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- Course name
- Chem 153A Honors
- Institution
- UCLA
- Instructor
- Heather Tienson
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Introduction to Biochemistry
- Course dates
- 2017-01-17 00:00:00 UTC – 2017-03-27 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 20
Introduction to biochemistry: Macromolecular structure, Enzymes, and Metabolism
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 17 January 2017
- In class - Wikipedia essentials
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
- Assignment - Practicing the basics
- Create an account and then complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
- Create a User page.
- To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.
- Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.
Handouts: Using Talk Pages, Evaluating Wikipedia
- Milestones
All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 24 January 2017
- In class - Exploring the topic area
- Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
Handouts: Choosing an article
- Assignment - Choosing your article
- Review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook.
- Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing. Describe your choices to your instructor for feedback.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 31 January 2017
- In class - Using sources
- Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
- In class - Discuss the article topics
- Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.
- Assignment - Add to an article
- Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.
- Assignment - Finalize your topic and start researching
- Once you have your topic finalized, head to the Students tab above and assign yourself your chosen topic.
- 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. What can you add? Post some of your ideas to the article's talk page.
- 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.
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 7 February 2017
- In class - Wikipedia culture and etiquette
- Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
- Q&A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.
- Assignment - Drafting starter articles
You've picked a topic and found your sources. Now it's time to start writing.
Creating a new article?
- Write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section." Write it in your sandbox.
- 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. A good example is Ada Lovelace. See Editing Wikipedia page 9 for more ideas.
Improving an existing article?
- 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 sandbox.
Keep reading your sources, too, as you prepare to write the body of the article. Keep working on transforming your article into a complete first draft. Get draft ready for peer-review. 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
Editing Wikipedia articles on Chemistry
- Milestones
All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 14 February 2017
- In class - Building articles
- Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
- Share experiences and discuss problems.
Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Media Files Training
Block description…
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 21 February 2017
- In class - Media literacy discussion
- Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.
- Assignment - Complete first draft
- Expand your article into a complete first draft.
- Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on suggestions and your own critique.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 28 February 2017
- In class - Group suggestions
- As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.
- Assignment - Peer review and copyedit
- Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
- Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.
- Assignment - Choose articles to peer review
- Select two classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you will peer review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)
- Assignment - Continue improving articles
- Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.
- Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.
- Assignment - Prepare for in-class presentation
- Prepare for an in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience.
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 7 March 2017
- In class - In-class presentation
- Students give in-class presentations about their experiences editing Wikipedia.
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 14 March 2017
- Assignment - Final article
It's the final week to develop your article.
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
- Read the Handout: Polishing your article
- Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Content Expert at any time!
- Assignment - Reflective essay
- Write a reflective essay (2–3 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.
- In class - In-class Presentations
- Milestones
Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.