Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Minnesota Morris/GWSS 1101 Introduction to Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies (Fall 2019)

This course introduces students to the theoretical concepts and impact of gender and sexuality in everyday life. Various feminist, queer, and other gender-oriented theories are considered and employed as students explore how definitions of femininity, masculinity, and sexuality have been created, maintained, negotiated, and resisted. Particular attention is paid to the complicated relationships between individuals and social systems, and to the ways in which class, race, ethnicity, age, and other identity categories intersect with definitions and representations of gender and sexuality.

Despite some limitations, Wikipedia is now the first source of information about the world for hundreds of millions of people. As a reference work, it shares values of neutrality and verifiability with traditional encyclopedias, but the open-source nature of the project makes it dynamic and participatory. Think about how casually and regularly you rely on Wikipedia for information—now, think about how often you’ve heard casual dismissal of its reliability. Using topics in gender, women, and sexuality studies, we will think critically about both the flaws and utility of Wikipedia—and how we can improve it. The project may be undertaken either in groups or as individuals.

Timeline

Week 1

Course meetings

Tuesday, 17 September 2019 | Thursday, 19 September 2019

Milestones

Please remember to continue checking our course Canvas site and Google Doc syllabus throughout the semester for readings and other non-Wikipedia assignments! But do come here regularly for information, links, and tasks related to writing & editing your Wikpedia article.

In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia Dashboard

Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach the Wikipedia Expert through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:

Editing Wikipedia, pages 1–5
Evaluating Wikipedia

Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia

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.) Please also watch this brief video for an introduction to Wikipedia page anatomy.

Reminder: read Levy & Khan on Canvas (5 pages)

Assignment - Short video to prepare for September 12

Wikipedia Gender Gap video (2:43)

In class - Discussion (For Wikipedia Workshop I on September 12)

What's a content gap?

Week 2

Course meetings

Tuesday, 24 September 2019 | Thursday, 26 September 2019

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account. Note: when you work in your groups, the recommendation is that each group of students choose one sandbox to work in. Then, each member of the group should make your contribution to that sandbox while logged in under your own username.

Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia

Exercise: evaluate Wikipedia

[[../../../training/students/evaluate-wikipedia-exercise|Evaluate an article]]

Week 3

Course meetings

Tuesday, 1 October 2019 | Thursday, 3 October 2019

Assignment - Choose possible topics

Exercise: generate possible topics

[[../../../training/students/choose-topic-exercise|Choose a topic]]

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

Review the rules for health topics

Guide(s) for writing articles in your topic area

Art History

Biographies

Books

Cultural Anthropology

Week 4

Course meetings

Tuesday, 8 October 2019 | Thursday, 10 October 2019

Assignment - Add to an article

Exercise: citations

[[../../../training/students/add-to-article-exercise|Add a citation]]

Week 5

Course meetings

Tuesday, 15 October 2019 | Thursday, 17 October 2019

Assignment - Exercise: assign yourself your article & start the bibliography

Finalize your topic / Find your sources

Assignment - Discussion (For Wikipedia Workshop I on October 8)

Thinking about sources and plagiarism

Assignment - Exercise: copyediting

Copyedit an article

Week 6

Course meetings

Thursday, 24 October 2019

Assignment - Start drafting your contributions

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Week 7

Course meetings

Tuesday, 29 October 2019 | Thursday, 31 October 2019

Milestones

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Assignment - Working Bibliography

The bibliography in your group's sandbox should consist by this point of at least 15 quality sources, including: a minimum of 6 relevant scholarly secondary sources (scholarly books or journal articles), additional credible secondary sources (e.g. popular trade books, newspaper articles, museum websites...), and perhaps some tertiary sources (i.e. encyclopedia articles).

Week 8

Course meetings

Tuesday, 5 November 2019 | Thursday, 7 November 2019

Assignment - Peer review two articles

Guiding framework

Week 9

Course meetings

Tuesday, 12 November 2019 | Thursday, 14 November 2019

Milestones

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

Assignment - Respond to your peer review

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes. Someone from the group should email Emily to confirm that you have considered your peer review feedback.

Resources:

Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.

Week 10

Course meetings

Tuesday, 19 November 2019 | Thursday, 21 November 2019

Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia

Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace."

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Assignment - Exercise

Nominating your article for Did You Know

In class - Discussion (For Wikipedia Workshop III on November 12)

Thinking about Wikipedia

Week 11

Course meetings

Tuesday, 26 November 2019

Assignment - Continue improving your article

Exercise

[[../../../training/students/continue-improving-exercise/link-articles|Add links to your article]]

Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media. format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 12

Course meetings

Tuesday, 3 December 2019 | Thursday, 5 December 2019

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.
Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Final article grading rubric

Final Article Grading Rubric

Week 13

Course meetings

Tuesday, 10 December 2019 | Thursday, 12 December 2019

Milestones

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.

In class - Wikipedia Presentations I

Guiding questions

Week 14

Course meetings

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

In class - Wikipedia Presentations II and III

Assignment - Evaluation (self & group)

See evaluation questions and submit on Canvas. I am relying on your sincere feedback and will use this information to adjust final grades for the Wikipedia project components of this course.