Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/Kansas State University/ENGL 340 (Fall, 2013)/Timeline

Timeline

The assignment is broken into 4 gates to help you keep track of the assignment and to provide ensure that you have enough time to become familiar with Wikipedia, a very complex community of practice. Though grading will be focused on the final product of a Wikipedia article. Here are some deadlines for finishing the individual gates:

Recommended Event – Oct. 11 – Beach Museum, 1-5 p.m.
Gate 1 – Oct. 18 – Introduction to Wikipedia
Gate 2 - Nov 1 – Begin researching your topic
Gate 3 – Nov 15 – Early version of the article and a meeting with Campus Ambassador
Gate 4 – Dec 5 – the final day of the assignment due date

Gate 1

This gate is designed to get you familiar with Wikipedia: you will gain the necessary pieces of information to ensure that you understand the basics of Wikipedia:

he first step for this assignment will be to create a Wikipedia account. To do this, go to the top right of any page on English Wikipedia and click on the “Sign Up” link. Fill out the form and make sure that you keep track of the user name that you choose.
Next you will need to join the course page for our class. You can find the class page by typing “Education Program:Kansas State University/ENGL 340 (Fall, 2013)” into the search bar for English Wikipedia. Join the class by clicking the “Enroll” button in the top left corner. The enrollment token is on the class handout. This page helps us keep track of the various activities you do on Wikipedia and will be a source of information as you progress throughout the semester.
Take the student training under the “Training and Resources” tab at the top of the page (or click on this link: online student orientation). Make sure that you complete all of the activities that it asks you do in your sandbox. These will provide you with a basic understanding of how to contribute to Wikipedia.

Gate 2

Gate two is designed to get you started with the assignment, to start we want to make sure you have sources to write the Wikipedia article.

The first step is to find academic and scholarly sources to help write the article. Remember Wikipedia articles are about organizing and summaring major academic opinions on the subject. For scholarship about poetry, some of the best sources will be discoverable through academic databases like JSTOR, MUSE and Google Scholar, all of which you have access through the library.
Create a bulleted list of the sources you found on one of the sandbox's for your group. Make sure that you use proper academic citations. Wikipedia doesn't have a standard citation style, but whichever style you choose (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc) be consitent. If you want, a tool similar to RefWorks, is available in the “Edit Source” editing window called “Cite”.
Begin an outline of your Wikipedia article in the sandbox, emphasizing the development of individual sections for the article. Common sections for poetry articles include a “Summary” section, a section discussing themes, and a section discussing academic reception. Other sections likely will develop around different areas in scholarship.

Gate 3

Gate three is designed to help you get feedback from the Wikipedia academic community. In this gate, you will be expected to start a draft of your article, meet with Alex Stinson to discuss the and nominate your article for a link on the Wikipedia front page's “Did You Know” section. Before scheduling a meeting, make sure that you have at least 1500 characters of text (or about 300-400 words) written of the article. Here are some resources that might help you compose the article:

Handouts: Using talk pages, Evaluating Wikipedia article quality, Wikimarkup cheatsheet
Handout: Moving out of your sandbox

Gate 4

Gate four will be due at the end of the semester. Pay attention to feedback that you receive from Wikipedians and Alex Stinson on your article's talk page, continue to develop the article to the best of your ability. Make sure that you are developing the article for a public audience, explaining the information you find in sources as thoroughly and as clearly as possible. Also, remember, more sources does not necessarily make a better article. Make sure that you are explaining thoroughly the information that you find in those sources.

(Click to return to your main course page and continue.)

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