In the spring of 2021, students of History 350 (Soviet Union), selected Wikipedia stub pages from a list I provided, expanding the pages based on sources they had used in the course and additional sources specific to the topic. The assignment was as follows:
As experts in Soviet history, it is up to us to fill in some of the missing gaps in Wikipedia. Wikipedia is often the first among Google search results, so it is a useful public service to help ensure the accuracy of its articles, many of which are not accurate due to an absence of sources, or use of irreputable sources, and many of which are incomplete.
Your total contribution should amount to at least 400 words (or two paragraphs) of edits or new material, and information must be accurately cited. For this project, you can select any page(s) related to the Soviet Union you like (in consultation with the TA) to edit or add to. Or, you may wish to create a new page based on a topic from the course readings, your book review, or your research paper.
The full list of pages related to Soviet history is here. Below is a selection of articles identified by Wikipedia users as ‘stubs.’ The full list is here.
After reviewing their drafts and suggesting edits, I asked students to publish their edits. Since that time, many pages have had their ‘stub’ status removed and other contributors have added content. Here are some of the impressive results:
- 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (original page)
- 13th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (original page)
- Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union (original page), Gurneet Sidhu
- Ministry of Defense (Soviet Union) (original page)
- Ministry of Higher Education (Soviet Union) (original page)
- People’s Commissariat for Labour (original page), Ragini Sharma
- Tashkent Soviet (original page), Samir Mohammad
- United Opposition (original page), Mark Jones
- Dialectical and Historical Materialism (original page)
- Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians (original page)
- Great Break (USSR) (original page), Janet Cho
- House-commune (original page)
- Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony (original page)