Classroom Writing Assignment 1 Using Wikipedia

In another article I wrote, I mentioned the value of Wikipedia for teachers, specifically as a source of real-world writing assignments for students as well as the basis of discussions with students about validity, accuracy, usefulness, and quality. In this article, I will describe one assignment using Wikipedia that I have given to my students. To provide some context, it should be known that I teach reading and writing courses, mostly at the basic and developmental (pre-college) level at Leeward Community College from August to May and in June and July I teach in Upward Bound, a program for high school students who come from families that have had no one enrolled in college before. It was my students in Upward Bound that I first began using Wikipedia as the basis of writing assignments.

Assignment 1-Summary/Description and Evaluation of a Wikipedia article

I ask students to read a hardcopy version or view online the Wikipedia article about the high school they attended (or are attending). I then assign them the task of describing/summarizing the Wikipedia article/webpage on one double-spaced (about 250 words). To facilitate this task, I discuss with students and provide examples to them of the aspects of good writing-unity, support, coherence, sentence skills. What is also helpful for students is a specific model, in this case a summary/description that I wrote about the Wikipedia article about the high school I attended. I believe it is beneficial to provide students with models of good writing as well as examples of writing I do.

After reviewing of the summaries/descriptions that students write (I use large- and small-group peer feedback), I assign the students the task of adding to their summaries/description an evaluation of the Wikipedia article about their high school. A discussion of the whats and hows of evaluation is helpful as is an analysis of models of good and not-so-good written evaluations.This assignment can be adapted in a variety of ways. For example, in a history class, students might be assigned to read, describe, and evaluate Wikipedia articles about significant historical figures. Students in a science class write about the Wikipedia articles about different types of scientists. Students in a psychology class might focus on the Wikipedia articles about various types of psychotherapy. Really, with over 1.5 million articles on the English-version of Wikipedia, there are many possibilities.

Also, the assignment can be divided into two, with the summary/description being first and the evaluation being another. Dividing the assignment into two separate ones might work better for some classes, particularly ones with less experience with writing. You be the judge