Academic Summary 

Writing for Wikipedia to Enhance Academic Writing

In “Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing” Tardy (2010) argues about the challenges academic settings pose on second language (L2)  students’ genre repertoires. The article entangles academic writing for L2 writers propounding a project which encompasses writing an article for the web-based encyclopedia site Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org).

The article, on the one hand, accounts for some of the main characteristics of Wikipedia. The idea of collaborative process of writing is introduced by describing the word wiki etymologically. Wiki is explained thus in terms of a web-based space which can be modified by any user, regardless of their level of expertise. In the article it is also provided data about Wikipedia general overview, such as origins, language editions, articles published.  

According to Tardy (2010), it is highly motivating for students the goal of publishing their own articles on Wikipedia, making them available to a worldwide audience. Therefore, she recommends an assignment that involves students composing their own Wikipedia articles. She also outlines a series of steps for the development of the task. The first steps comprise research stages, such as to exam Wikipedia, to get familiar with the web-site, to gather information about potential topics.

The following steps of the assignment proposed by Tardy (2010) involve the very process of academic writing. In the first place, outlining and paraphrasing, stage that focuses on organizing the article according to fixed structures.  It requires students to follow conventions identified in other articles, to include the sources, and then to move to the paraphrasing step. In the second place, drafting, step which involves working with source citations, covering all sources informally integrated into the text, as developed by the author. 

Last stages involve revising, formatting sources, polishing and publishing. At this point students will carefully analyze content organization, style, citation, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and will work on hyperlinks. Feedback is suggested to be provided by peer review, guided by a rubric system in which students are guided by questions they have to answer about academic writing parameters.

As a conclusion, the article seems to convey the notion that academic settings requirements posit higher demands in L2 students. Accordingly, the author offers a project that involves writing for Wikipedia serves as a tool for introducing and developing academic writing skills in a quite stimulating fashion. Furthermore, in composing a text for Wikipedia, students gain a real sense of audience and feel both challenged and gratified.

References

Tardy, C. (2010). Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing. English Teaching Forum, 1 pp. 12-18.