Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Brigham Young University/UNIV 210R - Myth and Memory in US History (Summer 2023)
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- Course name
- UNIV 210R - Myth and Memory in US History
- Institution
- Brigham Young University
- Instructor
- David-James Gonzales
- Wikipedia Expert
- Brianda (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- History
- Course dates
- 2023-06-26 00:00:00 UTC – 2023-08-17 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 40
The main project for the course consists of researching, writing, and publishing a Wikipedia article. Students may choose any topic (person, event, organization, artistic work or cultural representation, etc.) related to U.S. history. Students will be assigned to work in groups of 2 persons. Students must complete this assignment to receive a passing grade in the course.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 27 June 2023 | Thursday, 29 June 2023
- Assignment - Day 1
- Create Wikipedia account and begin training modules
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU CHECK THIS PAGE DAILY TO STAY ON TOP OF YOUR WIKIPEDIA TRAININGS AND ASSIGNMENTS.
Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.
Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)
- Assignment - Day 2
- Choose a partner, discuss topics, continue training modules
- Milestones
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Thursday, 6 July 2023
- Assignment - Days 3 and 4
- Evaluate Wikipedia & brainstorm topics w/ partner
Exercise
[[../../../training/students/evaluate-wikipedia-exercise|Evaluate an article]]
After completing the training, check out the Wikipedia list of requested articles under the categories of History and North America: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requested_articles/Social_sciences/History#North_America.
Acceptable topics include any person, organization, event, place, artistic or cultural production (food, music, dance, artwork, film, stage play, etc.), theory (educational, political, social, etc.) that relates to the history of the United States.
Be sure to look at existing articles below created by my former students on Wikipedia. These provide good models of the type of article you are expected to create:
History of African Americans in Utah
Mexican Cuisine in the United States
Military History of Native Americans
Historic Chinatown in Deadwood, South Dakota
Women in the United States Prohibition Movement
Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Project
- Assignment - Days 3 and 4
- Meet w/ professor to discuss and finalize your topic
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 11 July 2023 | Thursday, 13 July 2023
- Assignment - Day 5
- Editing existing articles
- Assignment - Day 6
- Find sources using BYU HBLL databases
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 18 July 2023 | Thursday, 20 July 2023
- Assignment - Days 7 and 8
- Annotated Bibliography
Guidelines for the Annotated Bibliography Assignment
Objective: This is an opportunity to begin significant research on your Wikipedia article by finding and analyzing the sources you will use to write and support your article.
Annotated Bibliography: In preparation for their Wikipedia article, students will produce an annotated bibliography that includes at least 10 sources related to their topic. These can include journal articles, book chapters, newspaper and magazine articles, documentaries, or other high-quality online mateirals. A minimum of half your sources must come from peer-reviewed academic journal articles, book chapters, or anthologies accessed via the university library. Your sources should include both broad general texts that provide the historical, geographic, or contextual framing for your Wiki article and more specific articles that focus directly on your topic. Please format your bibliography by using the Wikipedia Bibliography Template.
- Each entry in the Annotated Bibliography must be a minimum of 3-4 sentences long and include an evaluation of the source (including author and publisher) and an explanation of how you anticipate using it in the Wikipedia article you will write. The assignment will be graded based on the range and quality of the sources cited, your assessment of the author's credentials and the quality of the publication, your understanding of the content in the source, and the creativity and resourcefulness used to track down pertinent citations. Each topic will be different, but here are some things to consider:
Quality of Sources: The better your sources, the more credible your Wikipedia article. The highest quality sources are those that come from scholarly/academic peer-reviewed books and journals—academic books are typically published by university presses. The next level would be books, magazines, and newspapers, from highly credible publishers like the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, etc. and finally, the least reliable are web pages and blogs. Even here there are differences—the Human Rights Watch is a much better source for Human Rights than a random page by an unknown author. Always aim to use the highest quality of sources you can find. This is the primary purpose of your, to evalutate the quality of the source.
Context: In considering what sort of things to include, think about the larger historical, cultural, or geographic context of your topic, these might not specifically mention your subject but can help provide the background to establish their significance or importance. For general context, academic books and academic journal articles are best to establish the grounding and significance of your topic. Sources will generally come from databases like J-Stor, Project MUSE, EBSCO, LexisNexis (for Law), etc. But you will also need to seek out sources that directly speak about your topic, and for these, you may need to look harder, including local/regional newspapers and magazines, local/regional public history websites and publications, trade publizations, documentaries, etc.
Grading Criteria for Annotated Bibliography
Things I will look for in sources:
· A range of high quality sources: including books, articles, newspapers, magazines, websites, etc.
· The quality and scholarly value of the sources
· Sources that suggest that you have considered several aspects of the topic
· Consistent citation format following Wikipedia Template
Things I will look for in annotations:
· How focused are they relative to your project and how well are you able to describe the relevance of the content in the source to your project?
· How well do you evaluate the credibility and authoritativeness of the source (especially the author and publisher)?
· How insightful is your understanding of the ideas presented in the source?
· How effectively are the annotations written in terms of style and grammar?
Grading Grid
A (90-100) An excellent range of substantive and high-quality sources that work well together to illuminate a topic in compelling ways. The sources demonstrate advanced research skills, tenacity in seeking out obscure sources, and familiarity with assessing the value of diverse sources. The annotations are well written and illustrate an understanding of the significance of the relevant issues and how they might be applied to the final Wikipedia entry.
B (80-89) A good range of sources that work together to construct a solid research foundation for a topic. Overall the annotations demonstrate a clear understanding of the issues involved. This assignment may have benefited from one or more of the following: greater use of high quality sources; more specific and targeted sources that directly address your topic; more creativity or perseverance seeking out useful sources; greater clarity in presenting the larger relevant issues; greater attention to existing Wikipedia sources to avoid duplication; greater attention to grammar, punctuation and proofreading.
C (70-79) The assignment has an identifiable topic and demonstrates evidence of some independent research. This assignment would have benefited from one or more of the following: more high quality sources; more specific and targeted sources that directly address your topic; clearer focus on the larger context and relevance of your topic; more attention to connecting your annotations to your project; greater analysis or thought in terms of understanding the larger context; more attention to existing Wikipedia sources to avoid duplication; considerably greater attention to writing, grammar and proofreading.
D (60-70) The assignment does not evidence meaningful research or consideration of the issues. This assignment is lacking in several significant areas including quality of research; clarity of annotations; focus; grammar and proofreading.
F (59 or less) The minimum requirements of the assignment were not met.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 25 July 2023 | Thursday, 27 July 2023
- Assignment - Day 9
- Create an outline and begin drafting your article
Begin by creating an outline that organizes the approach you will take to writing your Wikipedia article. The annotated bibliography (and whatever additional sources you've added or will continue to add) should serve as your guide to the type of content you will cover.
Break down the article by sections and identify which sources will be used in each. By outlining effectively, you will be able to adequately assess what you are qualified to write about. Your outline will help you identify gaps or holes in the subject you are covering and may prompt the need for additional research. It should also help you refine the title of your article.
Be sure to look at "Featured" Wikipedia articles as well as those written by students in my previous classes (see week 2) as these provide good models of the type of article you want to create.
- Assignment - Day 10
- Continue drafting, find images and media files
- Milestones
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 1 August 2023 | Thursday, 3 August 2023
- Assignment - Days 11 and 12
- Polish your article and begin moving your work to Wikipedia
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 8 August 2023 | Thursday, 10 August 2023
- Assignment - Day 13
- Final article Due before class on Tuesday
Final Wikipedia Article
All edits must be complete and your article must be moved to a live Wikipedia page. In addition to publishing the article on Wikipedia, you must upload a PDF copy (only your group's contributions) to Learning Suite before Thursday's class.
The Wikipedia article/page will be graded as follows:
Your article should present a substantial and thoughtful contribution to the Wikipedia community by using a wide range of sources to either introduce new or expand on existing information and knowledge.
Sources (10 minimum) including scholarly books and articles; national, international and community newspapers; films, television, and videos; musical recordings, government, organizational, and community websites and reports. At least half of your sources must come from academic/peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and/or book chapters. The university library system should be the primary mode of accessing your sources.
The article should be 1000 words in length and display a sophisticated understanding of the topic, careful and precise editing, and a clear understanding of Wikipedia standards.
The article represents significant research into the academic literature surrounding the topic and places the topic within a larger socio-historical context. It also evidences a thorough interrogation of existing Wikipedia pages that address the issue.
Things that detract from this excellence and will result in deductions:
· Insufficient attention to the larger historical, cultural, or geographic context
· Lack of organization and structure in your contributions
· Biased language & lack of attention to grammar and style—remember clear, accessible, and impartial language is the goal!
· Insufficient research to support your points
· Over-reliance on poor quality sources
Things that merit extra points:
· An article/page that is well organized into topics and sections with headings and subheadings that flow logically and are easy to follow
· Research that evidences extra effort to track down sources
- In class - Day 14
- Class Presentations
Instructions for in class presentation:
Each group will have 7-8 minutes to present their Wikipedia article to the class and an additional 2-3 minutes to answer questions. Both group members must present (be sure to split your time equally among yourselves). Presentation order will be assigned randomly.
Be sure to explain the following in your presentation:
- What is your topic, why did you choose it, and how does it relate to our course?
- What specific contributions does your article/page make to Wikipedia (i.e., why does it matter that your page exists on Wikipedia)?
- What did you learn from the process of completing this project?
You will be graded on how well your presentation meets the criteria specified above.