User:MTHarden/FA11-Assignment

Course description[edit]

Introduction to Psychology is an introductory overview of the field of psychology. It is an examination of behavioral, cognitive, psychoanalytic, humanistic and biological viewpoints in psychology. The course includes learning principles and applications, motivation, emotions, stress, psychobiology, personality, abnormal behaviors and approaches to therapy. The course fulfills Associate of Arts general education requirements.

Assignment overview[edit]

You will be either creating a new psychology article or improving an existing psychology article on Wikipedia. Even though you are amateurs in the field of psychology there are many 'stub' class articles on Wikipedia that you will be able to significantly improve. Treat this assignment like a research paper, but instead of turning it in to me, you will be contributing to the sum of all human knowledge on Wikipedia.

It is important for you to follow instructions and not get behind in following the assignment timeline, there will be little or no credit for late assignments. If you are struggling with any aspect of this assignment see me during my office hours ASAP.

My general advice is to worry firstly about generating good content (doing the research and writing it up), and secondly about the technical aspects of Wikipedia. Remember that you can edit any page on Wikipedia so if you don't know how to do something, find where someone else has done that and copy them.

Assignment timeline[edit]

This is a summary of the key due dates and the expected timeline for the Wikipedia-related assignment(s). In general Weeks end on Sunday, so when something is due week 2, that means you need to have it completed by the Sunday of the second calendar week of class.

Each week lists what (if anything) we will be doing in class, which wikipedia resources will be useful to you in completing the weeks assignments, and of course the assignments for the week.

Week 1[edit]

In class

Overview of the course
Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course

Readings and Tutorials

Assignment (due week 2)

Create a Wikipedia account
Create a user page with information about you that will also be used to track your progress, like this one from last semester: User:MTHarden/ExampleStudent
Sign up on the list of students at the bottom of this page.
Extra Credit: Sign up to be a Wiki-Mentor for class. If you are computer savvy (or you are already a Wikipedia editor) discuss with the professor the opportunity to earn extra credit by serving as a mentor to less savvy students.

Week 2[edit]

In class

Basics of editing
Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good & bad articles

Handouts and videos

Assignments (due week 3)

To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself and leave a message for a classmate on their user talk page.

Milestone

All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.

Week 3[edit]

In class

Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments

Reading

Handout: Advice for choosing articles

Links

Assignments (due week 4)

Critically evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's discussion page. Be sure to link to your evaluation from your User page (like the example student)

Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Make it a numbered list, with wiki-links to the articles. Be sure to specify if you are intending to create a new article.

Week 4[edit]

In class

Discussion about how to choose 'good' sources

Readings and Tutorials

Assignment (due week 5)

Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a well-sourced citation, to a Wikipedia article on your list of potential main project articles.

For next week

Instructor evaluates student's article selections, by week 5.

Week 5[edit]

In class

Discuss the range of topics students will be working on and strategies for researching and writing about them.

Review

WP:SOURCE has guidelines for what are good sources for use on wikipedia.

Assignments (due week 6)

Select an article to work on and list it at the bottom of this page next to your username.
Compile an annotated bibliography of 3-5 relevant sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on.

Week 6[edit]

In class

Instructor talks about Wikipedia culture & etiquette, and introduces the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.

Readings and Tutorials

Video resource: Sandbox tutorial

Assignments (due week 7)

Create a sandbox, linked on your user page, where you will work on your chosen article
Write a brief summary of your planned improvements on the discussion page of your sandbox.
Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.

Milestone

All students have started editing sandbox versions of articles.

Week 7[edit]

In class

Uploading images
"Did You Know..."

Readings

Wiki assignments (due week 8)

Expand your sandbox article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Week 8[edit]

In class

Article ratings on Wikipedia & how to get there

Handouts and videos

Wiki assignments (due week 9)

Move your article (or contributions) into the wikipedia mainspace. If you created a new article you will be using the "move" tool, if you are expanding an existing article you will be using copy & paste.

Pick two classmates that will peer-review your article from the list below and add a link to your article after their name and article. Each person should review two articles (so don't give your article to someone that is already reviewing two).

Peer review two of your classmates' articles (the two assigned to you). copy-edit the two reviewed articles. Also, leave suggestions on the articles' talk pages.

Week 9[edit]

In class

Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia

Reading

Submitting articles to Did You Know

Optional assignment (due week 10)

For new articles or qualifying expansions of stubs, compose a one-sentence "hook," nominate it for "Did you know," and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors.

If you choose to do this assignment it is worth 15 extra credit points to nominate your article BUT this is only for qualifying articles! If you nominate a non-qualifying article it will cost you 10 points! If your article appears on the main page you will get additional extra credit.

Milestone

All articles have been reviewed by others. All students have reviewed two articles by their classmates.

Week 10[edit]

In class

Reading

Good Article Criteria

Wiki assignments (due week 11)

Make edits to your article based on peers' feedback.
Prepare for an in-class discussion about your Wikipedia editing experience.

Week 11[edit]

In class

Students each give an in-class presentations about their experiences editing Wikipedia.

Wiki assignments (due by last day of class)

Add final touches to you Wikipedia article.
Write a reflective essay (2-5 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.

This paper is not about your topic, but rather about your experience with the assignment. Write about what you learned, and what you liked/hated about this assignment.

Final Week[edit]

Milestone

Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading, and have submitted reflective essays.

Students[edit]

Fall 2011[edit]