01/14 Wikipedia journal 150-200 words

My Experience with Wikipedia #1

Wikipedia is notorious for being a site universally disliked by teachers. Typically teachers advise
students to not use wikipedia, claiming it as an unreliable source of information. This idea is
constructed by the fact that wikipedia pages are easily editable by anyone with a wikipedia
account, making the information on the pages susceptible to being changed by the public. Due
to this, I never use wikipedia in a classroom setting, such as when I am citing a credible source
in an essay. This is mainly because I have been instructed not to by the teacher. However,
outside of school, I am a big fan of wikipedia. It is typically the first website I gravitate towards if I
am searching for information on a topic. I find the website layout and subheadings easy to
navigate through and have never found the material to be incredibly inaccurate. I notice most
people also use wikipedia and I have never heard anyone finding actual misinformation on
there. I think it is somewhat ironic because any website can provide misinformation, but the
most uniformly used one is not allowed in most classrooms.

Entry #2
Wikipedia has articles on almost every topic ever. This was something I kind of already
knew but never really comprehended. When trying to find an article, there were so many
different topics to consider. In writing 1 I did my big project on something dental related because
it is something I am passionate about. Due to this I wanted my wikipedia article to be something
dental related too. I find writing about something you are passionate about makes the process
so much easier. I also wanted to pick a topic I was not familiar with so I could learn more about
it. Even with all these requirements, there were so many wikipedia articles that fit the criteria. I
went through a few until I ultimately decided on an article about Hyperdontia. However, I am
nervous about how I will add to this article, hopefully I will be able to find sources on this topic to
incorporate into the article.
Entry #3
So far with wikipedia, things have been going smoothly. Although the site can be
confusing and a bit overwhelming, I think the project builders are helping to develop my future
article revision. I am worried about picking the right topic and making a positive contribution to
the article. I am also worried about picking an article topic because sources might be hard to
find. Though the library is full of sources, the topics on wikipedia seem somewhat random and
potentially hard to find valid sources. I am hoping the next week of project building will help me
navigate through these worries. The site can be a bit overwhelming because I have never
viewed wikipedia in this manner before. Such as contributing to the articles and looking at how
well they are written, the sources used, and how well the ideas are developed. However, all
these new views on wikipedia have opened my eyes to checking the credibility of articles when
using them as a source of information.

Entry #4
The wikipedia project is going better than anticipated. I was pretty nervous about finding a topic
and sources, for some reason this seemed like a daunting task. I think I was just nervous about
choosing the right topic and being able to find sources to go along with it. It seemed daunting
because eventually we are going to have to edit and publish a revised article that the world can
access. This made me a bit anxious to be honest. Usually assignments are exclusive between
professor and student, but this time anyone has access to the article. I have always been a bit
shy about my writing so this assignment is out of my comfort zone, but I am happy it is going
well so far. Now I am excited for this upcoming week to see actual progress happening to the
article.

Entry #5
We’ve officially finalized our sources. I am surprised with how well finding sources went, a lot
better than I had anticipated. I originally thought it would be hard to find relevant information on
reflective writing, but the sources kept coming. I am content with the sources I have found, and I
am beginning to think about how I can add relevant information to the article. I am a bit
confused on how to handle the weekly tasks on wikipedia and what is expected out of them.
Overall I think I am headed in the right direction with the wikipedia article and with the sources
chosen. The next step in revising the article is to dive deeper into the sources and pick out
relevant information and see how it can be incorporated into improving the wiki article.

Entry #6
This week we worked on peer reviewing the articles and received feedback for our outline on
our sources. I have realized I have not delved deep enough into my sources and have yet to
find the right information to add to the article. Within the next week I will need to be more
detailed on how I plan on revising the article as opposed to the surface level ideas I have had in
mind. This will mean finding specific information from the sources and being more detailed with
the ways I plan to revise the article. I also need to find more ways the sources correlate to each
other as opposed to having a lot of random information added to the article that do not coincide.
I plan on implementing these steps throughout the revision article assignment this week in order
to be on the right track with the revision process. I feel I might have fallen behind by not digging
deeper into the sources.
Entry #7

The wikipedia journal article is going pretty well. Currently I am collecting different facts about
reflective writing that I think would correlate to the wiki article. I have a lot less anxiety about
editing the article now. I am just telling myself all I need to do is try my best and hopefully it will
help improve the article on wikipedia. I am hoping that even if the editing gets taken down off the
wikipedia page it won’t heavily impact the grade for the project. So far, I have collected a good
amount of information on reflective writing. I am now focusing on where to add the information,
as in which subsections or if a new subsection is needed. I am hoping to have a good outline of
what changes I want to make throughout the next week. Hopefully my confidence with this
assignment does not waver as I near finalizing the project.

Entry #8
Editing the article on reflective writing has been going pretty smooth. I tend to get a good
amount done during class time, which is nice. We also read and annotate an article about
reflective writing which I might look into using as a source to add to the article. Peer review is
coming up and we are working on our first fully written draft. As of now, I just need to add more
information and use more sources. Out of the 5 finalized sources we picked a few weeks ago
only around 3 were actually useful. I went back and searched for other sources. Instead of
working through compile and searching on the ucsb library after, I just searched through the
ucsb library initially and found some applicable peer reviewed articles that I used for information.
My draft is still a work in progress but it will be done by monday to prepare for the peer review.
Entry #9
Wooooo the wikipedia article is near completion. After hearing back from the peer reviewers and
the professors feedback I feel quite confident with where I am at with my article revision. Now I
just need to apply the revision suggestions to my article and upload my finalized version. This is
actually more exciting than I anticipated. I am intrigued on how the wikipedia community will
take my revisions and if the changes will stick or be reverted. I also wonder if the editings I add
will change the rank of the article on wikipedia.