Editing Wikipedia instead of writing a paper

Greta Munger, Davidson College

Editing Wikipedia instead of writing a paper

“to change the way people think”

–Denis Diderot (1750) Encyclopedia

or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts

Civic engagement …to assist students in developing

humane instincts and disciplined and creative minds for lives of leadership and service… Davidson College Mission Statement

Developing the assignment Defining an entry

Initial definition Imagine this is all they read, what to know?

Methods How do we define and measure this?

Specific results This is the bulk of the article.

Theory To the extent that there is some consensus.

Wikipedia assignment Traditional literature review

Students work individually 1500-2000 words 4-6 peer reviewed sources

Wikipedia project Students in pairs No specific word count Add 15 peer-reviewed sources

Wikipedia Day 1 Registering, linking, and markup

User page details… Register at Wikipedia Link to Davidson College (external) Link to course page APS template Infobox user template (make it pretty!) Talk to a fellow classmate on their User page Say “hi” to Online Ambassador

“Meet & greet” section of his talk page Places to register…

Register at APS Add your name to the list of students on our course page

Wikipedia Day 2 Finding sources and adding

references Citation wizard, DOI search

Markup What you see in textbox

Mental rotation is the ability to manipulate mental representations of two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects about various axes of rotation, with larger orientation differences require more processing time<ref>{{cite journal|last=Shepard|first=R. N.|coauthors=Metzler, J.|title=Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects|journal=Science|date=1971|volume=171|issue=3972|pages=701–703|doi=10.1126/science.171.3972.701}}</ref> <ref>{{cite book|last=Revlin|first=R|title=Human Cognition Theory and Practice|year=2012|publisher=Worth Pub|isbn=9780716756675|pages=237-241}}</ref>.{{reflist}}

What you see as the preview (and when page is saved) Mental rotation is the ability to manipulate mental representations of

two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects about various axes of rotation, with larger orientation differences require more processing time[1] [2].1. ^ Shepard, R. N.; Metzler, J. (1971). "Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects". Science 171 (3972): 701–703. doi:10.1126/science.171.3972.701. 2. ^ Revlin, R. Human Cognition Theory and Practice. Worth Pub. pp. 237-241. ISBN 9780716756675.

Wikipedia Day 3 Articles & partners assigned

Article structure described Develop tentative list of sources

Goal: 15 peer reviewed articles by next week

A quick visual

Writing concisely Typical student sentence

“In a study done by Brown and Munger (2010), they manipulated whether the camera was rotating or translating through the scene and found larger representational momentum for rotations.”

APA rewrite “Brown and Munger (2010) found larger representational

momentum for camera rotations compared to translations.” Wikipedia rewrite

“More representational momentum occurs for camera rotations compared to translations through a scene.[1]”

1. ^ Brown, Travis A.; Munger, Margaret P. (2010). "Representational momentum, spatial layout, and viewpoint dependency". Visual Cognition 18: 780–800. doi:10.1080/13506280903336535.

Content & focus, not just length

Results 200-level course

29 undergraduates, 220+ refs Childhood amnesia Confabulation Culture in music cognition Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm Embodied cognition Encoding specificity principle Eyewitness memory Flashbulb memory Global precedence Misinformation effect Music and emotion Psychological refractory period Reminiscence bump Subliminal stimuli

~6000 page views per month

400-level course 12 undergraduates, 180+

refs Door-in-the-face technique Eustress Impression formation Insight Latent learning Obedience (human behavior) Perfectionism (psychology) Personnel Psychology Posture (psychology) Realistic conflict theory Reminiscence therapy Self-serving bias

~9000 page views per month

Summary Student reflections

Sense of purpose Audience awareness Concise writing Argument Source awareness

Google ≠ PsycINFO Wikipedia ≠ peer-reviewed journal

Discussion Article structure

Methods? Theories? History?

Research vs. Researcher?

Undergraduates can accomplish a lot!

2 classes (N=41), 26 articles400+ peer-reviewed sources addedInformation on method & specific

results

Assignment timeline & structure (1/2)

For sophomore lecture course 34% of final course grade

Read 5 pillars, brief discussion about anonymity Week 1

Registering, linking, and markup 1% of Wikipedia assignment

Week 2 Finding sources and adding references

Library instruction on PsycINFO Practice in sandbox using insert citation (1%) Choosing a topic & partner

Week 3

Assignment timeline & structure (2/2) For sophomore lecture course

Sources on sandbox draft/talk page (6%) Week 5

Moving to main space, content evaluated (30%) Week 9

Peer reviews (2 each) (6%) Week 10

"Final" article (50%) Week 13

Reflective essay (6%) Week 15

Week 14 included Thanksgiving

Accelerated assignment structure For senior majors

25% of final course grade User accounts & topics (4%)

Week 1 Moving to main space, content evaluated

(28%) Week 3

Peer reviews (2 each) (8%) Week 4

"Final" article (56%) & Reflective essay (4%) Week 6 (end of senior exams)