User talk:Eryk (Wiki Ed)/Sociology Handout

Erik, I finally had time to review this. Good draft. Here are my comments:

• "Understand the guidelines" section mentions socials science/sociology guidelines, but is not being specific. And as far as I know, neither the MoS, nor WP:Socio or Social sciences have any specific guidelines. I'd suggest dropping this section, as it stands it is wiki-puffery, conveying no meaningful info - I am sure we can use the space for something more practical.
• "Engage with editors" - I'd also add a carrot about advising them to try out the Wikipedia:Help, Wikipedia:Teahouse and Wikipedia:Reference desks forums.
• "Choose a topic that isn’t already well-developed on Wikipedia" - and I'd add "see also Wikipedia:Requested articles#Social_sciences
• "What is the Lead section?" I'd add a sentence "lead section is like an article's abstract".
• please replace postmodernism with something like functionalism or conflict theory; it is not really a sociological theory;
• I think there's something wrong with the grammar in the sentence " So, for example, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology can be cited as Slavoj Zizek in a Wikipedia article."; plus the title of a work should be in italics?
• " So, for example, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology can be cited as Slavoj Zizek in a Wikipedia article." - well, yes, but nobody does it and/or dissertations are so rarely cited, I'd remove it - unlike most other advice, this example will be very rarely useful.
• "Don’t offer analysis or conclusions; you’re writing fact-based descriptions of information." - I'd add "or your own thoughts.
• "A Wikipedia article should cover what the literature says." I'd add "and not what you think".
• "Be sure you’re writing fact-based encyclopedic content, not an essay." - I'd clarify it thus: "Encyclopedic articles, like most academic articles, use impersonal tone; unlike essays, which resemble blog- or journalist-style personal tone writings)."
• "Take pride in your contributions! Your hard work helps share your knowledge with the millions of people who use Wikipedia every day." I'd add info about being able to view specific number of page views through history tab.
• I'd also add a note about being able to do live chat through Wikipedians on IRC, and for those students leaving in big cities, meeting Wikipedians in person at the Wikipedia:Meetups.
• Another closing comment is I'd mention that their Wikipedia article will become a part of their future portfolio, something to show off to future employers, together with their "wiki editing skill" which they should list on their CV. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 02:24, 5 December 2014 (UTC)