ASSIGNMENT – Edit an existing wikiHow article

ACTIVITY

You will identify a current wikiHow article that needs some substantial improvement in format, accuracy, and/or style, and you will revise the article to bring it up to wikiHow’s standards.

To find a suitable article to revise, browse the list of articles that have been marked for clean up and follow the How to Copyedit instructions. For other editing ideas, see Steps 2 through 9 on the How to Contribute to wikiHow page.

When you find an article, make a digital copy of the current version of the article, before you revise it. After you’re finished revising the article, make a new digital copy, to preserve the appearance of the article at the moment you stopped editing it.

You will then write a rhetorical analysis that describes what revisions you made and how you know those revisions have substantially improved the article in terms of its readability, usefulness, and adherence to the wikiHow community standards. You will post this analysis, along with a link to the article you edited, to your blog.

MAKING DIGITAL COPIES

To submit your revision, you will include a digital copy of the article before you started working on it, a digital copy of the article taken the moment you stopped working on it, and a rhetorical analysis that explains the reasons for your changes. You will post these materials, along with a link to the article, to your blog.

By “digital copy” of the article, I’m referring to a PDF, which is like a digital photocopy. For instructions on how to save a document as a PDF, see: HOW TO – “Print” to PDF (make a digital copy)

If you didn’t get a digital copy of the article you revised before you started revising it, go to the article and click on the View History tab. You’ll see a list of the article’s revision history.

Locate the revision you first made and then click on the link to the article below that revision. The version of the article as it appeared at that time should load.

“Print” that version to a PDF file. Use a file name format like: Lastname-wikihow-before-edits.pdf

Then load the current version of the article (as it appeared after you last edited it). “Print” that version to a PDF file. Use a file name format like: Lastname-wikihow-after-edits.pdf

WRITE AN ANALYSIS OF YOUR REVISIONS

Write an analysis of the article you revised that describes what you saw as the rhetorical weaknesses in the original version. Start by briefly describing the article itself, giving the title and original author’s name (or username) as well as a brief overview of the topic. Then explain what about the article made it a good candidate for revision. Did it fail to meet the needs of its target audience? Did it fail to meet wikiHow’s standards? Was it marked by the community as being in need of cleanup, and if so, for what reason? Explain your answers.

Also describe and analyze the nature and scope of the revisions you made. What about the article did you decide to change and why? How can you tell that your revisions have made the article more reader-friendly or more well-suited to the standards and customs of wikiHow? This is your chance to persuade me to see the significance of the revisions you made, which will help me determine a grade.

POST YOUR ANALYSIS AND DIGITAL COPIES

Follow these steps to post the “before” and “after” versions of the article as well as your analysis of the revisions you made:

(1) Create a new entry on your blog and use this subject line: Analysis of Revisions to wikiHow Article. (Instead of “wikiHow Article,” you could put the title of the article you revised.)

(2) In the Categories box along the right side of the page, check the box for this Category: Portfolio (or whatever category you used for the rhetorical analysis, above).

(3) In the editing box, type or paste the content of your revision analysis, as described above. The first time you mention the title of the article you revised, make it a hyperlink to the article’s URL.

To create a hyperlink, highlight the title, click the link icon in the toolbar, paste the article’s URL into the Insert Link box, and click the OK button. See: How do I insert a link into a blog entry? .)

(4) Attach the two PDFs you made, one of article “before” you revised it and one of the article “after” your revisions.

To attach a file to a blog entry, click one of the “Add Media” buttons above the toolbar (it doesn’t really matter which one). Click the button to select files from your computer, locate both the first PDF file, and select it. After WordPress uploads it, it will show you a window where you can add or change information about the file. You can leave everything as is and just click the “Insert Into Post” button. Then repeat the process to attach the second PDF.

(5) To see a preview of what your blog entry will look like when it’s published, click the Preview button near the upper right corner of the post editing page. A preview will load in a new window.

(6) Check the preview to see if everything looks OK. Then close the preview window and return to the editing page. Make any additional revisions, if needed. Then click the blue Update or Publish button to submit the entry to your blog.

You might want to then view the front page of your blog to see how the new post appears. If you can see it there, we can see it too. (You can view the front page of your blog by clicking on the name of your blog in the upper left corner of the Dashboard page.)