Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/McKendree University/PSY 153 H (Fall 2013)/Grading

Wikipedia Edit Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is help students learn the basics of editing Wikipedia in preparation for publishing their full article. Students will make one edit to a Wikipedia article of their choosing. The edit must (a) add at least one sentence to the article and (b) include an accurately cited reference to a reliable source. The assignment is due as listed on the course schedule and is worth 5 points. Students will share the history page showing their edit in order to receive credit.

Wikipedia Article Assignment

The Association for Psychological Science (APS) has initiated an effort to improve the representation of psychology on Wikipedia in terms of both its accuracy and comprehensiveness. Intentional, thoughtful, and scholarly contribution to Wikipedia represents an opportunity for service because it can increase the quality and amount of scientific information available to the general public. The contributions also offer students the opportunity to refine their communication skills by translating complicated scientific concepts into everyday language.

Task

Students will sign up for one of the 40 studies in the Hock text. They will then review the Wikipedia article devoted to that study or a closely related topic and determine its strengths and limitations. Then, they will identify topics that could be added to make the Wikipedia coverage of their topic more comprehensive or accurate. Building from their review, students will write a Wikipedia article based on their suggestion for an area in need of improvement. Articles will use scholarly sources and be written so that they are comprehensible to the general public.

Requirements

The written assignment that students turn in will consist of two parts. The first part will include the review of the Wikipedia page. Reviews should outline strengths, limitations, and specific suggestions for improvement; the evaluation should be based on based on the five elements of a quality Wikipedia articles and the accuracy of the scientific content. The second part will consist of the actual article written for Wikipedia. All sources must be scholarly and they must be documented in the text and reference section. The length of articles will vary. However, if the article does not add or substantially change 150 words and add 2 sources, a second article should be written. The second section should also contain the one sentence explanation for the edits that will be placed in the “Summary” box when actually making changes to Wikipedia.

Wikipedia contributions will be graded as follows:

• Review of current article: Strengths and limitations = 3 points
• Review of current article: Wikipedia’s 5 elements = 4 points
• Review of current article: Suggestions for improvement = 3 points
• Article revision: Content = 6 points
• Article revision: Sources = 4 points
• Writing tone = 4 points
• Writing grammar, punctuation, proofreading = 6 points

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