Academic summary “Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing”

     In the article “Writing for the world: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing”, Tardy (2010) provides a description of Wikipedia as an information source, describes an assignment to introduce academic writing skills for second language (L2) writers, and outlines the stages to carry on a Wikipedia research project. 

     The author begins by introducing the term wiki, stating facts about the website, and also making reference to differing opinions as regards the usefulness of the webpage. Besides expressing her opinion, “it is difficult to deny the usefulness of the site as general reference” (p.13) she emphasizes the significant contribution that Wikipedia offers to those students who are being trained in academic writing, stating some of the issues that students face along the writing process.

     The article describes a project work which may be considered useful to introduce academic writing skills to students of L2. The assignment requires students to compose an article for the collaborative webpage Wikipedia. The author states the final goal of the assignment, the advantages that those who live in a non-English speaking country may have when publishing an article in Wikipedia, and the importance that the assignment will have in introducing several conventions necessary for academic writing.

    The article focuses on the different stages necessary to carry on the Wikipedia project which consist of 8 steps, going from examining Wikipedia to finally publishing student's article. Each stage is explained in detail and also some examples are provided so that the reader may get a clear picture of what she is presenting.

     On the whole, Tardy (2010) provides the reader with detailed and clear information about the benefits that a Wikipedia research project may bring to the field of academic writing, as the author said "students gain a real sense of audience and enjoy the satisfaction of seeing their work published on a high-traffic global website" (p.18).

References

Tardy, C. M. (2010). Writing for the world: Wikipedia as an introduction to Academic Writing. English Teaching Forum, 1, pp. 12-19, 27.