MEDA 250-B—HOLLYWOOD STARS
Wikipedia Assignment
ASSIGNMENT: A contribution of at least 400 words to an existing Wikipedia entry or the
development of a new Wikipedia entry on a star of your choice, including the addition of at least
8 reputable resources to the page’s References
PURPOSE: To develop skills in writing, media and information literacy, critical thinking and
research, and collaboration, all in relation to the topic of the course.
DUE DATES:
Establishment of Credibility on Wikipedia, Monday, September 28
Topic Proposal, Monday, October 12
Early Contributions to Wikipedia Entry, Monday, November 9
Completed Entry & Reflective Paper, Thursday, December 10, 2pm
Note: NO late submissions of final assignments will be accepted for any reason
WORTH:
Establishment of Credibility on Wikipedia, 5%
Topic Proposal, 5%
Early Contributions to Wikipedia Entry, 20%
Completed Entry, 30%
Reflective Paper, 15%
NOTES:
 We will have multiple workshops throughout the semester to help acquaint you with
Wikipedia. These workshops will be announced beforehand, and it is strongly
recommended that you attend class on workshop days so that you are able to gain
familiarity with Wikipedia and its processes as you work.
ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia written, edited, and curated by internet users. It’s an
incredible resource and one worth learning more about, which is why students will be
undertaking this assignment. Throughout the process of becoming a Wikipedian, students will
learn about Wikipedia’s nature and development, come to appreciate the complexities and
advantages of online collaboration, and contribute meaningfully to the distribution of
knowledge by adding to or creating their own Wikipedia entry. Moreover, they will gain
firsthand experience doing proper historical research into stars and celebrities.
Note that all assignments should be submitted via email (to ecsmith@austincollege.edu) by
the time class begins on the due date. Emails received after class start time will be considered
late and handled as outlined in the syllabus.
Establishment of Credibility on Wikipedia, due Sept. 28, worth 5% of course grade
Early on in the semester, you will need to register as a Wikipedia user and establish your
credibility as a Wikipedian. In the process, you will become better acclimated to the site and
how it works. Your establishment of credibility will require you to do the following:
1. Create an account and user page, including a short biography and an image from
Wikimedia Commons
2. Do some minor edits to an article related to the course (I recommend checking out the
following for suggestions:
a. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Actors_and_Filmmakers#O
n-going_projects.2Fto_do_lists
b. https://tools.wmflabs.org/bambots/cwb/bycat/Actors_and_Filmmakers.html#All
articles needing expert attention
3. Use a reading from the course to add a reference to an existing article
By class time on the due date you should email Erin (ecsmith@austincollege.edu) links to your
user page, the article you edited, and the article to which you added a reference. Your grade is
determined by whether or not these tasks are accomplished properly and on time.
Topic Proposal, due Oct. 12, worth 5% of course grade
Your topic proposal should not fill you with panic—it is a very simple submission of a
preliminary topic idea for your final project. As you decide on an article to edit, you should
reference the PDF “Choosing an Article to Edit,” available in the “Course Documents” folder on
Dropbox. This will give you some tips on how to go about your selection process. I also
recommend referring to the WikiProject on Actors & Filmmakers as a useful starting point for
your work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Actors_and_Filmmakers (You
do not have to select an actor/filmmaker for your project, but it’s a good place to start.) The
links in the “Establishment of Credibility” section above will also point you toward articles that
need work.
The topic proposal has multiple parts:
1. By class time on the due date you should email Erin (ecsmith@austincollege.edu) a list
of 3-5 articles you’re considering editing, with a sentence or two of explanation for each
article explaining why you’re considering it. If you are considering adding a new article,
you should indicate what that article would cover and why you are interested in creating
it.
2. You will schedule a brief (15-minute) meeting with Erin to discuss your topic. At that
point, you will finalize your choice.
Your grade is determined by whether or not these tasks are accomplished properly and on
time.
Early Contributions to Wikipedia Entry, due Nov. 9, worth 20% of course grade
Once you have chosen an article to edit, you should begin your research and start to establish
yourself as a contributor to the page.
Begin by doing research into your chosen star. This research should include both scholarly
sources (books, journal articles, etc.) and also primary sources from trade press, newspapers,
and even gossip magazines. I would recommend starting your research by perusing the list of
scholarly and online resources provided on our course wiki (XXX), and then building a research
strategy from there. Your edits to your chosen Wikipedia article must include contributing at
least 8 resources to the references section of the article.
Then, you need to wade into the Wikipedian waters by establishing yourself as a contributor to
the page. By class time on the due date, you need to do the following:
1. Post a message on the article’s talk page with proposed sources
2. Post an outline of proposed changes to the talk page before you begin writing/editing (I
recommend trying out some of those changes in a sandbox first)
3. Email a link to your article’s talk page to Erin (ecsmith@austincollege.edu)
Note that you should follow up on any commentary you receive from other Wikipedians on the
talk page. I recommend keeping the talk page for your article in your Watchlist and checking it
regularly so that you can become part of a conversation about your proposed edits.
Your grade is determined by whether or not these tasks are accomplished properly and on
time, along with how well you are participating in an ongoing conversation with fellow
Wikipedians on the talk page.
Completed Entry & Reflective Paper due by 2:00pm on Thursday, December 10
Completed Entry worth 30% of course grade, Reflective Paper worth 15% of course grade
***Note: NO late submissions will be accepted for any reason***
By 2pm on the due date, you must email Erin (ecsmith@austincollege.edu) a link to the article
you have edited, a link to the talk page for that article, and your reflective paper.
Your reflective paper should be 3-5 pages (following the guidelines for written work outlined in
the course syllabus) reflecting on the experience of doing this assignment. What did you learn
about your subject? What did you learn about the research process and the act of contributing
to scholarly assessment of stars in a popular/populist venue? What did you learn about
Wikipedia and the way we produce and consume “facts” today?
Guidelines for Evaluation
Your contribution to Wikipedia will ultimately be evaluated based on the following criteria:
1. A meaningful & well-constructed contribution to the Wikipedia entry chosen. Simply
adding a few words here and there is not sufficient. (It would also be much harder to do
than make a meaningful contribution.) You should add something substantial to the
existing entry (or to Wikipedia, if you choose to create an entry where one does not yet
exist). If you are uncertain whether the material you’ve found to add to the entry
constitutes a meaningful contribution, you should speak with both Erin and with other
Wikipedians on the Talk Page about your plans to solicit feedback.
2. Discussion and collaboration with other Wikipedians on the Talk Page. A key
component of Wikipedia is the opportunity to collaborate with others worldwide. As we
will discuss all semester, the community of Wikipedians is crucial to its operations, and
your experiences as part of that community are crucial to this assignment. You should
be engaging in conversation with other Wikipedians working on your chosen entry on
the Talk Page. Remember that engaging in conversation (online or in person) requires
give-and-take—you should both pose questions you’d like feedback on as well as
respond to others’ posts with your own perspective. The Talk Page should provide
evidence that you worked to become part of the Wikipedian community.
3. Quality of resources contributed. The assignment requires you to contribute at least 8
resources to the References section of your chosen Wikipedia article. Those resources
should be high quality and reputable. They do not need to be scholarly (although you
are encouraged to find some scholarly materials to contribute), but they do need to be
new to the entry and well vetted by you.
4. Writing style (clarity, organization, flow, transitions, etc.) and mechanics (grammar,
punctuation, paragraph, and sentence structures).
5. Success at meeting the various requirements of the assignment as outlined above.
This includes having the appropriate number of sources and the appropriate length of
contribution to your chosen entry.
Your reflective paper will ultimately be evaluated based on the following criteria:
1. Proper formatting. Review the guidelines for Written Work outlined in the syllabus, and
make sure that your paper is 3-5 pages long.
2. Engagement with the following questions. What did you learn about your subject?
What did you learn about the research process and the act of contributing to scholarly
assessment of stars in a popular/populist venue? What did you learn about Wikipedia
and the way we produce and consume “facts” today? Most importantly: How does a
resource like Wikipedia contribute to the formation of star images as discussed over the
course of the semester?
3. Thoughtful response to these questions. Your paper should NOT simply be a
breakdown of the steps you took in contributing to your chosen Wikipedia entry.
Rather, I’m looking for you to respond thoughtfully and with care to these questions as
an opportunity to reflect on your experiences completing this assignment over the
course of the semester.