October 2017 | Thursday, 19 October 2017

Assignment - 7. Submit remaining annotations

Email the rest of your article annotations to your instructor (using the same form).

Expand your outline to become more comprehensive, noting where specific sources will be used.

Assignment - 8. Make Outline

Provide a sketch of the general areas you will cover in your article and post in your sandbox as well as the article's talk page. If useful, indicate the types of references you will use for different sections.

Week 6

Course meetings

Tuesday, 24 October 2017 | Thursday, 26 October 2017

Assignment - 9. Article summary "lead" section

First steps to creating a new article

Write an outline of your topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section." Write it in your sandbox. (this is not the same as the outline you submitted before, rather it is an official Wikipedia page outline)
- 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 (in fact, you will likely only have 1 paragraph of ~2 sentences). A good example is Ada Lovelace. See Editing Wikipedia page 9 for more ideas.

Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9

Assignment - 10. Draft I: Expand your writing

Keep working on transforming your article into a complete first draft. Get draft ready for peer-review, and post it in your sandbox.
If you'd like a Content Expert to review your draft, now is the time! Click the "Get Help" button in your sandbox to request notes.

Milestones

Week 7

Course meetings

Tuesday, 31 October 2017 | Thursday, 2 November 2017

Week 8

Course meetings

Tuesday, 7 November 2017 | Thursday, 9 November 2017

Assignment - 11. Draft II: Begin moving your work to Wikipedia

You probably have some feedback from your instructor and possibly other Wikipedians. 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 Content Expert if you have any questions.
Indicate how you will address the comments in your talk page

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."

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.

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!

Week 9

Course meetings

Tuesday, 14 November 2017 | Thursday, 16 November 2017

Week 10

Course meetings

Tuesday, 21 November 2017 | Thursday, 23 November 2017

Assignment - 12. Draft III: Continue improving your article

Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on suggestions and your own critique. This will be your third full draft. Also: link your article to two other Wikipedia articles, and link two other Wikipedia articles to yours!

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.
Summarize your improvements, addressing reviewer comments, on the talk page

Week 11

Course meetings

Tuesday, 28 November 2017 | Thursday, 30 November 2017

Assignment - 13. Draft IV: 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 Content Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 12

Course meetings

Tuesday, 5 December 2017 | Thursday, 7 December 2017

Assignment - 14. Draft IV: Final article

It's the final week to add last developments to your article. This will be the one that is graded for the final article grade!

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 Content Expert at any time!

Milestones

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