We’re pleased to announce two new resources for students contributing to Wikipedia articles about books or films!
One of the ways we support classes working on Wikipedia for a class assignment is through printed handouts and brochures. Wikipedia can be an intimidating place for a new user, and it’s easy to get lost in the many pages of policies, guidelines, essays, and help pages. Every class has access to interactive training through the Dashboard, but sometimes it helps to have a printed guidebook that provides succinct instructions and best practices.
In addition to brochures that provide general advice about editing Wikipedia, we also have a collection of subject-specific handouts. Most focus on a particular discipline or topic area, such as political science or linguistics. Others concern particular types of articles that cut across disciplines, like our handout on how to work on biographies.
Books and films, like biographies, are articles students contribute to in a wide range of classes. In the past, students have contributed to articles like Wenjack, The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975, The Vanishing American, Garden, Ashes, and Passing.
Articles about books and films tend to follow a standard format, with common section headings, organizational themes, and ways of presenting information. These guides summarize these structural elements, and provide more general tips and best practices — as well as common pitfalls — when it comes to references, neutrality, and style.
PDFs of the brochures are available on Wikimedia Commons (books, films). To request printed copies of these handouts for your class, email us at contact@wikiedu.org.
