The University of British Columbia's class SPAN322 ("North of the Río Grande: Latin American Civilization and Culture") contributed to Wikipedia during Fall 2008. Our collective goals were to bring a selection of articles on Chicano and Latino literature to featured article status (or as near as possible).

Feel free to discuss this project.

If you have any questions, you can ask them on the project's talk page or at my user talk page.

Goals[edit]

To improve Wikipedia's coverage of selected articles on Chicano and Latino literature in the USA and Canada.
To submit these articles to Wikipedia review processes, such as Did you know?, peer review, good article nominations and featured article candidates.
To increase the number of featured articles in this area.

News[edit]

December 19: How the García Girls Lost Their Accents is now a Good Article! --Leanna1 (talk) 12:12, 20 December 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
November 18: Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories is now a Good Article!
November 15: Tomás Rivera is now C class!
November 14: How the García Girls Lost Their Accents is at WP:GAN
November 11: Sandra Cisneros is now B class!
November 10: Carmen Rodriguez, José Martí, Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros, Who Would Have Thought It? and Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories are all at WP:GAN.
November 10: How the García Girls Lost Their Accents is now B class!
November 10: María Ruiz de Burton and Who Would Have Thought It? are now C class!
November 7: Julia Alvarez is now B class!
October 31: How the García Girls Lost Their Accents and Sandra Cisneros are now C class!
October 29: Carmen Rodriguez is now B class!
October 29: Julia Alvarez is now C class!
October 26: Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories is now B class!
October 19: We have been adopted by the renowned FA-Team! Students, please add the project page to your watchlists, and feel free to ask FA-Team members if you have any queries or need help.
October 17: Who Would Have Thought It? is now start class. We have no more stubs!
October 17: Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories is now C class. (See Wikipedia grading scheme.)
October 17: Carmen Rodriguez is now C class. (See Wikipedia grading scheme.)
September 25: Carmen Rodriguez appeared on the "DYK" section of the Wikipedia main page.
September 24: Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories appeared on the "DYK" section of the Wikipedia main page.
September 21: Chicano literature appeared on the "DYK" section of the Wikipedia main page.
September 20: Chicano literature, Carmen Rodriguez, and Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories all submitted to DYK. (Go us with our DYK productivity!)
September 18: Carmen Rodriguez now created! All our articles now exist.
September 17: Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories now created!
September 15: Chicano literature now created!
September 12: Who Would Have Thought It? now created!
This project goes live the week of September 1, 2008. Please check back regularly for latest progress.

Articles and groups[edit]

Good articles

B-class articles

Groups

Carmen Rodriguez (talk · edit · history) (DYK)
1. --Mstmaurice (talk) 16:30, 4 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
2. --Exclamationpoint (talk) 17:21, 4 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Chicano literature (talk · edit · history) (DYK)
1. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 18:25, 10 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (talk · edit · history)
1. --bdaoust (talk) 22:57, 7 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
2. --Kyalkin (talk) 16:49, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
3. --Leanna1 (talk) 21:34, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

José Martí (talk · edit · history)
1. --Dtiv (talk) 21:33, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
2. --Bas87 (talk) 21:44, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
3. --Valerieraynard (talk) 17:09, 10 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Julia Alvarez (talk · edit · history)
1. --Sauceyboy (talk) 21:45, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
2. --Julie17 (talk) 21:47, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
3. --Ehager (talk) 21:49, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

María Ruiz de Burton (talk · edit · history)
1. --Mgunst (talk) 21:43, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
2. --Bellagiovannini (talk) 21:45, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
3. --Hoekie (talk) 21:06, 12 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Sandra Cisneros (talk · edit · history)
1. --Seto58 (talk) 08:12, 5 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
2. --Heathermary (talk) 16:28, 5 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
3. --Valerie voikin (talk) 16:57, 5 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Tomás Rivera (talk · edit · history)
1. --alannaj (talk)
2. --Trowan (talk) 00:40, 16 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Who Would Have Thought It? (talk · edit · history) (DYK)
1. --Alejod3 (talk) 21:51, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
2. --Nicolecruz (talk) 21:55, 8 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
3. --Annac89 (talk) 06:55, 11 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (talk · edit · history) (DYK)
1. --Katie322 (talk) 22:56, 3 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
2. --Jacqui Nicole (talk)
3. --Anaoaks (talk) 03:33, 15 September 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Planning and resources[edit]

Stages

These are the stages we need to pass through:

Start. Get familiar with Wikipedia. Make some trial edits, however minor. Demystify the process. Leave behind any sense of intimidation. As Wikipedia puts it, learn to be bold. Learn basic editing skllls. By September 8, everyone should have sent me their username, added themselves to a group (above) and the membership list (below), plus made at least one edit anywhere on Wikipedia. Done

DYK. Those articles that are eligible for the "Did You Know?" section of the Main Page should be submitted within five days of their creation or first edit. See the DYK rules and this dispatch about DYK. Groups that successfully get their article featured on the "Did You Know?" section of the Main Page will receive extra credit. Done

Plan. But minor edits alone won't get us much closer towards Feature Article status. We need to have a sense of what more needs to be done, and an overall plan for the article. Look at models and guidelines (e.g. guidelines for articles about novels) on how to write good and feature articles. What sections are required? What will be the article structure? What information is needed? By September 19, each group should have their plan in place, and have written it up on their article's talk page. Done

Share. We will need to divide up the tasks that we've identified in the planning stage. Who is going to do what and when? Done

Research. This is vital. A Wikipedia article is worth nothing unless it comprises verified research, appropriated referenced. This will entail going to the library, as well as surfing the internet! It may also require you get books from inter-library loan. By September 26, each group should have assembled a bibliography that is as comprehensive as possible, and written it up on their article's talk page. Done

Continue. This is not a project that can be completed in a rush, as the deadline races up. Wikipedia articles are written in increments, as the result of many edits, often small.

Over the course of the semester, you need to log in and make at least one edit, again however minor, to your article twice a week.

Assemble and copy-edit. As the referenced research is added to an article, we need to ensure that it does not become baggy and disorganized, though there will be moments when it is obviously in a transitional stage.

Review. First, informal reviews among ourselves and consultation with other Wikipedians. You may then also submit your article to peer review.

Good article nomination.

By November 10, each group should have submitted their article to Good article nominations.

You may want to leave it at that. Or you may want to continue and work on getting your article featured article status. FA status will earn your group a grade of A+. If you are part of a group that is not submitting to FA, you can now join a group that is, and share in their group grade, so long as you are a full participant in the FA drive.

Further Review, both informally and again, perhaps, to peer review.

Feature article nomination.

By November 26, those groups that are submitting their article to featured article candidacy should do so.

There's no precise order for everything. Small, incremental change is always important. But over the course of the project we're looking for radical change, in some cases seeking to create a feature article from scratch. So we need also to be methodical.

NB see also what Wikipedia has to say about article development.

Style guides

To be awarded "good" or "featured" status, articles have to conform to the Wikipedia style guides. The three most important aspects of style are:

Wikipedia:Layout – this guide describes heading and sub-headings.
Wikipedia:Lead section – the all important abstract at the head of an article.
Wikipedia:Manual of Style – the collection of rules.

Secondary style guide are specific to different projects. Articles must conform to these also. Conflict between any of these is inevitable and troublesome; editors simply have to work out conflicts through consensus.

Wikipedia:Manual of Style (writing about fiction) - collection of rules for fiction.
Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/Style guidelines – mostly lay out issues for articles on novels.

The simplest way to understand the various style guides is to examine articles that have passed GA or FA. Here is a recently promoted featured article of a novelist: Mario Vargas Llosa. Here are a couple of featured articles of a novel: El Señor Presidente and The General in His Labyrinth. What's more, these three articles were all written by UBC students like you.

Resources

Progress Reports[edit]

November 11, 2008

This is our progress since the last update:

Carmen Rodriguez: 86 edits, is now at B class. Two active editors (from a group of two).
Chicano literature: One completely useless editor.
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents: 153 edits, is now at B class. Three active editors (from a group of three).
José Martí: 180 edits. Three active editors (from a group of three).
Julia Alvarez: 279 edits, is now at B class. Three active editors (from a group of three).
María Ruiz de Burton: 100 edits, is now at C class. Three active editors (from a group of three).
Sandra Cisneros: 211 edits, is now B class. Three active editors (from a group of three).
Tomás Rivera: 64 edits. Two active editors (from a group of two).
Who Would Have Thought It?: 177 edits, is now at C class. Two active editors (from a group of three).
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories: 192 edits. Three active editors (from a group of three).

The improvement is ongoing and indeed accelerating. Special props perhaps to Team Julia Alvarez and Team Sandra Cisneros, but there's definite progress all around. Still some ways to go, but let's hope that we can continue at this rate and have a few Good Articles by the time of the next update. Well done!

October 28, 2008

This is our progress since the last update:

Carmen Rodriguez: 129 edits. Two active editors (from a group of two).
Chicano literature: No edits. Zero active editors (from a group of one).
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents: 88 edits. Two active editors (from a group of three).
José Martí: 30 edits. Two active editors (from a group of three).
Julia Alvarez: 77 edits, is now at C class. Three active editors (from a group of three).
María Ruiz de Burton: 31 edits. One active editor (from a group of three).
Sandra Cisneros: 20 edits. Two active editors (from a group of three).
Tomás Rivera: 15 edits. Two active editors (from a group of two).
Who Would Have Thought It?: 27 edits. Two active editors (from a group of three).
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories: 56 edits, is now at B class. Three active editors (from a group of three).

This is much better. Most of these articles are now motoring, and some of them have come on by leaps and bounds. Moreover, most groups are now firing on all cylinders. Well done!

October 19, 2008

This is our progress since the last update:

Carmen Rodriguez: 52 edits, is now at C class. One active editor (from a group of two).
Chicano literature: No edits. Zero active editors (from a group of one).
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents: No edits. Zero active editors (from a group of three).
José Martí: 4 edits. Zero active editors (from a group of three).
Julia Alvarez: 44 edits. Two active editors (from a group of three).
María Ruiz de Burton: 10 edits. One active editor (from a group of three).
Sandra Cisneros: 30 edits. Two active editors (from a group of three).
Tomás Rivera: 7 edits. One active editor (from a group of two).
Who Would Have Thought It?: 34 edits. Two active editors (from a group of three).
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories: 38 edits, is now at C class. Two active editors (from a group of three).

Frankly, there are two shocking things here:

that so many of our articles are still at start class, and only two moved up to C class
that not one of our groups is firing on all cylinders; in each group there is at least one person who is not at present pulling his or her weight.

This has to improve!

October 10, 2008

This seems a good time to take stock, now that there should be active editing on all articles. What follows is an account of each article's progress so far this semester:

Carmen Rodriguez: 71 edits, was featured at DYK and is at start class.
Chicano literature: 33 edits, was featured at DYK and is at start class.
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents: 16 edits, is at start class.
José Martí: 45 edits, is still at B-class.
Julia Alvarez: 42 edits, is at start class.
María Ruiz de Burton: 43 edits, is at start class.
Sandra Cisneros: 69 edits, is at start class.
Tomás Rivera: 14 edits, is at start class.
Who Would Have Thought It?: 70 edits, is at start class.
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories: 100 edits, was featured at DYK and is at start class.

Clearly some articles have progressed rather more than others. Let's see progress all around!

Statistics[edit]

Article traffic

Article traffic statistics indicate the size of the public for our work. Below are the figures for June, 2008. Numbers are likely to go up significantly as the articles improve.

José Martí: 13,060 views.^[1] Or c. 155,000 views per year.
Sandra Cisneros: 4,895 views. Or c. 58,000 views per year.
Julia Alvarez: 2,354 views. Or c. 28,000 views per year.
How the García Girls Lost their Accents: 1,309 views.^[2] Or c. 15,000 views per year.
Tomás Rivera: 809 views.^[3] Or c. 9,500 views per year.
Chicano literature: 282 views.^[4] Or c. 3,300 views per year.
Maria Ruiz de Burton: 171 views. Or c. 2,000 views per year.

By comparison...

José Martí (Spanish Wikipedia): 30,393 views.^[5] Or c. 365,000 views per year.

Google page rank

More information to track the significance of this assignment. Below are each article's Google page ranks, using the most likely search parameters.^[6]

Jose Marti: google rank #1 on first page of results
Tomas Rivera: google rank #1 on first page of results
How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents: google rank #1 on first page of results
Sandra Cisneros: google rank #2 on first page of results
Julia Alvarez: google rank #2 on first page of results
Maria Ruiz de Burton: google rank #2 on first page of results
Who Would Have Thought It? google rank #6 on first page of results
Chicano literature: google rank #6 on first page of results
Woman Hollering Creek: google rank #9 on first page of results
Carmen Rodriguez: google rank #14 on second page of results

Members[edit]

Co-ordinator

jbmurray (talk · contribs · count)

Students

alannaj (talk · contribs · count)
Alejod3 (talk · contribs · count)
Anaoaks (talk · contribs · count)
annac89 (talk · contribs · count)
bas87 (talk · contribs · count)
bdaoust (talk · contribs · count)
bellagiovannini (talk · contribs · count)
dtiv (talk · contribs · count)
Ehager (talk · contribs · count)
exclamationpoint (talk · contribs · count)
heathermary (talk · contribs · count)
hoekie (talk · contribs · count)
Jacqui Nicole (talk · contribs · count)
julie17 (talk · contribs · count)
katie322 (talk · contribs · count)
Kyalkin (talk · contribs · count)
Leanna1 (talk · contribs · count)
mgunst (talk · contribs · count)
mstmaurice (talk · contribs · count)
Nicolecruz (talk · contribs · count)
sauceyboy (talk · contribs · count)
Seto58 (talk · contribs · count)
trowan (talk · contribs · count)
valerieraynard (talk · contribs · count)
valerie voikin (talk · contribs · count)

Non-students

We welcome participation and help from other Wikipedia editors. You may wish to add your username below.

Awadewit (talk) - Will review and copyedit.
Mike Christie (talk)
Circeus (talk) - I'll be keeping an eye on the articles, and can help with any questions or copyediting.
Karanacs (talk) - Will review, copyedit, answer any questions you might have.
Cam (Chat) - Technical copyediting, general logistical support. Don't even hesitate to contact me in the chat-section if you have questions.
Moni3 (talk) - The falling into the pit of your stomach feeling after my review will reverse exponentially after you get the bronze star.
Ceranthor (talk · contribs) - Copyediting, not with dashes. Good with prose, research, anything else I guess.

Tables[edit]

Current assessment (November 19, 2008)

**WikiProject:North of the Río Grande article progress assessment** [
v
t
e
]
Home	Top	High	Mid	Low
FA
GA		Julia Alvarez Sandra Cisneros How the García Girls Lost Their Accents	Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories
B	José Martí		Who Would Have Thought It?	Carmen Rodríguez
C		María Ruiz de Burton		Tomás Rivera
Start		Chicano literature
Stub

Initial assessment (September 1, 2008)

**WikiProject:North of the Río Grande initial article assessment** [
v
t
e
]
Home	Top	Mid	Low	Unassessed
FA
GA
B	José Martí
C
Start		Sandra Cisneros How the García Girls Lost Their Accents	Tomás Rivera
Stub
Unassessed				María Ruiz de Burton Julia Alvarez es:José Martí

Redirects or non-existent: Chicano literature, Who Would Have Thought It?, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, Carmen Rodríguez.

Notes[edit]

^ Total includes Jose Marti.
^ Total includes How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.
^ Total includes Tomas Rivera.
^ Total includes Mexican American literature.
^ Total includes Jose Marti.
^ So I've eliminated quotation marks or accents: Jose Marti rather than "José Martí", for example.

External links[edit]

North of the Río Grande, retrieved 2008-09-01. Course blog.

Goals[edit]

News[edit]

Articles and groups[edit]

Featured articles

Good articles

B-class articles

Groups

Planning and resources[edit]

Stages

Style guides

Resources

Progress Reports[edit]

November 11, 2008

October 28, 2008

October 19, 2008

October 10, 2008

Statistics[edit]

Article traffic

Google page rank

Members[edit]

Co-ordinator

Students

Non-students

Tables[edit]

Current assessment (November 19, 2008)

Initial assessment (September 1, 2008)

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

External links[edit]