• Week 1 (01/24 - 01/30)

    Meetings: Monday (01/25)
    • This week's readings: Nature abhors a vacuum of order

      In Class
      Further reading:
    • Wikipedia essentials

      In Class
      • Overview of the course
      • Why and how Wikipedia will be used in the course
      • Walk through the anatomy of Wikipedia with a few examples
        1.  Peacekeeping
          • Check out usage statistics
          • Review content
        2. State-building
          • Lengthy but flagged for need of clean-up and experts
          • There are huge topic areas not covered: influential historical accounts, major theories, examples
          • Possibly could benefit from linking to and developing key sub-articles, and better listing and organizing these links
        3. The Better Angels of Our Nature
          • Fairly lengthy book review with moderate amount on talk page
          • Note part of abooks project, where it is labeled Start class, so in need of more development
        4. The Civilizing Process
          • Relatively little coverage, despite being a longtime influential book and backbone of the Peter Singer book
      • Options:
        • Re-organizing and adding to a major page like State-building or Rebellion
        • Creating/adding key articles that feed into these big topics and linking to them (such as theories of rebellion, or the academic literature on peacekeeping)
        • Adding or improving a book summary and integrating it into relevant topic articles
        • The class could even work collaboratively on different pieces of a larger concept, such as State-building
    • In-class discussion (every week)

      Assignment
      • This "assignment" covers my expectations for every week of the course until the end. 
      • Every week you'll be expected to arrive to class have read the assigned book or articles.
      • You should read these readings "critically", meaning you think about the research question, the hypothesis, whether the evidence or argument is convincing and complete, strengths, weaknesses, and why the idea is important. You may want to take notes and make summaries. 
      • You may also want to look at whether and how the material is covered in Wikipedia.
      • Every week, at least half to three quarters of the class time will be spent discussing these articles: the ideas in them, strengths and weaknesses, and how they further our learning goals in the course. I as your instructor will lead the discussion and pose questions, but you should also feel free to pose questions or topics for discussion.
      • Your critical discussion and contributions, including demonstration that you read and understood the readings, will be approximately a third of your course grade. 
    • Practicing the basics

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-02-01

      Training

      Wikipedia policies
      Editing Basics
      Evaluating articles and sources

      • 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.  
      • To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.  
      • Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.
  • Week 2 (01/31 - 02/06)

    Meetings: Monday (02/01)
    • This week's readings: Violence

      In Class
      Further reading
    • Editing basics

      In Class

      • Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.
      • 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
      • Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
    • Copyedit an article

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-02-08

      Plagiarism

      • Choose one article, identify ways in which you can improve and correct its language and grammar, and make the appropriate changes. You can also highlight statements in need of citation, or more reliable sourcing. Note: You do not need to alter the article's substantive content or add sources; we will be doing this in a couple of weeks. Just copyedit.
    • Exploring the topic area

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-02-08

      • In a couple of weeks you'll need to formally suggest a term project to work on, so this is a chance to look around informally and get some guidance in class.
      • Look around Wikipedia in the topic area of the course. Don't just look at main pages, but also at smaller and more specialized sub-pages and specialized articles. Are major academic theories or ideas weakly covered? Are there major books with no summary (or a poor one)? Do articles use and reference modern social science?
      • In the next class, be prepared to talk about some of your observations about 
        Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use 
        improvement.
      • This assignment is formally ungraded, but your contributions next week will be reflected in your broader class participation/discussion grade.
    • Everyone has a Wikipedia account

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

  • Week 3 (02/07 - 02/13)

    Meetings: Monday (02/08)
    • This week's readings: The State

      In Class
      • Pages 1-24 of Timothy Besley and Suresh Naidu (2015). “Chapter 21: Political Economy,” core-econ.org (Dropbox)
      • Herbst, Jeffrey. "War and the State in Africa." International Security (1990): 117-139.
      • Chapter 1 of Dipali Mukhopadhyay. 2014. Warlords, strongman governors, and the state in Afghanistan. Cambridge University Press. (Dropbox or the Kindle version of Chapter 1 is available on Amazon for free by clicking on “Send a free sample”)
      • Chapter 10 (Conclusions) in James C. Scott. (1998). Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. (Dropbox)
      Further reading:
    • Exploring the topic area

      In Class

      • Be prepared to discuss in class some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
    • Using sources

      In Class

      • Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
      Supplementary training: Sources and Citations
    • Add to an article

      Assignment

      •  Choose a source (one of the short readings from this week, a previous week, a future week, or one that you know from another course). 
      • Choose a Wikipedia article related to the class, where an insight from this source is relevant. Ideally this is an article where the substantive point is not already made, and it is in need of content and sourcing.
      • Add the new information to the Wikipedia article, backed up with a citation to your source. It could be as little as a sentence, though, as Wikipedia advises, feel free to "be bold".
  • Week 4 (02/14 - 02/20)

    Meetings: Monday (02/15)
  • Week 5 (02/21 - 02/27)

    Meetings: Monday (02/22)
    • This week's readings: Geographic origins of poltical and economic development

      In Class
      • Diamond, Jared (1998). "The evolution of guns and germs." Chapter 3 of Evolution: Society, science, and the universe, edited by A. C. Fabian. (Dropbox)
      • Engerman, Stanley L, and Kenneth L Sokoloff. 2005. “Institutional and Non-Institutional Explanations of Economic Differences.” In Handbook of New Institutional Economics, edited by C Menard and M.M. Shirley, 639–65. Amsterdam: Springer.
      • Nugent, Jeffrey B., and James A. Robinson. "Are factor endowments fate?." Revista de Historia Economica 28.1 (2010): 45. (Skip the math)
      Further reading:
    • Discuss the article topics

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

      Supplementary training: Sandboxes and Mainspace

    • Finalize your topic and start researching

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-02-29


        
      • Select an article to work on, removing the rest from your user page. Add your topic on the course page. Remember this should not be the identical topic as one of your other term papers or senior essay.
      • Spend some time looking around Wikipedia for articles related to your topic, whether they are broader or have parallels. How is the information organized? How should your article fit in? Are you sure you are editing in the right place, or addressing the topic in the right way?
      • Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to 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.
  • Week 6 (02/28 - 03/05)

    Meetings: Monday (02/29)
    • This week's readings: Theories of institutional development

      In Class
      Further reading:

    • Wikipedia culture and etiquette

      In Class
      • 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.
    • Drafting starter articles

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-03-07

      Sandboxes and Mainspace

      • If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox. If you are improving an existing article, create a detailed outline reflecting your proposed changes, and post this for community feedback, along with a brief description of your plans, on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check back on the talk page often and engage with any responses.
      • Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your short starter article and fix any major issues.
      • Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.
  • Week 7 (03/06 - 03/12)

    Meetings: Monday (03/07)
    • This week's readings: Background for your article

      In Class
      You should start reading several articles or other sources relevant to your toipic. Feel free to speak to me about suggestions. We will spend the class looking at your starter articles, spending about 5-10 minutes on each person's article with the rest of the class.
    • Students have started editing

      Milestone

      All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

    • Building articles

      In Class

      • Share experiences and discuss problems.
    • Reading over the break

      Assignment
      We will be discussing two big books after the break, by Migdal and Pinker. This will mean an unusual amount of reading. But they are really, really good books. Migdal is one of my favorite books in all of political science. Pinker is one of the most widely-read and influential books on violence written this century. 
  • Week 8 (03/13 - 03/19)

    No scheduled meetings this week

  • Week 9 (03/20 - 03/26)

    Meetings: Monday (03/21)
    • This week's readings: Strong societies

      In Class
      Further reading:
    • Moving articles to mainspace

      In Class
      • We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
      • A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
        • Check to see if there is an explanation of the edit on the article's talk page. If not, (politely) ask why it was removed.
        • Contact your instructor or Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.

      Handout: Moving out of your Sandbox

    • Moving articles to mainspace

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-03-28


      • 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.
    • Move your article proposals to the talk page

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-03-21

      • Before the break you provided article summaries to me in your sandboxes, and I gave you feedback
      • Based on that feedback, add your planned changes to the Talk page as soon as possible, to see if there is feedback from other Wikipedians.
      • Make sure you use the appropriate formatting, sign your suggestions, use the : for replies, etc.
      • It seems like the style of talk pages is not to add one big heading with all your proposed changes, but rather to break it up by theme or major type of proposal. You will probably add many headings with comments, each related to a different aspect or part of the article.
      • If you are collaborating with someone else in the class, you will often be adding to the same subsections on the talk page, rather than creating duplicate ones. You can reply to one another and put some of your discussion.
  • Week 10 (03/27 - 04/02)

    Meetings: Monday (03/28)
  • Week 11 (04/03 - 04/09)

    Meetings: Monday (04/04)
    • This week's readings: The origins of weak societies and weak states

      In Class
      • Migdal, Joel S. Strong societies and weak states: state-society relations and state capabilities in the Third World. Princeton University Press, 1988 (Buy on Amazon)

    • Choose articles to peer review

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-04-11


      • I will assign you two 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.)
  • Week 12 (04/10 - 04/16)

    Meetings: Monday (04/11)
    • Complete first draft

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-04-18


      • Expand your article into a complete first, rough draft.
      • Your classmates will need this for peer review so be sure to complete it on time (the 18th)
    • NO CLASS THIS WEEK

      In Class
      I will be out of town and so you should use this week to read more deeply in your subject and complete your first draft.
  • Week 13 (04/17 - 04/23)

    Meetings: Monday (04/18)
  • Week 14 (04/24 - 04/30)

    Meetings: Monday (04/25)
    • Peer reviews are complete

      Milestone

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

    • This week's readings: TBD

      In Class


    • Discuss further article improvements

      In Class

      • Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.
      • Think about what broader articles your article should speak to, and how they could connect
    • Address peer review suggestions

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-05-02


      • 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.
  • Week 15 (05/01 - 05/05)

    Meetings: Monday (05/02)
    • This week's readings: TBD

      In Class


    • Reflections on process

      In Class
      • Before class, you should prepare some reflective notes on your experiences with Wikipedia, what you learned, what you would do differently in future, and how your ideas about online information has been shaped by the experience.
    • Final article

      Assignment -

      Due: 2016-05-05


      • Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.
      • Are there lists, disambiguation entries, or major topic articles where your article should be included?
    • All article edits are complete

      Milestone
      By the end of reading period (May 5) students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.

  1. Week 101/24 - 01/30
  2. Week 201/31 - 02/06
  3. Week 302/07 - 02/13
  4. Week 402/14 - 02/20
  5. Week 502/21 - 02/27
  6. Week 602/28 - 03/05
  7. Week 703/06 - 03/12
  8. Week 803/13 - 03/19
  9. Week 903/20 - 03/26
  10. Week 1003/27 - 04/02
  11. Week 1104/03 - 04/09
  12. Week 1204/10 - 04/16
  13. Week 1304/17 - 04/23
  14. Week 1404/24 - 04/30
  15. Week 1505/01 - 05/05