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- Course name
- Black American Music
- Institution
- UAlbany
- Instructor
- Kyra Gaunt, Ph.D.
- Wikipedia Expert
- Shalor (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Ethnomusicology/Music
- Course dates
- 2017-10-30 00:00:00 UTC – 2017-12-21 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 100
Textbook: Issues in African American Music by Maultsby and Burnim
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 30 October 2017 | Wednesday, 1 November 2017
- In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia project
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.
To get started, please review the following handouts:
- Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 6 November 2017 | Wednesday, 8 November 2017
- Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia
- Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (To avoid hitting Wikipedia's account creation limits, this is best done outside of class. Only 6 new accounts may be created per day from the same IP address.)
- 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.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 15 November 2017
- Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia
It's time to think critically about Wikipedia articles. You'll evaluate a Wikipedia article related to the course and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's Talk page.
- Complete the "Evaluating Articles and Sources" training (linked below).
- Create a section in your sandbox titled "Article evaluation" where you'll leave notes about your observations and learnings.
- Evaluate the Wikipedia article about African-American Music and choose another, related article on Wikipedia to read and evaluate. In your sandbox, link to both articles you're evaluating.
- As you read, consider the following questions (but don't feel limited to these):
- 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?
- Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
- Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
- Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
- Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
- Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
- How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
- How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
- Optional: Choose at least 1 question relevant to one of the articles you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — KaitCourt (talk) 01:22, 17 December 2017 (UTC).
- Assignment - Research possible topics
- Review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook.
- Review the African-American Music category of articles on Wikipedia.
- Choose 1-2 potential articles that we might be able to tackle as a class, and post links to them in your Wikipedia Sandbox. For articles that already exist, check the Talk page to see what other Wikipedians might be doing.
- In your sandbox, write a few sentences about what we might be able to contribute to the selected article. Think back to when you did an article critique. What could we add?
- Be ready to discuss your ideas in class.
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 20 November 2017
- In class - Article selection & outline
As a class, we will finalize the article we want to work on and spend time today outlining the article as it stands and selecting areas we think we can improve.
By the end of class today you will know which group you'll be working with and which section of the article you're responsible for improving.
- Assignment - Start your draft
Best Practices for Working in Groups
- Select one group member whose Sandbox space you'll all share to draft your article. Each person should link to that shared Sandbox from their own Sandbox page. A sandbox is like any other page on Wikipedia, and anyone can edit it.
- Wikipedia doesn't allow multiple people to edit from different devices at the same time. If you're working together in person, one person should add the work to the Sandbox. If you are all working independently, make small edits and save often to avoid "editing conflicts" with classmates. Make sure that you're logged in under your own Wikipedia account while editing in your classmate's sandbox to ensure your edits are recorded.
- Don't create a group account for your project. Group accounts are prohibited.
Start your draft
In your group sandbox, start drafting your contributions.
- As you work, compile 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. Make sure to check in on the Talk page to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
- Assignment - Expand your draft
Continue to identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Make notes for improvement in your group sandbox. Keep reading your sources, too, as you continue writing.
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.
Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 27 November 2017 | Wednesday, 29 November 2017
- Assignment - Peer review
- First, take the "Peer Review" online training.
- Select another groups’ draft that you will peer review and copyedit.
- Peer review the draft. Leave suggestions on the Talk page of the article, or sandbox, that your fellow student is working on. Other editors may be reviewing your work, so look for their comments! Be sure to acknowledge feedback from other Wikipedians.
- As you review, make spelling, grammar, and other adjustments. Pay attention to the tone of the article. Is it encyclopedic?
- Assignment - Respond to peer review
You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. It's time to work with that feedback to improve your article!
- Individually take the "Plagiarism" training, linked below.
- 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.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 4 December 2017 | Wednesday, 6 December 2017
- Assignment - Continue improving your section
Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on suggestions and your own critique.
- 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.
- Consider adding an image to your article. Wikipedia has strict rules about what media can be added, so make sure to take the 'Contributing Images and Media Files' training before you upload an image.
- Assignment - Begin moving your work live to our group article
Once you've made improvements to your draft based on peer review feedback, it's time to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the "mainspace."
- 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!
- Be sure to copy text from your sandbox while the sandbox page is in 'Edit' or 'Edit source' mode. This ensures that the formatting is transferred correctly.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 11 December 2017 | Wednesday, 13 December 2017
- In class - Final article improvements
It's the final week to develop our article.
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
- Don't forget that we can ask for help from our Content Expert at any time!