Students will learn how to create neutral and reliable articles in accordance with Wikipedia’s rules, understand the importance of the verifiability of information, and identify and correct misinformation. In addition, the exercise will demonstrate how difficult it is to maintain complete neutrality, and how complex the process of content moderation and verification of information in online sources can be.

Task description: The aim of the exercise is to understand the process of creating Wikipedia articles and the challenges of maintaining neutrality and accuracy of information. Students, working in small groups, will prepare their own historical articles in accordance with Wikipedia’s rules.

One person from each group will be designated as a ‘saboteur’. The saboteur’s task will be to introduce subtle misinformation. Other groups will have to detect and correct misinformation, which will help them to understand how difficult it is to identify manipulation in online sources.

Task steps:

  1. Division into groups: Students are divided into small groups (3-4 persons). Each group chooses the person responsible for noting down their findings.
  2. Topic selection: Each group chooses a historical topic they will be developing in the form of a Wikipedia article (list of proposed topics below). The topic should be broad enough to enable them to present different perspectives.
  3. Planning the structure of the article: Groups create an outline of the article dividing it into sections (e.g. introduction, historical context, implications) – following the encyclopaedic format of Wikipedia.
  4. Collecting sources: Students search for reliable sources (books, academic articles, historical documents) and learn to cite them correctly – in line with Wikipedia’s verifiability policy.
  5. Creating the article: Students write the article, taking care of its neutrality and appropriate formatting. They introduce footnotes and internal linking to other Wikipedia entries.
  6. Saboteur: The teacher appoints one person from each group to be the ‘saboteur’ whose task is to introduce subtle misinformation (e.g. an incorrect date, misinterpretation, biased wording) into the article.
  7. Presentation of articles: Groups present their articles reading out the main passages and explaining the process of creating them.
  8. Analysis and detection of misinformation: Other groups analyse the articles pointing out narrative errors and gaps in the sources and trying to detect the misinformation introduced. Each group then is given time to correct their article.
  1. Conclusion: The teacher, together with students, discusses the difficulties they encountered in producing the articles and points out the importance of critical source analysis.

Proposed topics for historical articles (20th and 21st century):

  • Creation of the State of Israel – origins and consequences
  • October Revolution of 1917  – its consequences for the world
  • Great Depression of the 1930s – its impact on the global economy
  • Decolonisation of Africa – key events and implications
  • Fall of the Berlin Wall – its significance for Europe
  • Attacks of September 11, 2001 – political and social consequences
  • Formation of the European Union – stages of integration
  • COVID-19 pandemic – social and economic global consequences
  • War in Ukraine in 2022 – the origins of the conflict and its impact on the world
  • Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster – its causes and environmental consequences
  • Rwandan genocide of 1994 – the role of the international community
  • Apartheid policy in South Africa – its mechanisms and collapse
  • Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 – the culmination of the Cold War
  • Global terrorism after 2000 – causes and counteraction
  • Manipulation of information on social media – its impact on politics and society

Students can choose one of the above themes or propose their own, inspired by events of the 20th and 21st centuries, as long as it complies with Wikipedia’s policies of neutrality and verifiability of sources.

Checklist based on Wikipedia’s policies:

✅ Neutral point of view: The article should present information in an unbiased manner, without favouring any party.

✅ Verifiability: All information contained in the article must be supported by reliable sources indicated in the relevant footnotes.

✅ No author’s own opinion: The article should not contain the author’s own interpretations or opinions; it must be based on available sources only.

✅ Article structure: The text should be divided into logical sections with appropriate headings, which will facilitate content navigation and understanding.

✅ Language and style: Use an encyclopaedic style, avoid colloquialisms and ensure linguistic correctness.

✅ Internal linking: It is important to add links to other Wikipedia articles in order to provide a context and enable the reader to learn more about the topic.

✅ Avoid conflicts of interest: Authors should avoid writing on topics in which they are personally involved, which could affect the objectivity of the article.

Attachement:

Creating a Wikipedia article an educational exercise