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Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Truman State University/History of Science II (Spring 2016)

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Course name
History of Science II
Institution
Truman State University
Instructor
Peter Ramberg
Wikipedia Expert
Ian (Wiki Ed)
Subject
History of Modern Science
Course dates
2016-01-11 – 2016-05-13
Approximate number of student editors
14


Welcome to HIST 394, the second of a two-semester introductory survey of the history of science in the Western world from the ancient Greeks to the twentieth century. The first semester covers science from ancient Greece to the death of Isaac Newton in 1727, while the second semester covers "modern science," the period from Newton to the present day.

For the writing enhanced portion of this course, your assignment is to create a new Wikipedia page, or to substantially modify a page or a section of a page. Details are given on the Timline portion of this website, and will be given in class.

Student Assigned Reviewing
Rajallwood Georg Ernst Stahl
Moregon trail Antoine Lavoisier, Chemical Revolution
NerdGirlLouie Phlogiston theory
EquallyFoolish Jean-Baptiste Dumas
Bajae1027 Trofim Lysenko
Kam4671 Caroline Herschel
Sharksarehellarad Cuvier–Geoffrey debate
Dbisch47 Alexis Clairaut, Clairaut's theorem
ZedCrane Pneumatic chemistry

Timeline

Week 1

Course meetings
Monday, 11 January 2016   |   Wednesday, 13 January 2016   |   Friday, 15 January 2016
In class - Wikipedia essentials

  

  • Overview of course project.
  • Wikipedia's guiding philosophy.
  • Understanding the expectations of articles and participation etiquette among Wikipedians.
  • Moving around the landscape of Wikipedia. 
  • Examples of good and poor articles.

Handout: Editing Wikipedia


Assignment - Initial Wikipedia Training

Follow the links below to review Wikipedia's philosophy and editing basics.

Week 2

Course meetings
Wednesday, 20 January 2016   |   Friday, 22 January 2016
In class - Practicing the basics


  • Create an account and join this course page.  
  • Complete the introductory training modules. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
  • Create a User page.
  • Basics of editing
  • Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
  • Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community.
  • To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.
  • Reply to another students message on your talk page.
  • Explore topics related to the course (see below) that are in need of improvement to get a feel for what article you would like to work on. As you explore, make a list of articles (add them to your watch list) that seem like good candidates. 
  • You should choose the topic/article for your project by February 5.

Handouts: Using Talk PagesEvaluating Wikipedia


Assignment - Potential Articles on Wikipedia

Wikipedia article rating system
Some HOS articles rated
Articles in need of expansion.
Pages needing attention in history of science (keep to post-1700). Some are better than others.

Some possible pages (also skim the textbooks for other ideas): 

Albrecht von Haller (talk | History
Alexander von Humboldt (talk | History
Auguste Laurent (talk | History
Augustin-Jean Fresnel (talk | History
Caloric theory (talk | History
Carl Wilhelm Scheele (talk | History
Charles Frédéric Gerhardt (talk | History
Chemical revolution (talk | History
Claude Louis Berthollet (talk | History
Corpuscular theory of light (talk | History
Eduard Suess (talk | History
Georg Ernst Stahl (talk | History
Goethean science (talk | History
Hans Christian Ørsted (talk | History
Harry Hammond Hess (talk | History
James Dwight Dana (talk | History
Jean-Baptiste Élie de Beaumont (talk | History
Johann Wilhelm Ritter (talk | History
John Dalton (talk | History
John Tuzo Wilson (talk | History
Joseph Black (talk | History
Kosmos (Humboldt) (talk | History
Light (talk | History
Linus Pauling (talk | History
Louis Agassiz (talk | History
Louis Pasteur (talk | History
Marie François Xavier Bichat (talk | History
Martin Heinrich Klaproth (talk | History
Paul Forman (talk | History
Phlogiston theory (talk | History
Pierre-Simon Laplace (talk | History
Richard Owen (talk | History
Romanticism in science (talk | History
Superseded scientific theories (talk | History
Thomas Young (scientist) (talk | History
Vitalism (talk | History
Werner Heisenberg (talk | History
Wilhelm Ostwald (talk | History
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (talk | History)  

Milestones

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

Week 3

Course meetings
Monday, 25 January 2016   |   Wednesday, 27 January 2016   |   Friday, 29 January 2016
In class - Exploring the topic area
  • Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.



Handouts: Choosing an article


Assignment -

Week 4

Course meetings
Monday, 1 February 2016   |   Wednesday, 3 February 2016   |   Friday, 5 February 2016
In class - Using sources

Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia. Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/sources|Sources and Citations
]]

Week 5

Course meetings
Monday, 8 February 2016   |   Wednesday, 10 February 2016   |   Friday, 12 February 2016

Week 6

Course meetings
Monday, 15 February 2016   |   Wednesday, 17 February 2016   |   Friday, 19 February 2016
Assignment - Add to an article

Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the course. If you have not completed this yet, do it in class today.

In class - Create a short paragraph with citations

In class today, you should create a short description of your project in your sandbox. Copy in the original article, or portion of your article to the sandbox. Put in at least one citation.

In class - Discuss the article topics

 

  • Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.

Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/sandboxes|Sandboxes and Mainspace
]]

Milestones

You should now begin to compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post them to your sandbox and the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography

Assignment - Drafting starter articles


  

  • If you are starting a new article, write an outline of the topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia lead section of 3–4 paragraphs in your sandbox. Wikipedia articles use "summary style", in which the lead section provides a balanced summary of the entire body of the article, with the first sentence serving to define the topic and place it in context. The lead section should summarize, very briefly, each of the main aspects of the topic that will be covered in detail in the rest of the article. If you are improving an existing article, draft a new lead section reflecting your proposed changes, and post this along with a brief description of your plans on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check that page often to gather any feedback the community might provide.
      
  • Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your lead section and fix any major issues.
      
  • Continue research in preparation for writing the body of the article.
Milestones

You should have a working bibliography by this week.

Week 7

Course meetings
Monday, 22 February 2016   |   Wednesday, 24 February 2016   |   Friday, 26 February 2016
In class - Wikipedia culture and etiquette
  • Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
  • Q&A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.
Milestones

All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 8

Course meetings
Monday, 29 February 2016   |   Wednesday, 2 March 2016   |   Friday, 4 March 2016
Assignment - Moving articles to mainspace
  • Move your sandbox articles into main space.
    • If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article.
    • If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow the instructions in the "Moving out of your sandbox" handout.
  • Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Week 9

Course meetings
Monday, 14 March 2016   |   Wednesday, 16 March 2016   |   Friday, 18 March 2016
In class - Building articles


  

  • Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
      
  • Share experiences and discuss problems.




Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia

Week 10

Course meetings
Monday, 21 March 2016   |   Wednesday, 23 March 2016   |   Friday, 25 March 2016
Assignment - Complete first draft
  • Expand your article into a complete first draft.


In class - Group suggestions
  • As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.



Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/peer-review|Peer Review]]

Week 11

Course meetings
Wednesday, 30 March 2016   |   Friday, 1 April 2016
Assignment - Choose articles to peer review
  • Select three classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you will peer review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)


In class - Media literacy discussion
  • Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.


Assignment - Peer review and copyedit
  • Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
  • Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.

Week 12

Course meetings
Monday, 4 April 2016   |   Wednesday, 6 April 2016   |   Friday, 8 April 2016
Milestones

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


Assignment - Address peer review suggestions
  • Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.


In class - Discuss further article improvements
  • Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.


Assignment - Continue improving articles
  • Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.
  • Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.


Assignment - Prepare for in-class presentation
  • Prepare for an in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience.

Week 13

Course meetings
Monday, 11 April 2016   |   Wednesday, 13 April 2016   |   Friday, 15 April 2016

Week 14

Course meetings
Monday, 18 April 2016   |   Wednesday, 20 April 2016   |   Friday, 22 April 2016
Assignment - Final article
  • Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.



Handout: Polishing your article


In class - In-class presentation
  • Prepare for an in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience.

Week 15

Course meetings
Monday, 25 April 2016   |   Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Assignment - Reflective essay


  

  • Write a reflective essay (3–5 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.
Milestones

Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.