Page:Wikipedia and Academic Libraries.djvu/52

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
Where History Meets Modern
39

online feedback from a Wikimedia volunteer in their sandboxes and on their Wikipedia talk pages (i.e., administration pages where editors can discuss improvements to articles or other Wikipedia pages). After the third and last class meeting, students submit their final draft for review. One week later, the course is finalized in online one-on-one sessions in which the students are taught how to add their articles to Wikipedia. Additional information about this MaRBLe course, including the program, handy links (e.g., tutorials and cheat sheets), guidelines, contact information, and links to contributions, sandboxes, and talk pages are published on a dedicated Wikipedia project page (FASOS Marble Spring, 2020). Students are graded on three different outputs: their thesis proposal, a Wiki article on the book of choice, and their bachelor’s thesis. All outputs are evaluated with a pass or a fail that is based on peer and individual supervisor feedback, forms, and checklists. A Wikimedia volunteer pays special attention to the structure and encyclopedia-style writing of the Wiki article and the selection and citation of references.

In sum, an important objective of the On Expedition course is to encourage students to analyze, write, and present information about literary sources to a global audience using the popular open-access platform Wikipedia. Contributing to Wikipedia gives students a sense of ownership and responsibility for their work that lasts long a er the course has ended. In addition, students practice writing from a neutral point of view. The encyclopedia-style writing is challenging as Wikipedia policy states that any material or quotations challenged or likely to be challenged, anywhere in the article, require citations. Strict adherence to referencing and citing primary sources in this course is an academic skill students will benefit from in the rest of their academic career.

Historical Book Review
During the Historical Book Review elective course of the FPN Honours+ program, students write Wikipedia articles on original, strange, or unusual psychology (related) books from the Special Collections that were published before 1920. The course consists of five class meetings during which the students are taught how to write a book review