Project Proposal

Matthew Vetter
Eng 792e
Project Proposal



Composing for Online Audiences in the Writing Classroom:
Experiments and Innovations with Wikipedia


Objectives / Product(s):
To complete the assignment I designed for a Junior-level course, I’ll produce:

A Wikipedia entry: I’m interested in using the alternative option of my assignment “a substantial edit to an existing Wikipedia article” to revise/edit/add to the entry on “aporia” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aporia)


Photographs: The assignment calls for photographs to add to the Wikipedia entry to increase notability. I’m still thinking about this as I’m not sure I could come up with anything that could be applicable to this entry’s topic.

A Reflection Essay: As a final element of the assignment, I’ll write a reflection piece to answer the following prompt (3-4 pp.): Examine one or more rhetorical concepts of notability, authority, audience, and purpose. How much has your attention to one or more of these concepts influenced your composition process and product? Furthermore, how are open content platforms such as Wikipedia changing the way information is shared and disseminated?

Article: As I complete the separate elements of the assignment, I’ll take process notes (reflective writing about the process of navigating the Wikipedia entry, writing the article, etc) to reflect on the assignment itself and describe the best methods / processes. I’ll also attempt to more clearly define the “areas of growth” or objectives of the assignment by reflection on what I learned and accomplished. I want to compile a list of “things to avoid” or “don’t do this” items as well.

I’ll juxtapose my own findings with outside research to learn what I can specifically add to the current conversation, (and what the current conversation covers). My initial feeling is that there is not a lot of specific assignment examples out there. So I hope to be able to remedy that. I see this article as doing the following:

1. Reviewing current scholarship on using Wikipedia/wikis in writing classes.
2. Reflecting on what I’ve learned from composing and completing a specific assignment. Revisions I’ve made to the assignment.
3. sharing new and relevant findings based on this reflection and discussing how it reinforces or changes current thinking/current conversation.
4. Showcasing / sharing the actual assignment as an appendix.

Preliminary Bibliography:

Baker, Nicholson. “The Charms of Wikipedia.” Rev of Wikipedia: The Missing Manual, by John Broughton. The New York Review of Books 20 March 2008. 20 March 2008
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21131.

Barton, Matthew and Robert E. Cummings (eds.). Wiki Writing: Collaborative Learning in the College Classroom. Ann Arbor, MI: Digital Culture Books, 2008.

Cummings, Robert E. Lazy Virtues: Teaching Writing in the Age of Wikipedia. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2008.

Garza, Susan Loudermilk and Tommy Hern. “Using Wikis as Collaborative Writing Tools: Something Wiki This Way Comes – Or Not!” 6 Jan. 2006. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. 20 March 2008. http://critical.tamucc.edu/wiki/WikiArticle/Home.

Hood, Carra Leah. "Editing Out Obscenity: Wikipedia and Writing Pedagogy." CC Online.
http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/wiki_hood/index.html

Liu, Alan. "Student Wikipedia Use Policy." 15 April 2007. 11 August 2008
http://www.english.ucsb.edu/faculty/ayliu/courses/wikipedia-policy.html.

Miller, Nora. “Wikipedia and the Disappearing ‘Author.’” ETC (Jan. 2005): 37-40.