Wikipedia:Canada Education Program/Helpful Hints

Here are a few helpful hints to help you with your course:

Some Language to Know

"Mainspace" - The Wikipedia online encyclopedia. The articles that can be found using Google searches. The mainspace is distinguished from the "namespace."
"Namespace" - The rest of the pages of Wikipedia. This includes the pages that make up the social network (like the profile and discussion pages), the Canadian portal, and many, many others.

Some Other Wikipedia Stuff to Know

Links that are RED link to pages that don't exist yet. For example: A page that doesn't exist has a RED link like this

Links that are BLUE link to pages that do exist. For example: A Blue link means that the page exists.

Some Basic Code to Know

Linking a Student Profile to Your Course Page

After your students have created their course pages, you should create a student list at the bottom of your course page. Your students should then enter the following code in that list:

{{user|Jaobar}}

Which will look like this once saved:

Jaobar (talk · contribs)

Notice the double {{ bracket. This creates the "talk and contribs" links.
"user" always comes first.
Then a pipe "|"
Then the user name.

Creating a New Article on Wikipedia

Type the name of the article into the search box.

If no article exists, the following will appear:

"You may create the page "name here", but consider checking the search results below to see whether the topic is already covered."

If you click the "name here" you will be taken to the edit box for the new page. Save that page and you've created an article!

"name here" will be a RED LINK.

Need more help? starting a new article? The article wizard will help you through the process of submitting a new article to Wikipedia.

Creating a Sandbox

Sandboxes are places for students to "play around" with the wiki code or markup while they develop their research. You can access their sandboxes to help guide them as they learn to use the wiki style and as they develop their writing. Once the material is ready, it can be moved to the mainspace from the sandbox very easily.

Here's the code for creating a sandbox:

[[/sandbox|Name of sandbox here]]

It will look like this once saved:

Name of sandbox here

Moving Material from the Sandbox to the Mainspace

Easiest way - Have the students copy the code they've written from the edit page of their sandbox to the edit page of the article they want to contribute to.

Strategies Throughout The Semester

1) Try to have your students create new articles where possible, beginning from the beginning can be easier than trying to wiggle new edits into an already detailed article.
2) Make sure to have students work in sandboxes first, before moving material to the mainspace.
3) Have students move material to the mainspace (after you've done some grading), asap ... to make sure that they enjoy the benefits of interacting with the social network on WP.

4) Check out the "Did You Know" award ... all new articles created/expanded 5X are eligible... one of Paula's students won the award last semester!

5) Perhaps encourage your student newspapers to write something about the initiative. In my experience university newspapers are attracted to new initiatives like ours ... and can help us spread the word!

Course Page Ideas?

If you're looking for course page ideas, check out the course pages from the previous semester. Click on the "Past Courses" tab for the list of courses from F11.

If interested, you can also have a look at my COURSE PAGE from SP11. It uses the old style, but may help you to see what a completed page can look like:

Questions about using and contributing to Wikipedia