Writing for the World: Wikipedia As an Introduction to Academic Writing

Christine M. Tardy

Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing

s students move from writing avoid plagiarism. The issue of plagia- personal essays to writing for- rism has gained significant attention A mal academic texts in Eng- among L2 writing teachers, who have lish, they face several new challenges. noted its complexity as it relates to Writing tasks in higher education students’ linguistic resources (Keck often require students to draw upon 2006), task demands (Currie 1998), outside sources and to adopt the styles and educational and sociocultural and genres of academic discourse. backgrounds regarding the use and They must conduct research, summa- re-use of words and ideas (Pecorari rize and paraphrase, cite sources, adopt 2003; Pennycook 1996). genre conventions that meet audience Academic settings also place expectations, and select words and demands on students’ genre reper- grammatical patterns that are char- toires. Academic genres may be less acteristic of less personal and more flexible than personal or expressive formal genres of writing. genres. Indeed, academic writing has These academic literacy skills can been described as requiring students pose challenges when first introduced. “to speak as we do, to try on the To conduct research, students must peculiar ways of knowing, selecting, learn to search for and evaluate sourc- evaluating, reporting, concluding, es in terms of credibility and reliabil- and arguing that define the discourse ity, developing skills of informational of our community” (Bartholomae literacy (Tardy and Courtney 2008). 1985, 134). Johns (1997) has argued Once they have located sources, stu- that classrooms can become crucial dents need to learn to paraphrase and sites for helping students develop this summarize—skills that tend to be complex knowledge of genres and more difficult in a second language socioliterate practices. Teachers can (L2). And students must learn to help students to uncover the ways in

12 2 0 1 0 N u m b e r 1 | E n g l i s h T E a c h i n g F o r u m which genre forms are connected to read- can be edited by anyone with access to ers and writers and their socially preferred the Internet…. Anyone is welcome to practices. add information, cross-references, or An additional challenge faced in academic citations, as long as they do so within writing is the issue of expertise. Academic Wikipedia’s editing policies and to writing often requires students to write from an appropriate standard. (Wikipedia an expert position, even when they do not 2009a) consider themselves to be experts on their While the website has over 75,000 active con- topics. Carrying out complicated research in tributors, it also has more than 1,000 Wiki- a second language may exacerbate the issue of pedia administrators who can protect articles expertise if students feel uncertain about their (making them inaccessible to users) and block L2 research skills as well as their L2 writing individual users from editing articles. skills. Encouraging students to draw on their Despite Wikipedia’s popularity with the multiple linguistic resources in such tasks can general public, the site has received a some- position them as multilingual and transna- what negative reputation in certain academ- tional writers who have valuable insight to ic circles, where instructors often criticize share with English-language readers, while students who use Wikipedia as a primary helping them to develop valuable biliteracy research source or even incorporate large skills (Gentil 2005). amounts of Wikipedia text into their own This article describes an approach to intro- writing. Though instructors may bemoan ducing the skills of academic writing for L2 Wikipedia, it is difficult to deny the use- writers through the process of composing an fulness of the site as a general reference. article for the web-based encyclopedia site Even more importantly, Wikipedia offers an Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org). After pro- excellent forum for students to begin con- viding a description of Wikipedia, the article fronting the challenges of academic writing: outlines stages for carrying out a Wikipedia research, citation, generic conventions, and research project. The assignment described style. Acquainting students with Wikipedia here can be easily scaled to a range of con- and its procedures for content creation and texts and levels but may be best suited for editing has the additional benefit of raising undergraduate-level writing students. their awareness about the credibility and reliability of information that they may locate as What is Wikipedia? Wikipedia users. The term wiki refers to a collaborative web-based space that can be modified by Writing for Wikipedia any user. One of the most well-known wikis Assignment overview is Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that In the assignment described here, students includes 262 different language editions and compose their own Wikipedia articles with over 12 million articles. Launched in 2001, the goal of publishing them on the website, Wikipedia has become a popular reference making the articles available to a worldwide source for general information on a wide audience. Students living in non-English- range of topics. Articles in Wikipedia range dominant countries have the advantage of in length from one or two sentences to more identifying and publishing on intriguing top- than 10,000 words. The Wikipedia website ics that are not covered in Wikipedia’s English describes the collaborative composing process edition; the assignment therefore allows them as follows: to draw on their personal interests, knowl- Visitors do not need specialized quali- edge, and experiences as they write for an fications to contribute. Wikipedia's audience that may know little about their intent is to have articles that cover chosen topic. My own students have written existing knowledge, not create new on topics such as a South Korean amusement knowledge (original research). This park, a Taiwanese celebrity, a Ukrainian opera means that people of all ages and cul- singer, an American romance novel author, tural and social backgrounds can write and the “spring pancake”—a popular food Wikipedia articles. Most of the articles from Beijing.

E n g l i s h T E a c h i n g F o r u m | N u m b e r 1 2 0 1 0 13 To satisfy Wikipedia’s expectation that ing on the “edit this page” tab at the top of information be supported by reliable sources, the page; in the absence of computer access, students must research their topics. In doing a screen-print of a Wikipedia article can also so, they will need to locate print or online highlight this tool. Students are often sur- sources and evaluate the credibility of those prised to see that content in a major website sources. The assignment also allows students can be so easily modified. to draw on their own multilingual skills, as After discussing the basic concept of Wiki- their sources may be written in English or pedia as a collaborative global encyclopedia, other languages. Wikipedia guidelines require students can begin to look at the actual that information in the articles be supported content of the articles. To draw on their own by footnotes and general references, which experiences, ask students to print out two requires students to engage in correct cita- or three articles of interest to them to bring tion practices. The assignment therefore can to the next class session; while at least some function as an effective introduction to many of these articles should be taken from the conventions of research writing. English edition, some could also be published While the length of actual Wikipedia in the students’ other languages. Begin the articles varies greatly, classroom assignments next class by listing the titles of their selected might best be limited to 400 to 1,000 words, articles on the board and then ask students depending on the depth that instructors to group the different topics into catego- would like students to go into. A text of ries—they are likely to note categories such as around 500 words works well for a general people, events, products, objects, geographic introduction to the kinds of topics that stu- locations, and so on. In smaller groups, students are likely to write about. Publication to dents can then begin to analyze examples of the website can be a required component of articles within one or two of these categories, the assignment, or it could be an optional step using the printed samples brought to class. for extra credit. A sample assignment descrip- For instance, one group of students can ana- tion is provided in Appendix 1. lyze the sample articles that describe people, while another group can analyze articles that Step 1: Examining Wikipedia describe events. Provide a set of questions to Before students write for Wikipedia, they guide student analysis. For example: will need to develop a good understanding of the website itself, including the general • What kind of information is included guidelines for contributing, the range of top- in the article? ics covered, and the kind of information that • What kind of information is excluded? is commonly included in an article. It is useful • Using several sample articles in your to begin by finding out what students cur- category, look for any patterns in the rently know about Wikipedia and how they organization of the articles. What infor- use the site. Students will often share what mation is typically included first? Next? they have heard about Wikipedia from other If there are headings in the articles, teachers—for example, many of my students do you notice any that are commonly had been told by their teachers not to use used? Wikipedia. These kinds of reactions provide • How much background knowledge of valuable contributions to class discussions the topic do readers need to understand about the credibility of sources in research the article? writing and about the contexts in which • Is any specialized language or jargon Wikipedia may be most appropriately used. used? If so, is it defined? During such discussions, it may also become • What kind of information includes a apparent that some students are unaware that footnote? Wikipedia’s content is user-generated and that Drawing on principles of genre-based peda- anyone may contribute (a primary reason why gogy (Hyland 2007), questions like these help many college instructors discourage its use in students notice genre-based patterns among academic settings). Teachers with access to entries. Their analysis can also lead to larger computers in the classroom can demonstrate class discussions of the role between the pur- how an article may be easily edited by click- pose of an encyclopedia article (especially an

14 2 0 1 0 N u m b e r 1 | E n g l i s h T E a c h i n g F o r u m online one like Wikipedia) and the language students can rank the reliability of possible and content used in the article. sources, ranging from blogs to newspapers It may be useful at this stage to discuss to published books. They can also examine with students some of the differences between information from specific websites, includ- academic writing and Wikipedia writing. For ing personal sites, corporate-sponsored sites, example, Wikipedia writing values concise, and non-profit organization sites, looking for jargon-free prose appropriate for a general whether and how information is documented audience, while some academic writing is or referenced, and considering the role that characterized by complex sentences, detailed bias may play. support, references to academic texts, and As students begin compiling facts through technical terminology. In addition, while their research, they may want to paraphrase Wikipedia summarizes existing knowledge, the information as they enter it into their Fact much academic writing aims to create new Sheet. However, at this stage, they could sim- knowledge. ply copy the exact words of the original text, indicating all copied passages through the use Step 2: Gathering information of quotation marks. After students have gained some famil- iarity with Wikipedia and its conventional Step 3: Outlining and paraphrasing forms, they can begin to identify potential Once students have compiled facts for topics for their own articles. As stated earlier, their article, they are ready to begin planning a good guideline in selecting a topic is to iden- the organization and content. At this point, tify something that does not currently exist in it can be useful for students to look back the English edition and that can be researched at other Wikipedia articles again, especially through credible online or print sources. Stu- those written on similar types of topics. Using dents and teachers may also want to refer to the conventions of organization identified Wikipedia’s guidelines for creating content, from other articles, students will now create such as the site’s articles “What Wikipedia is an outline for their own article. Encourage Not” and “No Original Research,” both of them to create detailed outlines that include which lay out restrictions to original or prima- the sources (or corresponding letters of each ry research or biased points of view on an issue source, assigned in the previous stage) in (Wikipedia 2009a). Class brainstorming can parentheses, as in the sample outline in Fig- be a useful way to begin identifying topics. ure 1. The more specific the outline is at this Once students have selected a topic, they stage, the easier it will be for students to move are ready to start their research. The Fact into the drafting stage. Sheet Assignment in Appendix 2 can help As students create outlines of their con- students compile facts about their topic while tent, they should paraphrase any text that they maintaining a record of the sources of infor- have kept from the original source. At this mation. They may find that some information stage, they do not need to write full sentences; is found in multiple sources; at this stage, it is they can simply use phrases or fragments that useful for students to include all sources from capture the main content without retaining which they located the same content as well as the structure and wording of the original text. any contradictions between or among sources. To simplify this process, they might assign let- Step 4: Drafting ters (or shorthand “tags”) to each source, such At this point in the process, students as a, b, c, etc. (see the example in Appendix 2). should have all of the necessary content for Encourage students to collect more informa- their article and a good plan for organizing tion than they may later need when writing that content. In addition, all of their content their actual articles. should include lettered tags (a, b, c, etc.) that During this fact-finding stage, it is also correspond to the sources from which the useful to introduce the issue of source reliabil- content was taken. Students who created a ity. Wikipedia provides its own guidelines on detailed outline in Step 3 will likely have little reliability, but instructors may wish to address difficulty moving to the drafting stage. Now the topic more broadly to prepare students they can focus their attention on the creation for future research projects. For instance, of clear and coherent text. Any remaining

E n g l i s h T E a c h i n g F o r u m | N u m b e r 1 2 0 1 0 15 quotations from the original sources should be As they compose the first draft, students fully paraphrased or summarized at this stage. should continue to include a parenthetical ref- As they draft, students may find it useful to erence to their sources using the lettered tags examine where quotations are used within from their Fact Sheet, as illustrated in Figure other Wikipedia articles; in most cases, they 2. These letters will be deleted or converted will find that quotations are quite rare in this to footnotes later on, but at this stage they genre, limited to the words of others (usually will help to keep all of the research tied to its well-known figures) about the article topic. original source.

OUTLINE FOR ARTICLE ON HELEN LEMME 1. General statement about who she was: • African American civil rights advocate who lived most of her life in Iowa City, Iowa. • (1904–1968)

2. Early life • Born in Grinnell, Iowa [a] February 25, 1904 • Frances Helen Renfrow [c] • Born to Eva Craig and Lee Augustus Renfrow [e] • Oldest of 6 children [a] • Worked as a housekeeper to help her family financially [a] • As a student, she once won an essay contest but was not given the gold medal prize because of her race [e] • Received $5.00 scholarship upon high school graduation [a] • Began her studies at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1920 [e] • Moved to State University of Iowa in Iowa City in 1924 [e] • Studied science and biology, graduating in 1928 [a] • President of Delta Sigma Theta sorority [e] • After graduation, worked as lab research technician in the Department of Internal Medicine [a]

Figure 1. Sample outline

Helen Lemme (1904-1968) was an African American civil rights advocate who lived most of her life in Iowa City, Iowa. Helen Lemme was born Frances Helen Renfrow [c] to Eva Craig and Lee Augustus Renfrow [e] in Grinnell, Iowa on February 25, 1904 [a]. She was the oldest of six children and worked as a housekeeper to help her family financially [a]. As a student, she once won an essay contest but was not given the gold medal prize because of her race [e]. Lemme graduated from Grinnell High School, receiving a $5.00 gold coin scholarship [a]. She began her university studies in 1920 at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, but moved to State University of Iowa in Iowa City in 1924 [e]. At the University of Iowa, she studied science and biology and served as the president of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority [e]. She graduated in 1928 and began work as a laboratory research technician in the Department of Internal Medicine [a].

Figure 2. Sample first draft

16 2 0 1 0 N u m b e r 1 | E n g l i s h T E a c h i n g F o r u m Step 5: Revising lates that sources should be cited (1) when Once students have completed a draft writing about an opinion or interpretation of their article, with all sources informally that will probably be challenged, or that may integrated into the text, they are ready to be considered controversial, (2) when writing turn their attention to revision. Through peer about a living person, (3) when quoting from review, students can receive feedback on their published materials, and (4) when adding an drafts using questions such as: image (Wikipedia 2009b). • Is the article complete? Does it answer According to Wikipedia, article sources can be cited in two different formats: (1) foot- basic factual questions about the topic? notes are used to tie a source directly to a spe- Are any important questions left unan- cific piece of information in the article, and swered? (2) general references are used for sources that • Is the organization easy to follow? Are support “a significant amount of the material headings used where appropriate? in the article” (Wikipedia 2009b). • Is the writing clear and readable for a It may be easiest to begin by focusing on general audience? formatting the full citations that appear at the Other readers’ perspectives are very valuable end of the article (either as footnotes or gen- for the writer at this stage. Students who have eral references). When writing for Wikipedia, used Wikipedia before (in any language) gen- authors can use Wikipedia’s documentation erally have little difficulty reading these texts style, or they can use another style such as and providing appropriate feedback. Even MLA or Chicago. After students have been students who are unfamiliar with Wikipedia introduced to a specific style and the use of a have probably read other general references style manual, they can create full citations for or encyclopedias and should be encouraged to each of the sources in their Wikipedia article. read their peers’ texts from that perspective. The next step is for students to create After students have received feedback on in-text citations in the form of footnotes, content and clarity, and perhaps made neces- where necessary. At this point, they should sary revisions, they can turn their attention to go through each temporary lettered tag in the issue of style. In its guide to “Writing Bet- their article (the bracketed letter that corre- ter Articles,” Wikipedia describes its preferred sponds to each original source) and determine styles as “news style” or “summary style,” both whether or not a footnote is necessary. Again, of which adopt a tone that is “formal, imper- information that needs to be tied directly to a sonal, and dispassionate” (Wikipedia 2009c). single source should include a footnote, while While the website describes some lexico- information that is more general and can be grammatical features of this tone (e.g., no found in multiple sources does not require a use of first person “I” or “we,” gender-neutral footnote and can be listed as a general refer- pronouns, and very limited use of jargon or ence. For many students, the system of num- specialized language), students themselves can bering footnotes chronologically (in the order analyze the language of published Wikipedia in which they appear: [1] being first, [2] next, articles and practice rewriting non-neutral and so on) may be new, so this step is best passages to conform to the preferred conven- demonstrated through an example. tions. Next, students can look back at their own drafts and identify any wording that Step 7: Polishing may introduce bias or any language that may Once students have cited their sources not otherwise conform to Wikipedia’s style properly, they are ready for final proofreading expectations. and polishing. They should carefully read their texts, paying attention to spelling, vocabulary, Step 6: Formatting sources grammar, and punctuation. Finally, students Once students have revised their drafts can read through their articles to identify any for content, organization, and style, they words or phrases that should be hyperlinked are ready to tackle the issue of citation. As to other existing Wikipedia articles. These a general reference text, a Wikipedia article hyperlinks, also called wikilinks, allow readers may not include as many citations as a more to click on the word or words marked in blue specialized academic text. The website stipu- to access other articles and information. Geo-

E n g l i s h T E a c h i n g F o r u m | N u m b e r 1 2 0 1 0 17 graphic locations, institutions, organizations, “What?”—expressing how surprised and terminology are common examples of they were when I asked them to check wikilinks, and are represented by the under- out my article on Wikipedia. Now, I lined words in Figure 3. still enjoy searching my entry, Spring Pancake, on the Wikipedia website. Step 8: Publishing Both process-based and genre-based This student’s experience mirrored his approaches to writing instruction advocate peers’, as they reflected on the excitement that students publish their writing for an audi- and confidence that they gained in seeing ence beyond the teacher. Wikipedia provides their English-language writing legitimized an excellent opportunity to publish for a global through publication in this worldwide forum. audience. Students may initially be intimidat- Students must also be aware that once their ed by the prospect of submitting their work for article is published, any reader may add, worldwide publication, but the process itself is revise, or delete content. In fact, watching fairly straightforward and is explained in detail their article evolve over time can be an excel- on the website. After registering as Wikipedia lent learning experience. users, students can publish their articles in just Conclusion a few steps. While articles are published imme- While academic writing poses numerous diately, some are quickly flagged for problems challenges to L2 writers, students can begin to (such as missing references or insufficient develop academic literacy skills through small- content) and authors are asked by Wikipedia scale research projects. The Wikipedia-writing editors to make further revisions. One of my project described here introduces students to students described the value of this revision many skills of academic research writing in a process in a reflective essay: manageable and interesting way. While the After two times of failing to pub- assignment may be best suited to undergradu- lish, my article was finally accepted ate or graduate-level writing, even secondary by the website. During these revis- students could engage with stages of the ing sessions, my skills of audience assignment, perhaps contributing to existing awareness, analysis, support, writing Wikipedia articles rather than producing their processes and conventional forms were own original articles. Students can explore reviewed again and again, and my topics that interest them, while drawing on paper was also polished again and their multilingual resources and cultural expe- again to meet the needs of the website. riences to write from a knowledgeable posi- That’s why I think the Wikipedia entry tion. In producing a text for Wikipedia, stu- is the project that can truly provoke dents gain a real sense of audience and enjoy one’s potential in writing. Besides, my the satisfaction of seeing their work published friends in China also encouraged me on a high-traffic global website. by their simple one-word response—

Helen Lemme (1904-1968) was an African American civil rights advocate who lived most of her life in Iowa City, Iowa. Helen Lemme was born Frances Helen Renfrow1 to Eva Craig and Lee Augustus Renfrow in Grinnell, Iowa on February 25, 1904. She was the oldest of six children and worked as a housekeeper to help her family financially. As a student she once won an essay contest but was not given the gold medal prize because of her race.2 Lemme graduated from Grinnell High School, receiving a $5.00 gold coin scholarship. She began her university studies in 1920 at Fisk University in Nashville, TN, but moved to State University of Iowa in Iowa City in 1924. At University of Iowa, she studied science and biology and served as the president of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.3 She graduated in 1928 and began work as a laboratory research technician in the Department of Internal Medicine.

Figure 3. Near-final draft with footnotes and wikilinks

18 2 0 1 0 N u m b e r 1 | E n g l i s h T E a c h i n g F o r u m References Pennycook, A. 1996. Borrowing others’ words: Bartholomae, D. 1985. Inventing the university. In Text, ownership, memory, and plagiarism. When a writer can’t write: Studies in writer’s block TESOL Quarterly 30 (2): 201–30. and other composing-process problems, ed. M. Tardy, C. M., and J. Courtney. 2008. Assignments Rose, 134–65. New York: Guilford. and activities in teaching academic writing. Currie, P. 1998. Staying out of trouble: Apparent In Teaching academic writing, ed. P. Friedrich, plagiarism and academic survival. Journal of 73–92. London: Continuum. Second Language Writing 7 (1): 1–18. Wikipedia. 2009a. Wikipedia: About. http:// Gentil, G. 2005. Commitments to academic bi- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About. literacy: Case studies of francophone university Wikipedia. 2009b. Wikipedia: Citing sources. writers. Written Communication 22 (4): 421–71. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_ Hyland, K. 2007. Genre pedagogy: Language, sources. literacy and L2 writing instruction. Journal of Wikipedia. 2009c. Wikipedia: Writing better articles. Second Language Writing 16 (3): 148–64. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_ Johns, A. M. 1997. Text, role, and context: Develop- to_writing_better_articles. ing academic literacies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Keck, C. 2006. The use of paraphrase in summary Christine M. Tardy is an Assistant Professor writing: A comparison of L1 and L2 writers. Jour- of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse at nal of Second Language Writing 15 (4): 261–78. DePaul University in Chicago. She has Pecorari, D. 2003. Good and original: Plagiarism and patchwriting in academic second-language taught ESL/EFL writing for over 15 years writing. Journal of Second Language Writing 12 in the United States, the Czech Republic, (4): 317–44. Japan, and Turkey.

Sample Assignment Description Writing for the World: Wikipedia… • Christine M. Tardy

Assignment For this assignment, choose a concept, person, place, or event to describe in a Wiki- pedia article. One stipulation: you must choose to write about something that currently does not appear in the English-language version of Wikipedia. Use your global knowledge (of your hometown or country, cultures, and languages) to identify a topic that is not in the English edition of Wikipedia but that may be of interest to general English-language readers. Your article should follow the typical style and tone of Wikipedia articles, be well researched, and include citations where needed. You must also include Wikilinks (hyperlinks to other Wikipedia entries) within your text where appropriate. We will analyze Wikipedia and the various conventions of its articles in class to help prepare you for this assignment. The assignment will also help you to develop several important writing skills, including audience awareness, use of evidence and support, citation conventions, and style. Length Some Wikipedia articles are very long (for example, “Chicago”), while others are very short. Yours should be 350 to 500 words in length. Topics As described above, any topic is acceptable as long as it meets Wikipedia’s guidelines for contributions and does not currently exist in Wikipedia’s English edition. You may find your broad knowledge of popular culture, countries, and languages to be helpful in selecting a topic. Some possibilities might be: the neighborhood you grew up in, a famous singer or celebrity from your country, a food item or dish, a movie or book, an author, an historical event, a well-known newspaper or TV show in another country, or an influen- tial organization you are familiar with. But do not limit yourself to these! Continued on page 27

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Fact Sheet Assignment Writing for the World: Wikipedia… • Christine M. Tardy

Fact Sheet

Use a form to gather information about your Wikipedia article and to record the sources from which the information was taken. Here is an example:

Fact/information (use quotations Source (assign a letter to each separate around any words taken from the source) original source)

“Helen Lemme did community vol- [a]: www.iccsd.k12.ia.us/Schools/ unteering for the rest of her life. She Lemme/helenlemme.html provided room and board for many African-American students attending the University of Iowa. She was an inspira- tion to those students and stressed the importance of a good education.”

“Helen Renfrow Lemme died on [a] December 15, 1968, from inhaling smoke during a fire in her home. She died at the age of 64.”

“African-American University of Iowa [b]: graduate students founded the Helen http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findin- Lemme Reading Club in 1984, under gaids/html/HelenLemmeReadingClub. the name The Third Thursday Reading htm Club. The original purpose of the reading club was to provide a forum for Afri- can-American men and women to meet and discuss literary works by and about African-Americans. It also served as a support group, helping African-Ameri- can students combat feelings of isolation in a mostly white environment.”

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