Wikipedia Assignment

 Context of assignment  

 Learning outcomes for students.

1. To begin to effectively incorporate sources into a Wikipedia article.
2. To begin to write clearly and concisely for a general audience about individuals and movements.

 What students will need before this assignment

1.  Training from an instructor or librarian in using Wikipedia (creating an account, editing articles.)
2. Training in finding secondary sources.

 Assignment:

1. Either in groups of two or individually, choose a Wikipedia article to edit.  [Note: this assignment works best when students work from a pre-selected list of Wikipedia articles chosen by the instructor and librarian.]
2. Add two (2) legitimate sources to your chosen article.  These sources may be chosen from a library database or other reliable source.
   
3. Individually, add 250 words to the article.  If you work with a partner, coordinate with them to ensure that you each add to a different part of the article.  [Note: the word count will depend on how much weight instructors wish to give the extra credit assignment.]
4. Submit the link to your Wikipedia article, along with your Wikipedia username to your instructor.
5. Individually, write a brief (1 paragraph) reflection on the experience of editing a Wikipedia article. Was it more or less challenging than you expected? What did you learn as a result of this process?

Why should you write for Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is a ubiquitous resource for anyone who wants a thorough overview on any topic, complete with cited sources, images, and links for further reading. Your contributions to and edits for Wikipedia articles help improve the quality of content, and also help those who rely on Wikipedia’s content to be more informed. And while you should not cite Wikipedia as you would a scholarly source, you can generally rely on it for an overview, since the global community and Wikipedia moderators help Wikipedia maintain a consistent level of credibility and relative transparency.