Wikipedia:School and university projects/Piotrus course intro boilerplate: Difference between revisions

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* On Monday, May 10, we will have a segment introducing this assignment. Students who by that time have created a Wikipedia account and made at least one constructive edit to Wikipedia will receive an extra credit point (1P)

* '''Start'''. Get familiar with wikipediaWikipedia. Make some trial edits, however minor. Demystify the process. Leave behind any sense of intimidation. As wikipediaWikipedia puts it, learn to '''[[Wikipedia:Be_bold|be bold]]'''. Learn [[Wikipedia:Cheatsheet|basic editing skllls]]. The three students who have made the highest amount of constructive edits to Wikipedia (mainspace edits or constructive talk page comments count) will receive an extra two credit points (2P).

* By Monday, May 17, everyone should have [[Wikipedia:Why create an account?|created a Wikipedia account]] (1P), finished the [[WP:TUTORIAL|Wikipedia Tutorial]] (including making an edit in the Wikipeida Tutorial Sandbox) (1P), made at least one constructive edit to a Wikipedia article (outside the sandbox - subject doesn't matter) (1P), make a constructive comment to a Wikipedia's article discussion page (1P), [[#Editors in course|joined a group (that includes adding yourself to the linked section below)]] <'''you will want to replace the word course in the preceedingpreceding link with your course name if you change the "Editors in course" section name below'''> (1P) and informed the course instructor <(Piotr Konieczny - [[User:Piotrus]] ([[User_talk:Piotrus]]) '''replace Piotrus with instructor username here'''> about your account name, which group you've joined and the edit(s) you made (1P). You should do so by leaving a message on the course instructor [[WP:TALKPAGE|talk page]]. '''Finishing this assignment on time is worth 5% of the course grade.''' If you successfully post a [[Help:Diff|diff of your edit]] to <[[User talk:Piotrus|the instructor's Wikipedia talk page]] '''replace Piotrus with instructor username here'''>you will earn one extra point (1P).

* '''Plan'''. But minor edits alone won't get us much closer towards [[WP:GA|Good Article status]]. We need to have a sense of what more needs to be done, and an overall plan for the article. Look at [[Wikipedia:GA#Social_sciences_and_society|models]] and guidelines (e.g. [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]] or the [[Wikipedia:Guide for nominating good articles|Guide for nominating good articles]]). What sections are required? What will be the article structure? What information is needed? Who in your group will write what?

*By Monday, May 24, each group should have an article selected. You should inform the instructor of your article selection (you can email the instructor or post a message to his talk page, or talk to him before or after the class). Make sure it is listed next to your group in the [[#Articles edited|Articles edited]] section of our wiki page. (2P) Also, find a Wikipedia article that is missing an inline reference (different from the article your group is working on); find and add a reliable inline reference to it (2P) and post some constructive suggestions on how to improve the article further on the article talk page (1P). '''Finishing this assignment on time is worth 5% of the course grade.'''

*By Wednesday, May 26, you should have a plan (who will read what, who will work on what aspects of the article) in place. You should post a preliminary "to-do" list on article's discussion page and inform the instructor that you have done so. The "to do" list should consist of a list of what points you will cover in your article, how it will be structured, who will work on what sections, and a short list of resources. This list should be about one page in length if you need a yardstick. ''Each'' group member should participate in creation of that list, describing their own tasks. If the article does not exist, you should [[WP:STUB|stub (start)]] it (see [[Wikipedia:SUBSTUB#Differences_between_a_stub_and_a_substub|what makes a good stub]]). '''Finishing this assignment on time is worth 5% of the course grade.'''. Groups which create very good to do lists and stubs may receive up to 2 extra points (2P).

* As another optional 2P activity, post a constructive question, related to your project, to [[Wikipedia:Reference desk]]. Report what answer you got on your article talk page and notify the instructor about your report with a diff. (Note: it may take a day or so for a reply to be posted to your question at the reference desk)

* '''Share'''. You will need to divide up the tasks that we've identified in the planning stage. Who is going to do what and when?

* '''Research'''. This is vital. A wikipedia article is worth nothing unless it comprises verified research, appropriately referenced. This will entail going to the library, as well as surfing the internet!