View source for User:AEG English4994/Sandbox

{{Infobox Book 
| name          = ''In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose''
| title_orig    = 
| translator    = 
| image         = 
| image_caption = 
| author        = [[Alice Walker]]
| illustrator   = 
| cover_artist  = 
| country       = [[United States]]
| language      = [[English Language|English]]
| series        = 
| subject       = 
| genre         = essay collection
| publisher     = [[Harvest Books]]
| release_date  = 2003
| english_release_date =
| media_type    = Print ([[Paperback]])
| pages         = 418
| isbn          = 0156028646
| preceded_by   = 
| followed_by   = 
}}




Published in 1983, '''In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose''' is composed of thirty six separate pieces. The combination of essays, articles, reviews, statements, and speeches were all written between 1966 and 1982 (Walker xvii). Many of the pieces within this collection are based on her understanding of “womanist” theory. Walker defines “womanist” in the beginning of the collection:

1. From womanish. (Opp. of “girlish,” i.e., frivolous, irresponsible, not serious.) A black feminist or feminist of color. From the black folk expression of mother to female children, “You acting womanish,” i.e., like a woman….

2. Also: A woman who loves other women, sexually and/or nonsexually. Appreciates and prefers women’s culture, women’s emotional flexibility,…women’s strength. Sometimes loves individual men, sexually and/or nonsexually. Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. Not a separatist, except periodically, for health…(Walker xi)

In addition to writing about womanhood and creativity, Walker addresses other important subjects such as nuclear weapons, anti-Semitism, and the Civil Rights Movement. In addition, she “captures the voices of unsung heroines” (Munro 161) that she crosses paths with. In a 1984 review of the collection, Lynn Munro notes that: "Reading these essays not only gives one a clearer sense of Alice Walker but also countless insights into the men and women who have touched her life." (Munro 161)

== Essays in ''In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens'' Part I ==
Part I of ''In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens'' includes the following essays: 

* “Saving the Life That Is Your Own: The Importance of Models in the Artist’s Life”
* “The Black Writer and the Southern Experience”
* “But Yet and Still the Cotton Gin Kept on Working…”
* “A Talk: Convocation 1972”
* “Beyond the Peacock: The Reconstruction of Flannery O’Connor”
* “The Divided Life of Jean Toomer”
* “A Writer Because of, Not in Spite of, Her Children”
* “Gifts of Power: The Writings of Rebecca Jackson”
* “Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View”
* “Looking for Zora”

=== Themes of the Essays in Part I ===

Within these essays, Walker solidifies her “commitment to exploring the oppressions, the insanities, the loyalties, and the triumphs of black women” (Munro 161) and black writers. She exemplifies the importance for the black woman writer “to know and assimilate the experiences of earlier black women writers” (Walker 9). She speaks about her search for early black writers such as Flannery O’ Connor and Rebecca Jackson. In addition, she speaks of unsung heroines whom she has come into contact with who wish to tell their stories; for example Mrs. Winson Hudson. Hudson, the director of a Headstart center, wished to tell her story so that people would know “the agitation she caused in her community…was not for herself or for any one group but for everybody in the county” (Walker 25). However, of all the writers she introduces, Zora Neale Hurston becomes a focal part in this section of essays.

As Walker begins to research the practice of voodoo by rural Southern black in the thirties, she becomes aware of her need for Hurston’s works.[cite] Other than white anthropologists with racist views, Walker finds no one other than Hurston studied voodoo extensively. Hurston’s book Mules and Men, a collection of folklore, sparks Walker’s interest immediately because it provides all the stories that Southern blacks “had forgotten or of which they had grown ashamed…and showed how marvelous, and, indeed, priceless, they are” (85). In her essay, “Looking Zora,” Walker speaks about her trip to Hurston’s hometown of Eatonville, FL to discover the life of her ancestral teacher. Despite Hurston’s notoriety, when she passed in 1959, she was buried in an “unmarked grave in a segregated cemetery” (93). When Walker arrives in Florida, she purchases a tombstone that reads: Zora Neale Hurston ‘A Genius of the South’ Novelist, Folklorist, Anthropologist 1901-1960. The line “a genius of the South” comes from a poem by Jean Toomer, who Walker applauds for his “sensitivity to women and his ultimate condescension toward them” (61-2). Walker’s exploration for the black writers of the past connects to her search for the kind of books that are underrepresented in American literature. She confirms this based on her referral to a comment by Toni Morrison: When Toni Morrison said she writes the kind of books she wants to read, she was acknowledging the fact that in a society in which ‘accepted literature’ is so often sexist and racist and otherwise irrelevant or offensive to so many lives, she must do the work of two. She must be her own model as well as the artist attending, creating, learning from, realizing the model, which is to say, herself. (8) Walker’s search for ‘models’ is an attempt to “capture the voices” (Munro) of writers who are often times overlooked and/or forgotten such as Zora Neal Hurston.

== Essays in ''In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens'' Part II ==

In Part II of ''In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens'' Alice Walker focuses on the Civil 
Rights Movement and the important leaders who made contributions to it.  Through these essays, she also exemplifies how important the Civil Rights Movements' aims were for African Americans. 

Part Two of In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens includes the following essays:

*The Civil Rights Movement: What Good Was it?
*The Unglamorous but Worthwhile Duties of the Black Revolutionary Artist, or of the Black Writer Who Simply Works and Writes
*My Father's Country is Poor
*Making the Moves and the Movies We Want
*Good Morning, Revolution:Uncollected Writings of Scoial Protest
*Choice: A tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
*Coretta King: Revisted
*Choosing to Stay at Home: Ten Years after the March on Washington
*Lulls
*Recording the Season
*The Almost Year

=== Themes of the Essays in Part I ===

In many of these essays Walker describes her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and explores the positives and negatives of the Civil Rights Movements’ purpose. At the time of Civil Rights, Walker comprehends that she needs to make a change.  She commences to take action by visiting several homes and handing out registration ballots so the privileged and underprivileged could vote.She met a Jewish law student named Mel Leventhal, who gave her inspiration to write "The Civil Rights Movement: What Good Was it?."  Many people believed that Civil Rights Movement was dead. Alice Walker points out that if it is dead she will explain why she believes that it is not. For many African Americans, the Civil Rights Movement gave them a sense of hope and freedom. She shows that whites would see the Civil Rights Movement as being dead because they did not have to go through the struggles and sacrifices that African-Americans had to encounter. They did not have to show interest because this movement was intended to help African-Americans to be equal and get the same rights as white people. White people already had the rights that the law granted and African Americans were still fighting for it. Besides that she points out that other ethnicities were unable to understand the significance behind the Civil Rights Movement and its’ importance for African Americans. 

Of the Civil Rights Movement, Walker says, “It gave us history and men far greater than presidents. It gave us heroes. Selfless men of courage and strength, for our little boys and girls to follow. It gave us hope for tomorrow. It called us to life. Because we live, it can never die” (Walker 128). "Choice: A Tribute to Dr. Luther King Jr." emphasizes how much passion and respect Walker has for Dr. King. In this particular essay, she speaks from a restaurant that refused to serve African Americans in 1972. Walker is able to learn from Dr. King's experience because as an African American, she had to endure those same struggles. Walker’s mother taught her and her siblings to embrace their culture but at the same time to move up north to escape the harsh realities of the South. Walker and her mother were present for Dr. King’s infamous speech.  Ultimately, this changes Walker’s perspective on racism and the effects of the Civil Rights Movement within the African American community. Dr. King set a great example that greatly inspires Walker’s viewpoint of how she sees the South. 

The backlash of racial tension between blacks and whites were beyond extreme. Dr. King was seen as a savior for the African American community. Walker recalls, “He gave us continuity of place, without which community is ephemeral. He gave us home” (Walker145). This quote embodies how she respects Dr. King and how much he meant to her.  Due to her great admiration for Dr. King, she returns to the South to empower African American communities. 

In The Almost Year, Alice Walker explains how the author Florence Randall explains how she wants blacks and whites to embrace one another. She clarifies that "she seeks to find a way in which black abused and poor and white priviledged and rich can meet and exchange some warmth of themselves (Walker 139). Walker's perspective is that if both blacks and whites can stop the racial equality that blacks and whites will not be divided. In this house, a black girl feels somewhat threatened being an all white household. Due to these circumstances, Walker provides a sense of division between the black girl and the family that is providing a home for her to feel free. The black girl cannot embrace the warmth from the Mallory's family because she feels that all white people are to hurt black people. Walker explains how the Civil Rights Movement intended to bring both blacks and whites together. Walker wants to show how a black girl should not have to feel unequal when they are around white people. 

Moreover, in "Coretta King: Revisited," Alice Walker describes an interview with Coretta Scott King. Walker presents Coretta Scott King as more than a mother and wife;she is similar to her husband, and is making a conscientious effort to fight for equality and civil liberties for African Americans. Walker sees so much strength in Coretta Scott King,a woman who just lost her husband due to the acts of violence from others.  Walker finds it difficult to understand how a woman who just lost a loved one to the brutality, could continue in the battle for Civil Rights. Walker praises the fact that Coretta Scott King did not just sit back but took actions to help with different campaigns. Walker converses with Coretta Scott King on about "black people in power and the whites who work with them"(Walker 154)and Ms. King says, “I don’t believe that black people are going to misuse power in the way it has been misused. I think they’ve learned from their experiences. And we’ve seen instances where black and white work together effectively” (Walker 155).

== Essays in ''In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens'' Part III ==

Part Three of ''In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens'' includes the following essays:

*"In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens"
*"From an Interview"
*"A Letter to the Editor of Ms."
*"Breaking Chains and Encouraging Life"
*"If the Present Looks Like the Past, What Does the Future Look Like?"
*"Looking to the Side, and Back"
*"To The Black Scholar"
*"Brothers and Sisters"

=== Themes of the Essays in Part III ===

Part three of Alice Walker’s, In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens addresses Black women coping with self-worth and self-respect.  It offers encouragement to future generations of Black men and women.  Walker begins part III with a poem by Marilou Awiakta, “Motheroot.” In this section of the collection Walker is on a mental journey seeking ways to uplift the Black race.  Along this exploration she uses literature of other Black poets and writers to gain a deeper insight on Black women in their era, which assisted Walker in understanding society in her era.  

In the opening of ''In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens'', Walker quotes from Jean Toomer’s Cane, taking note that in early literature by Black men, Black women were seen has hopeless and characterized as mere sex objects.  “I asked her to hope, and build up an inner life against the coming of that day…I sang, with a strange quiver in my voice, a promise song (Walker 231).”  Black women did not have the opportunity to pursue their dreams because they were given the main responsibility of raising children, obeying their husbands, and maintaining the household.  Walker says, “Or was she required to bake biscuits for a lazy backwater tramp, when she cried out in her soul to paint watercolors of sunsets, or the rain falling on the green and peaceful pasturelands?  Or was her body broken and forced to bear children…(Walker 233).”  Walker personalizes these women by referring to them as “our mothers and grandmothers (Walker 232)”.  Toomer understood that Black women were unhappy and felt unloved.  Both Walker and Toomer recognize that Black women were not allowed to dream, yet alone pursue them.  “They were Creators, who lived lives of spiritual waste, because they were so rich in spirituality-which is the basis of Art-that the strain of enduring their unused and unwanted talent drove them insane" (Walker 233).  Walker proceeds in saying how oppression has caused many talented Black women to go unnoticed or unheard of.  Walker uses Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, and Aretha Franklin to note the great talent lost amongst the Black race and culture.

Additionally, Walker refers to Virginia Woolf’s, ''A Room of One’s Own'' and writer Phillis Wheatley; Walker compares both artists conveying that all of Woolf’s fears were Wheatley’s reality; due to restraints all of Woolf’s goals were unachievable for Wheatley.  Woolf writes, “any woman born with a great gift in the sixteenth century would certainly have gone crazed, shot herself, or ended her days in some lonely cottage outside the village, half witch, half wizard, feared and mocked at.  For it needs little skill and psychology to be sure that a highly gifted girl who had tried to use her gift for poetry would have been so thwarted and hindered by contrary instincts, that she must have lost her health and sanity to a certainty.”  Wheatley experienced everything Woolf dreaded, although Wheatley was granted limited freedom of expression and education by her owners.  Walker focuses on the phrase, “contrary instincts" (Walker 235) used by Woolf, believing that this what Wheatley felt since she was taught that her origin was an untamed and inadequate culture and race.  In Wheatley’s poetry she describes a “goddess" (Walker 236), which Walker perceives as her owner, whom Wheatley appreciates although she was enslaved by this person.  Walker pays tribute to Wheatley when she writes, “But at last Phillis, we understand.  No more snickering when your stiff, struggling, ambivalent lines are forced on us.  We know now that you were not and idiot or a traitor" (Walker 237).  

According to Walker, society viewed Black women as, “the mule of the world" (Walker 237), this caused Black women to become emotionless and hopeless.  Further, in the essay Walker gives a personal account of her own mother, “And yet, it is to my mother-and all our mothers who were not famous-that I went in search of the secret if what has fed that muzzled and often mutilated, but vibrant, creative spirit that the black woman has inherited, and that pops out in wild and unlikely places to this day" (Walker 238).  Walker describes her mother’s simple, but appreciated talent of gardening.   For Walker, her mother’s ability to continue gardening despite her poor living conditions portrays her mother’s strong persona and ability to strive even in hardship.  “She spent the summers canning vegetables and fruits.  She spent the winter evenings making quilts enough to cover all our beds.  There was a never a moment for her to sit down, undisturbed, to unravel her own private thoughts; never a time free from interruption-by work or the noisy inquiries of children.  The theme and idea of legacy reoccurs towards the end of the essay.  Walker describes, the legacy of her mother, “Her face, as she prepares the Art that is her gift is a legacy of respect she leaves to me, for all that illuminates and cherishes life (Walker 238)”  Walker reveals how she has found and understood herself, while researching her heritage.  

"From An Interview" gives readers a deeper insight on Walker’s personal struggle with self-worth.  Walker extensively reveals her inner conflicts and the imperative events in her life that has made her the person she is.  Walker refers to herself as a “solitary" (Walker 244) person from as early as her childhood.  Walker was discloses that she was teased as a child due to her disfigurement, which made her feel worthless and later on as a college student she began to seriously contemplate suicide.  Walker says, “That year I made myself acquainted with every philosopher’s position on suicide, because by that time it did not seem frightening or even odd, but only inevitable"(Walker 245). Walker also began to lose her faith in a higher being because she felt as though her thoughts of suicide disappointed God, therefore weakening her relationship with him.  Walker explains that with the help of friends and poetry she unraveled herself from this path of self-destruction.  According to Walker her main release of energy is through poetry.  Walker then explains her passion for poetry, “Since that time, it seems to me that all of my poems-and I write groups of poems rather than singles-are written when I have successfully pulled myself out of a completely numbing despair, and stand again in the sunlight.  Writing poems is my way of celebrating with the world that I have not committed suicide the night before" (Walker 249).  Walker expresses that with her experiences she has developed a passion to help Black women who lack the self-esteem as she once did.  

"If the Present Looks Like the Past, What Does the Future Look Like?" addresses the divide within the Black community.  In the opening of the essay Walker bluntly begins with the division among lighter and darker skinned Black women.  Walker speaks about lighter women unintentionally and unknowingly offend dark skinned women when she says, “What black black women would be interested in, I think, is a consciously heightened awareness on the part of light black women that they are capable, often quite unconsciously, of inflicting pain upon them; and that unless the question of Colorism- in my definition, prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color-is addressed in our communities and definitely in our black “sisterhoods” we cannot, as a people, progress.  For colorism, like colonialism, sexism, and racism, impedes us" (Walker 291).  Walker encourages the two groups to be sensitive towards one another, or else progression of Black people will be haunted.  Walker urges Black people to pave the way for future generations to eliminate the distress experienced by her and many others.  Walker expresses this thought when she says, “…I believe in listening-to a person, the sea, the wind, the trees, but especially to young black women whose rocky road I am still traveling"(Walker 272).

== See also ==
* [[Alice Walker]]
* [[womanist]]

== References ==
 
Munro, C L. "In Search of our Mothers' Gardens." ''Black American Literature Forum'' 18.4 (1987): 161.

Walker, Alice. ''In Search of our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose''. New York: Harcourt Inc, 1983.

Woolf, Virginia. ''A Room of One's Own''. New York: Harcourt Inc, 1929.

== External links ==

* [Place a url of an important external link here]

** If the article is a "starter" article and merely introduces the concept,
** please include the stub template below
{{tl|stub}}

** Please categorize your article in an appropriate category.
** You can search for a category at [[Wikipedia:Browse]]

[[:Category:My category]]

==    ==

A St. John's University class -- English 4994 ("The World Split Open - Contemporary Women Essayists") -- is contributing to Wikipedia during Spring 2009. Our collective goals are to bring a selection of articles on contemporary women essayists to featured article status (or as near as possible).

This project is listed under School/University Projects [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:School_and_university_projects#St._John.27s_University_.28February-April_2009.29]

Feel free to discuss this project on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:English4994_The_World_Split_Open_-_Contemporary_Women_Essayists English 4994 Project Talk Page].

More soon...


{{EducationalAssignment|date=Spring 2009|link=Wikipedia:School_and_university_projects/English4994}}


School_and_university_projects#St._John.27s_University_.28February-April_2009.29

== Goals ==

- To improve Wikipedia's coverage of selected articles on Joan Didion (''Slouching Towards Bethlehem''), Adrienne Rich (''Arts of the Possible''), Alice Walker (''In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens''), Maxine Hong Kingston (''Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Childhood Among Ghosts''), June Jordan (''Some of Us Did Not Die''), Terry Tempest Williams (''An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field'') and Arundhati Roy (''War Talk'').  Most of these articles are now "Stub" or "Start."

- To submit these articles to Wikipedia review processes, such as peer review, good article nominations and featured article candidates.

More soon...





== Goals ==

- To improve Wikipedia's coverage of selected articles on Joan Didion (''Slouching Towards Bethlehem''), Adrienne Rich (''Arts of the Possible''), Alice Walker (''In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens''), Maxine Hong Kingston (''Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Childhood Among Ghosts''), June Jordan (''Some of Us Did Not Die''), Terry Tempest Williams (''An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field'') and Arundhati Roy (''War Talk'').  Most of these articles are now "Stub" or "Start."

- To submit these articles to Wikipedia review processes, such as peer review, good article nominations and featured article candidates.







==Introduction==
:''Specific [[#Introduction for students|introduction for students]] is in the next section.''

At an introductory course to <''name of a field and course, ex. [[sociology]] (SOC0010)''> at the <''name of the university, ex. [[University of Pittsburgh]]''> will ask students to <''do something, ex. write several encyclopedic articles at Wikipedia''>. 

There will be around <''how many students? groups? ex. 40 groups of 5 students each''>. Each student will have a separate Wikipedia account, and each group will <''do something specific, like be assigned a [[Wikipedia:Stub|stub]], or a [[Wikipedia:Requested articles|requested article]], ex. [[:Template:Socio-stub|sociology-stub]] and asked to expand it to the level as close to [[Wikipedia:Featured Articles|Featured Article]] as they can''>. 

Supervisors:
I, <''ex. [[User:Piotrus]]''> will take care of introducing studends to Wiki and ensuring they and the project are working within the bounds of Wikipedia guidelines. 

Start date:
The project <''will begin, begun, etc. in September 2005''>. 

Status:
<''status of the project. Ex. At that moment it has led to no editing other than that on the project pages. Please direct any comments to [[User_talk:Piotrus|my user talk page]] or to [[Wikipedia talk:School and university projects/Piotrus educational boilerplate|the project talk page]].''>

==Introduction for students==
[[Wikipedia]], The Free Encyclopedia, is an [[encyclopedia]] that can be edited by anyone. It has over three million editors ([[Wikipedia:Wikipedians|Wikipedians]]) [[as of 2007]], many of whom are students like you. The vast majority of them are volunteers who find editing this site to be an enjoyable experience, even a [[hobby]]. Therefore I hope you will enjoy this exercise and the course! After all, there are not many exercises that tell you to do something that over a million people think is 'fun'. :)

[[Wikipedia:Tutorial]] is the best place to start your adventure with this [[wiki]]. Please familiarize yourself with [[Wikipedia:School and university projects - instructions for students]] and if you have any questions, check the [[Help:Contents]] and if you cannot find what you are looking for, ask the friendly people at [[Wikipedia:Help desk]] - or just <''ex. [[User_talk:your user name|contact me]].''>

Before making any major edits, it is recommended that you [[Special:Userlogin|create an account]] ([[Wikipedia:Why create an account?]]). You '''definitely need to have an account''' before attempting to work on any of the exercises in the next section (otherwise we will be unable to confirm if you have completed the exercise). After you create an account, please find your name in the relevant row of the [[Wikipedia:School and university projects/Piotrus educational boilerplate/Completed assignments|Completed assignments page]] and add a link to your [[Wikipedia:User page|user page]] in the 'Student Wikipedia userpage' column in the row with your name.

Remember that Wikipedia is not a project limited only to the <''your university, ex. [[University of Pittsburgh]]>. We are guests here and we should all behave accordingly. Please make sure you read [[Wikipedia:Wikiquette]]. Our <''course name, ex.'0005 Societies' course> is the first one at our university to use Wikipedia to such an extent, so please try to think what impression you want other Wikipedians to have of our university—and of yourselves.

You should expect that the course leader, TAs, other students, your friends, and even (or especially) other Wikipedia editors (not affiliated with our course) will leave you various messages on your [[Wikipedia:Talk page|talk pages]]. When working on the exercises below, you should log in to Wikipedia and check your messages as often as you check your email (I strongly recommend you read 'as often' as 'at least daily'). Whenever you have a new message and are logged to Wikipedia, you will see a large orange message, 'You have new messages', on every Wikipedia page you access. To make this message disappear, you should click on it and read the message. Note that it is customary to leave new messages at the bottom of the talk/discussion pages, and to reply to somebody's messages on their talk pages. If you want to leave somebody a message, make sure you are editing their talk page, not their [[Wikipedia:User page|user page]]. Remember to [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|sign your talk and discussion messages]]. 

Some other useful tips: whenever you are done with an edit and want to save a page, fill out the [[Wikipedia:Edit summary|edit summary box]] and [[Wikipedia:Show preview|view a preview of the page after your edit]] to make sure it looks as you actually want it to look. Only then click the "Save Page" button. You may find the [[Wikipedia:Page history|page history tool]] and [[Wikipedia:Watchlist help|watchlist tools]] to be very useful when you want to check what changes by other editors have been made to the article(s) you are working on.

Please direct any questions to <''ex. [[Wikipedia_talk:School_and_university_projects/Piotrus_educational_boilerplate|this page discussion page]] or [[User_talk:Piotrus|Piotr's talk page]]''>. You are welcome to send us emails, or drop by to see us during our office hours, and ask about Wikipedia how-to; but please try to find the answer first on the [[Help:Contents]].

==Exercises for students==
After you familiarise yourself with how Wikipedia works, it is time to put those lessons into practice. This is important; not only will it give you experience in wiki technology before you begin your Working Paper, but the successful completion of the below exercises in itself will impact your quiz/participation score. After you finish doing an exercise, please leave the information at the <''[[Wikipedia:School and university projects/Piotrus educational boilerplate/Completed assignments|Completed assignments page]]''>.

'''Important note: make sure [[Special:Userlogin|you are logged into your account]] before making any edits. If you are not logged in, we cannot verify who has done the edits, thus we will be unable to recognize your work and grade you on it. In other words, if you do any edits while not logged in, we will not count those edits toward your grade in this course.'''

As mentioned in the introduction section above, each student should let their Teaching Assistant know what their Wikipedia account nickname is by linking their Wikipedia account next to their name on the <''[[Wikipedia:School and university projects/Piotrus educational boilerplate/Completed assignments|Completed assignments page]]''>. In the same manner, make sure you link the article you are working in during the exercises on that page.

:'''Exercise 0'''
You may want to start with [[WP:TUTORIAL|this tutorial]], which will take you through the basics of editing Wikipedia.

Create a userpage for yourself. Look at the top right corner, you will see your nickname in red. Click on it; write some text (about yourself, about the course, etc.), save the page. Repeat until you are satisfied. Upload an image and add it to your page.

:'''Exercise 1'''
First, try expanding and improving an existing article. Wikipedia covers nearly every aspect of our life and culture, so you should be able to find something connected to your hobbies and interests, but for this exercise you should preferably find a subject related to sociology. The following pages may be useful to you at that stage:
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types]] - this page contains an extensive list of [[Wikipedia:Stub|stub]] articles, sorted by categories
*[[Wikipedia:Requests for expansion]] - this page contains a list of articles that other users would like to see expanded, sorted by categories
*[[Special:Shortpages]] - this page lists all Wikipedia articles deemed too short and thus in need of expansion.
Make sure you have read the guides mentioned in the introduction section and familiarised yourself with how wiki works before attempting to do this exercise. You may want to refresh your memory by rereading this page:
*[[Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]

To complete this exercise, it is enough to expand any one article with a single meaningful sentence. Of course, if you feel you can do more, feel free to do so. If you manage to expand (in a meaningful way) a stub article that it no longer qualifies as a stub, then you may receive some additional points. Make sure you mark the exercise as 'done' on the <''[[Wikipedia:School and university projects/Piotrus educational boilerplate/Completed assignments|Completed assignments page]]''>. This exercise should be completed by

:'''Exercise 2'''
After you are familiar with how to expand an existing article, you should try to create a new article. As in the previous exercise, there are several pages that will help you find a subject for your article:
*[[Wikipedia:Requested articles]]
*[[Wikipedia:Most wanted stubs]]
*[[Wikipedia:Most wanted articles]]
However, before you create the new article, make sure it has the appropriate name - it you haven't so far, you may want to read [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions]]. And if you are unsure how to create a new article, you will want to read [[Wikipedia:Starting a new page]].

Now that you have created your article, you should make sure it fulfills several important criteria. 
#It is important that an article is not orphaned - i.e. it should be linked from several other articles. To learn more about this, take one of the existing ''orphaned'' articles and link them into appropriate places. See [[Wikipedia:Orphaned articles]] for more details on this.
#It is important that an article belongs to a category. See [[Wikipedia:Category]] for more details.
#It is likely the article you have created is a [[Wikipedia:Stub|stub]]. In that case, make sure you assign it to the appropriate [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types|stub category]].
#It is extremely important that the article has references. Please see [[Wikipedia:Cite sources]] and [[Wikipedia:References]]. You can use [[Wikipedia:External links]] as references for this exercise, but bear in mind that for your Working Paper you will be required to use academic books/journals as references as well.
#If the article is long enough, it should have an introductory paragraph. See [[Wikipedia:Lead]] for details on what such a paragraph should look like.

To complete this exercise, you should create a new article and make sure it fits the above criteria. If you manage to create (in a meaningful way) an article large enough that it does not qualify as a stub, then you may receive some additional points. Make sure you mark the exercise as 'done' on the [[Wikipedia:School and university projects/Pitt-Societies-2005/Completed assignments|Completed assignments page]]. This exercise should be completed by

There are many other places you may want to check if you want to improve your Wikipedia-editing skills by editing Wikipedia. Feel free to check the following pages:

*[[Wikipedia:Cleanup]]
*[[Wikipedia:Pages needing attention]]
*[[Wikipedia:Peer review]]
*[[Wikipedia:Translation into English]]
*[[Wikipedia:Pages needing translation into English]]
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias]]
*[[Wikipedia:Collaboration of the week]]
*[[Wikipedia:Article improvement drive]]

:'''Exercise 3'''
It is vitally important to be able to distinguish between [[primary sources]] and [[secondary sources]], as well as to be able to properly [[cite your sources]]. In this exercise we will concentrate on [[references]]. Please find an unreferenced article: you may look through some of the categories mentioned above, or browse the [[:Category:Articles lacking sources]]. When you find an article that does not follow [[Wikipedia:Citing sources]] guideline, try to find reference for every important fact in the article. Please try to use [[academic]], primary sources (like [[academic journal]]s) instead of non-academic, secondary sources (like newspapers or non-academic websites). See also [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources]] for information on what sources are preffered.

Some examples of well-referenced articles: [[Katyn massacre]], [[Welding]], [[Section summary of the USA PATRIOT Act, Title II]], [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]], [[Battle of Austerlitz]], [[Military history of France]], [[Monopoly (game)]], [[Astrophysics Data System]], [[Mercury (planet)]], [[Søren Kierkegaard]], [[Eric A. Havelock]].

==Working paper==
A list of short, stub <''your field, ex. sociology''>-related articles selected by course leader and/or the TAs will be available here before work on the Working Paper will begin. Each group of students should chose one article and work on it. Make sure you report your choice on the <''[[Wikipedia:School and university projects/Piotrus educational boilerplate/Completed assignments|Completed assignments page]]''> and cross out the article from the list below (you can cross out the articles by using <nowiki><s></s></nowiki> tags before and after the word to achieve <s>the following effect</s>). Note that this means that the groups which decide early on their articles will have a wider choice and the groups which wait until the end will have few articles to chose from. If instead of expanding an existing stub you would like to create a new article from scratch, this is possible, however make sure you consult the subject of this article with your TA and receive their approval before stating the project.

You are welcome to use [[Wikipedia:Peer Review]] and related tools and seek creative comments on your article. If you manage to make your article a [[Wikipedia:Featured Article]], you may receive additional points. However, please refrain from voting for each other's articles during this process (note also that anonymous and new user votes are commonly disregarded during FA voting process to prevent any abuses. In additon, please note that any attempt to cheat on Wikipedia will be regarded as seriously as academic [[plagiarism]].

*<''ex.[[:Template:Socio-stub|List of all sociology-stubs]]''?. We will chose the most appopriate stubs for our 'Societies' course and list them below for your convenience.

Make sure you mark the exercise as 'done' on the [[Wikipedia:School and university projects/Piotrus educational boilerplate/Completed assignments|Completed assignments page]]. This assignment is due by