Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Maryland/INST201-0101 Introduction to Information Science (FALL 2017)
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- Course name
- INST201-0101 Introduction to Information Science
- Institution
- University of Maryland
- Instructor
- Jessica Vitak
- Wikipedia Expert
- Shalor (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- information science
- Course dates
- 2017-08-29 00:00:00 UTC – 2017-12-14 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 125
We all rely on Wikipedia to help us quickly get answers to our information needs. Some people generally distrust the accuracy of content on Wikipedia because it is generated by a community of anonymous contributors; however, a lot of research suggests popular Wikipedia pages are very reliable.
How does content get onto Wikipedia’s pages? What is the process for evaluating proposed changes? How does Wikipedia ensure information is correct and non-biased? Understanding how Wikipedia works ties directly into our course discussions on information needs and information literacy. Over several weeks, you’ll complete training on how to edit and evaluate Wikipedia, select and critique an existing article, and submit an edit to an article.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
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- Thursday, 14 September 2017
- Assignment - Part 1
- Overview a practicing the basics
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.
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.
- In class, we'll talk about the assignment and you'll be able to create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you.
- Outside of class, you need to online training with each module. 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 (see ELMS for grading schema).
- For this first week, you should also complete the following readings:
- Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
- When you finish the trainings, familiarize yourself with your sandbox page (which is like your profile page) on Wikipedia. You'll be using this is a later part of the assignment.
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 19 September 2017 | Thursday, 21 September 2017
- Assignment - Part 2
- Critique an article
DUE 9/19: It's time to think critically about Wikipedia articles. You'll select a Wikipedia article to review, engage with Wikipedia's policies for content, then evaluate and critique the page. Critiques should be uploaded to the assignment page on ELMS as a Word Document. You should also review the grading rubric for the assignment before completing it.
First, complete the "Evaluating Articles and Sources" training (linked below).
Second, select an article that you'd like to critique. Pick an article that interests you or one on a topic you want to learn more about. Assign the article to yourself in Wikipedia.
Third, complete a full review of your article (400-600 words), including the following pieces:
- Include the Article Name and a link to the article.
- Write a brief (one paragraph max) summary of the Wikipedia page you're evaluating, your reasons for selecting this page to critique, and the content included.
- Critique the article based on Wikipedia's standards for content (which you learn through your training). You should also review Wikipedia's documentation on what the site "is not": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not. Things to address in your critique:
- Are facts 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? (see also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view)
- 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?
Week 3
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 26 September 2017
- Assignment - Part 3
- Add to an article
DUE 9/21: Familiarize yourself with editing Wikipedia by adding a citation and/or making an improvement to a current article.
First, complete the two training modules for this assignment.
Second, evaluate your selected article (from the critique assignment) for its strengths and weaknesses. What might you contribute to make it better? Leave notes from your evaluation in your sandbox space. These notes should include a link to the page you're editing and your reasoning for making the edit.
Fourth, make your contribution: (1) Make at least two contributions to your article (i.e., add a sentence, image, etc. in two places), and (2) cite your additions to a reliable source, as you learned in the online training.
***Note that grammar-only changes are not significant enough to receive credit. Likewise, plagiarized content or content that is reverted for violating one of Wikipedia's policies will not receive credit. Therefore, it is very important you familiarize yourself with the site's editing policies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Editing_policy