Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Using Wikipedia for Academic Research and Citation (ID: 23654064)
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Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
Seini.coe (talk • accounts • contributions • edit count)
- Organization
N/A
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
Main Proposal
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
Using Wikipedia for Academic Research and Citation
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-11-15 - 2025-12-15
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Ghana
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Not applicable
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
Research is key in the academic life of Tertiary students. It plays a critical role in their academic development, yet many students in Ghana enter into university without any prior exposure to research skills. Unlike other subjects introduced at the Senior High School level, research methodology is entirely new to them. The absence of this foundational knowledge often makes it difficult for students to successfully complete their final year thesis which is a mandatory requirement for graduation. Students tend to struggle with identifying credible reference sources, organizing literature, developing research questions, and applying appropriate citation and referencing techniques.
This gap in research preparedness do only undermines the quality of students academic work but also limits their confidence and ability to engage in independent learning. Many rely on unverified online materials or secondary information without understanding how to critically evaluate sources. Compounding the issue is the common misconception that Wikipedia is an unreliable is inappropriate source for academic research, despite its rigorous content verification standards and its vast collection of reliable references that can serve as starting point for deeper exploration.
As a lecturer from the School of Engineering of the University for Development studies, Nyankpala campus and an experienced Wikimedian, I aim to bridge this gap by leveraging the educational potential of Wikipedia and it's sister projects. The project seeks to use Wikipedia as a pedagogical and research-support tool that helps students strengthen their digital literacy, critical thinking and referencing skills. Specifically, the project aims to:
- Demystify misconception that Wikipedia is not a reliable academic source.
- Train participants to use Wikipedia responsibly for finding secondary sources and reliable references.
- Promote research confidence and digital literacy among students.
Through this intervention, students would get to learn more about how to access, evaluate content and references from Wikipedia which are essential in preparing them for their final year thesis.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
1. Project Introduction and orientation : This session will explain the project's background, objectives, expected outcomes, and its relevance to participants academic and professional work.
2. Overview of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Ecosystem : Participants will be introduced to the Wikimedia ecosystem including Wikipedia and briefly about its sister projects.
3. Accessing and Navigating Information on Wikipidia : This session is a key session in the whole project where facilitators will take participants through how to responsibly access, navigate and evaluate information on Wikipedia. They will learn how to trace references, evaluate sources, and apply proper citation techniques in their own academic writing.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc. Team members involved in the grant application need to be aware of their involvement in the project.
User:Seini.coe is a lecturer at the School of Engineering at the University for Development Studies. He is a researcher and known to have publish several research works and also an experienced Wikimedian and event organizer. He will be in charge of coordinating the entire project.
User:AbdGaf is a professional teacher and an experienced Wikimedian. He will be co-facilitate the event with User:Seini.coe.
User:Hardi19899 is an experienced Wikimedian and will cater for logistics.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
The project targets students under the School of Engineering but open open to other interested students of the school.
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
No
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
N/A
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
I discussed the idea with the Head of Department and also informally notified the students about my plan for the project.
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Not applicable
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Education
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Age (diversity of age groups)
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
1. Have you ever head of Wikipedia?
2. What misconceptions do you know about Wikipedia in relation to research?
3. Is it allowed to cite an article from Wikipedia as reference in Thesis writing?
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 100 | This represents number of students that will take part in the event. All participants are expected to be newbies. |
| Number of editors | 100 | This represents the entire participants of the events. All are newbies |
| Number of organizers | 3 | These people are experienced and will be in charge of the success of the event. |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 20 |
| Wikimedia Commons | |
| Wikidata | 100 |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
The project is a miniature of Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Project hence would not contribute direct content to the Wikipedia projects but rather train participants to become responsible users and contributors to Wikipedia. It is to to also recruit editors who would be trained subsequently to become experienced and contribute to the open knowledge.
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
No
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
Outreach dashboard.
Financial proposal
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
Budget: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fxk7sHNb3-2WfSjsr58Szd6tdCM7UnUqS_Em9p1j5gs/edit?gid=0#gid=0
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
26900 GHS
- 22.2. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done only to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD.
2474.31 USD
- By submitting your proposal/funding request you confirm that you have read and agree to the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy, and the Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
Endorsements and Feedback
[edit]Please add endorsements and feedback to the grant discussion page only. Endorsements added here will be removed automatically.
Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:
- Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
- Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
- Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
- Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
- Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).