230567 Scotland: Past and Present (S) (SoSe 2008)

We all use Wikipedia - but have you thought of writing an article for it?

This is a hands-on class with a goal: contributing an essay to the great free info source of the Wikipedia. The course will offer students a chance to produce an essay on a Scottish theme for the German/English edition of Wikipedia. We will work together on the various stages of such a contribution, e.g. finding a topic, studying Wiki's style and scholarly requirements, researching available literature, producing a first draft for discussion in class etc.

Prospective students obviously need to be interested in things Scottish, should be prepared to work together constructively and have their work discussed critically by their peers, should be highly motivated so they can keep working at and improving their article in the hope of seeing themselves in Wiki. As always: The more you put into this project, the more you will get out of it (just think how good an acceptance from Wiki will look on your CV/résumé).

It is an excellent idea to come to the first meeting of class on 9 April 2008 with your laptops and some suggestion for a suitable topic in your heads. To give you an example: the English edition of Wiki has no article on the "Midlothian Question", and its article on the House of Stuart desperately needs references to scholarly sources [14 January 2008].

Recommended Texts before class:

To prepare for this class I recommend you to read both the Wiki and the Encyclopedia Britannica (EB) articles on Scotland, which will give you an overview of our topic. Drop me an email if you can't get hold of the EB article.