Wikipedia:Rice University/Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities (Fall 2014)/Proposed Topics

Assignment 3: Identifying Your Topic

Due Date: 9 pm Thursday, September 11

Choosing your topic is the earliest decision you need to make for this project. Potential topics can be drawn from course readings, news postings, outside lectures, course presentations, and other sources. Careful selection of a workable topic will help you complete this assignment efficiently and make a valuable contribution.

1. Begin with the following activities:

Browse through Wikipedia and review examples of good or featured articles on topics related to the class as well as examples from past PJHC students. (Information provided separately.)

Carefully review the document Contributing to Wikipedia: Overall Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria.

Read the Wikimedia handout “Choosing an Article,” available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Handout_-_Advice_for_choosing_articles.pdf

Think carefully about possible topics that might interest you, and read the Talk pages of articles you might wish to consider revising. If you are thinking of revising or expanding a page, post a comment describing your thoughts on the Talk page. For instructions on posting to Talk pages, see http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UsingTalkPages.pdf

Talk pages also show the Project Groups an article is affiliated with. Check out the Project Groups affiliated with articles that interest you and read what other contributors have suggested for new and revised entries. If you are considering a new topic, you can post your thoughts on one or more relevant Project Group page for feedback from other Wikipedians.

Note: If a topic you might wish to use is extremely controversial (for example, the article on Microcredit/Microfinance or Female Genital Mutilation), Wikipedia may restrict changes to the site or others may quickly reverse your changes. Highly trafficked pages may be changed by other users frequently, leaving it difficult for you to make a unique contribution. Additionally, if someone is actively curating the page, possibly preparing it for submission as a good or featured article, he or she may not welcome someone jumping in and making wholesale revisions. Please avoid such topics.

Topic titles should not sound like research papers or contain an argument. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and all articles should reflect points of view and facts that have already been published. Also, article titles with two topics connected with the word “and” are discouraged.

2. Prepare a list of two to three potential topics. For each proposed topic:

(a) supply a few sentences to explain your interest and possible revisions;

(b) note whether you would like to rewrite/add to an existing entry, expand an existing stub, or create an entirely new entry; and

(c) list seven to ten new references to scholarly sources you would add in revising/creating the article. (You may include references to newspaper, magazine, or blog sources, but these may not count toward the required number of scholarly references.

All references need to be presented in proper reference format, following the Chicago Manual of Style (link provided in Owlspace) or another approved social science format, such as APA (http://www.apastyle.org/). References not presented in an appropriate format will not be counted towards the total required.

3. Rank the topics in order from most to least desirable. One of these topics will become your final topic.

4. Submit your topics and username to the relevant assignment tab on OWL-Space by 9 pm Thursday, September 11. For full credit, be sure your name appears on your document and the file you submit must be labeled as follows: <LastName>WikiTopics.doc (or .docx)