User talk:Brianda (Wiki Ed)

Hi Brianda!

Thanks for welcoming me to Wikipedia, and thank you for the learner's resources! I think they'll come in handy. I will make sure to reach out to you if I have any questions. Thanks for your help!

Minna M29cc (talk) 06:46, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

Hi Brianda,

I saw that a student in one of the WikiEd courses you're overseeing is taking on Figure skating and History of figure skating, which is cool because there's always a need for editors to work on figure skating articles, especially the two this student has chosen. To be honest, though, I'm not sure they're good choices for new editors. I taught a few first-year composition courses while I was an English grad student, so I learned that new editors taking on large, vital articles isn't always a good idea. Also, one of my focus areas on Wikipedia is figure skating, so I have lots of experience editing these niche articles. That being said, I and other editors who work on and contribute to figure skating on WP are willing to help out and to mentor this student. They could focus on a section of both articles or on a smaller article like one of the other ones they've chosen, Ice rink. There's plenty of work in figure skating to do, especially skaters' biographies, so their contributions are welcome.

There are lots of resources about writing about figure skating on the WP:WikiProject Figure Skating page. The most important resource is our style sheet, which is an exhaustive, thorough, and helpful document about everything you need to know. I also direct you to our work page.

Again, I and the FS project are here to help. Good luck! Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 22:40, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Figureskatingfan, Thanks for bringing this up to me. I agree that vital, broader articles are often more difficult for first time editors to contribute to successfully. I'll make sure that @Aghavni Ghazayan sees this post, the many resources you shared and that we have a conversation about article choice. Thanks again! Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:48, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

Thank you so much for the guidance. Aghavni Ghazayan (talk) 19:03, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

You're welcome! Best of luck with the course. Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 19:26, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

Hello.

I need help with... --Athenaaka (talk) 22:40, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

Hello, Athenaaka. Can you repeat your question, for Brianda's benefit? Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 11:00, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

Thanks Mathglot!

Hi @Athenaaka, First make sure you are logged into your Wikipedia account. If the issue persists, take screenshots of any notifications or warnings that appear and email them to me. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:35, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

Wont letting me access sandbox Athenaaka (talk) 22:42, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

Hi Brianda, regarding Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of the Virgin Islands/English 300 Scientific Writing (Spring 2026), one of the students has listed Philippines which is a GA. It is also a very broad topic, I would generally advise against students wading into country articles for both content reasons and for likely being thrown head-first into Wikipolitics. Said student has also listed United States Virgin Islands, understandably given the university name of course and not a GA, but also a large scope and thus a big task. CMD (talk) 03:39, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

@Chipmunkdavis, Agreed. The student editor did receive an initial warning about all these topics, and I've left a second message on their talk page. Thanks for the ping. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:52, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

Similarly, someone in the same assignment group has listed BTS, a FA. It seems ill-advised to assign a Featured Article. There are better uses for their work.--Wehwalt (talk) 13:35, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

I have concerns about a student in Wikipedia:Wiki_Ed/College_of_Wooster/Latin_America_and_the_United_States_(Spring_2026) being assinged Civil rights movement similar to CMD above for a different class. I also have concerns the instructor lacks famliarity with wikipedia considering they were publishing incomplete edits to a live article, leaving a partial edit on wiki for almost two weeks and stating "I had been talking a student through the process of creating a table" in a reply that was its own section. I understand that from new users but feels like unfamiliarity with Wikipedia in context. ~2026-79345-7 (talk) 15:26, 18 February 2026 (UTC)

I tried to redact the second part of my statement once I realized their edit history, but removing it triggered an edit filter. ~2026-79345-7 (talk) 15:58, 18 February 2026 (UTC)

Hi Brianda, a student in this course has been assigned Epstein files which is subject to multiple Contentious topics restrictions (US politics and many BLPs), is on a very high-profile subject, and seems only tangentially related to technical writing. I can't stress enough how unsuitable this is for a student assignment. ClaudineChionh (she/her · talk · email · global) 07:08, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

I am noting something similar; not specifically to any student assigned to you Brianda, but this may be something to discuss with other staff members. I've noticed at least 5 student editors in the last month who have chosen articles that fall squarely and obviously within contentious topics, especially post-1992 U.S. politics. While all of these student editors are acting in good faith, they are unaware of the intricacies of the topic and their edits almost always need to be reverted or almost completely re-written. Might it be beneficial to advise against contentious topic articles to both those running individual courses & the students in the courses, or at the least explain what a contentious topic is in greater detail? aesurias (ping me in your reply, or I won't see it) (talk) 10:49, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

@ClaudineChionh, I am not sure why but a common reflex I see with student editors is to work on topics that are in the news at the moment. I agree with you all that these are typical unsuitable for a first time editor. @Aesurias, we have a training on this for instructors and for students where we discourage students from editing protected articles or highly contentious ones. They are aware that they should stay away from well developed articles and controversial topics.

I think it is a good idea to revisit our trainings to see if we can do a better job of explaining this. Worth noting that most of the student editors do not end up editing controversial topics. And if ever you see a Wikipedia assignment on an article that students shouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole, send me a ping. I do my best to steer them away, but there are some that fall through the cracks. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:41, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

Thanks @Brianda (Wiki Ed), and now that you mention it, I'm not surprised that undergraduates might be drawn to whatever is making headlines. Are articles usually chosen by students or assigned by instructors, or does it vary from one course to another? ClaudineChionh (she/her · talk · email · global) 04:45, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

It varies course by course, but typically the students are tasked with editing in the topic area of their class, so there's some bumper rails. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 23:14, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Hello.

I am having significant trouble finding the Sandbox Draft link in the My Articles section on wikedu. I've gone through the necessary tutorials to figure out where it is and they are not helping me at all. Am I doing something wrong?

Eric McAllister University of the Virgin Islands ENG 300: Scientific Writing Dr. Mary Walters

--Rastafah (talk) 20:54, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Rastafah, Your class is set up to edit live Wikipedia articles directly, after completing your bibliogrpahy and outline exercises. See the training Working live on Wikipedia. Where did you see instructions for drating in a sandbox? Knowing this is helpful for us to improve our trainings. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 19:01, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

I have completely reverted the work of one of the students from this course, User:Jhernandez24125 and this note is a courtesy notification to you.

I have made no judgement on the quality of their editing, but object to their change from British English to US English.

I left a message on the Talk page of the article, Field hockey, and their own Talk page, a couple of days ago requesting they change their change back. They have not done so, so I reverted their single edit to the page.

I have looked at the course pages but cannot find a place to point out my 'work' but note that the coursework has to be complete by 3rd March. This student may be in trouble! as effectively, their work has been removed. When I have finished this note I will attempt to inform the course leader of my actions. - Walter not in the Epstein files Ego 14:40, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the courtesy ping and sorry about the edit. I will contact the student and the instructor to loop them in. Feel free to send any clean up of student editor work my way, if you come across any in the future. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:44, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads-up! And no, the student's not in trouble :) I can still view their work, even if they have been reverted. Dr.ozkul (talk) 18:58, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

I suspect that reasonable work has been done, but to attempt to winkle out the language change spellings from the other stuff is just too far above my pay grade. Tell them that I think a demerit reward should be extracted from their final marks!!!! Walter not in the Epstein files Ego 19:37, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi Brianda, I have some students interested in developing a page for Kim Small https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-small1/

I am unsure if she meets notability. Would you be able to confirm or deny before they start? Thank you! ~2026-15241-69 (talk) 08:31, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Talk page watcher here. My initial inclination is a soft no, but there are a few good sources so it is still possible. @Brianda (Wiki Ed), are students able to use the Articles for Creation feature and submit a page as a draft to be reviewed? This would allow a complete review from a professional who can analyze the sources and make a proper determination. aesurias (ping me in your reply, or I won't see it) (talk) 08:46, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Also a talk page walker. I would definitely dissuade your students, unfortunately; this is the kind of topic that is likely to be very frustrating to attempt to write about for students, as most of the coverage that does exist will seem reasonable to your students but not to most Wikipedians (e.g. coverage of non-profit press releases, interviews with non-profit executives, quotes given to media, etc.). All I could find was local or non-significant coverage (sources: ). I don't think Kimberly Small or Wings of Hope/Rape Crisis Center meet our notability standards. Cheers, Suriname0 (talk) 22:07, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

I have to echo @Suriname0 on this one. I don't think there are enough reliable sources focused on Kim Small for them to clearly pass notability. I think this would be a difficult article for a first time editor to take up. To establish notability, we'd need to see multiple (3+) secondary sources that are reliable and independent (of the subject, and of each other), and provide significant coverage of Small. Note that each source on which an editor is relying to establish notability must meet each aspect of this standard (in other words, it's not enough that some sources are secondary, while some others provide significant coverage, etc.). I'd recommend for the student editors to work on an existing article that has scope for improvement.

@Aesurias, My understanding is that in the early years of Wiki Education, an agreement was made with the community that student editors wouldn't go through AfC. The concern is that the volume of student work would be too much to add the load of AfC and editors. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:30, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

Ah okay very interesting and makes sense. aesurias (ping me in your reply, or I won't see it) (talk) 20:57, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi Brianda. You recently reverted a big addition to Bullerengue on the grounds that it might be AI generated. What are your reasons for thinking that? I didn't get that impression myself, but also I don't have much experience! The page history of User:StuppsM/Bullerengue, which the editor used before making their additions to main space, also doesn't look like what I would expect if the text were generated with AI. GanzKnusper (talk) 20:17, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

Vague phrases like:

• ...recent academic research and cultural initiatives have...
• Later cultural festivals and recording projects helped...

It looks like an AI-generated essay that has been modified by a human in an attempt to make it seem more natural. Essay being the primary issue here, over the potential usage of AI. aesurias (ping me in your reply, or I won't see it) (talk) 20:54, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

@Aesurias: Thanks for the input, that's helpful. Then what I plan to do - when I find time - is restore the content, copy edit to remove the vaguery, and double check all the references. GanzKnusper (talk) 09:26, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Adding to what @Aesurias said, AI is pretty good at creating essay like content, which is still unsuitable for Wikipedia. Wiki Education uses Pangram to look over the student editor's sandboxes and mainspace edits for possible AI generated text. This specific contribution was flagged while still in sandbox, and again when it went live. Out of caution, I reverted the work and asked the instructor to verify the information before being added back to mainspace.

@GanzKnusper, there were some solid sources in there, and it could be that the text is accurate, so I like the plan of verifying the information and possibly adding it back! Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 23:29, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

There is a situation involving edit-warring and personal attacks by one of the students (now indefinitely blocked) in a WikiEd class that lists you as the contact, being discussed at WP:BLPN#Minami Yoda. I pinged you there but perhaps you didn't see it. Please respond there. —David Eppstein (talk) 19:15, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi Brianda. Since you and Helaine are listed as the advisors for Wikipedia:Wiki_Ed/University_of_South_Carolina/WGST_112.001_Intro_to_Women's_and_Gender_Studies_(Spring_2026), perhaps one of you could help 28eaglesofsunshine sort out the two non-free files (File:DorothyPerryThompson1.jpg and File:DorothyPerryThompson2.jpeg) they uploaded earlier today. Neither file has a non-free use rationale and neither file is currently being used in any articles. My guess is that 28eaglesofsunshine uploaded the files for use in User:28eaglesofsunshine/Dorothy Perry Thompson/Outline, but non-free content can't be used in drafts or the user namespace, which means there's currently no way write a valid non-free use rationale for either file. Unless a valid non-free use can be found for each file, they will end up being deleted in about seven days as "orphaned non-free use". -- Marchjuly (talk) 05:40, 24 March 2026 (UTC)

As always thank you for the ping @Marchjuly. I will reach out to the student editor and instructor letting them know about this in case other students follow suit. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:51, 24 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi again Brianda. There are somehow two separate courses assigned to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This article is under the U.S. politics contentious topic and extended-confirmed restriction. ClaudineChionh (she/her · talk · email · global) 21:33, 25 March 2026 (UTC)

I'm not sure how these fell of my radar. Thanks for the heads up, I've let the student editors know they won't be able to make edits to the articles. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 22:18, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

Thank you. I imagine you must have a lot of courses to monitor! ClaudineChionh (she/her · talk · email · global) 02:51, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

Hello.

My article got moved into a draft and it says it may take up to 2 months for a review. Do I start a new one article. I am very unsure what to do. I just added sources and I didn't mean to publish it.

--PotatoPuff01 (talk) 00:45, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

@PotatoPuff01, See my response on your talk page. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 22:18, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi there. I've been keeping an eye on this WikiEd project, where students are being asked to create articles about Canadian Indian residential schools. This might be a bit of a controversial topic to throw at student editors, but that's neither here nor there. A group of students has had one of their articles send to AfD, see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/MacKay Indian Residential School. The other, St. Margaret's Residential School, has some pretty glaring issues but I hope not enough that someone will try to strike it down. I'm expecting there to be at least a couple more articles coming. I'm wondering if students are given any guidance in terms of starting their article as a draft, or in userspace? I've noticed several students from this class creating test pages at their assigned titles as well, sometimes repeatedly. There are several editors from WikiProject Canada who work on this topic and would be happy to review these articles before publishing. I feel like this all must feel terribly hostile to them... I don't imagine any of the students who worked on the MacKay article will be coming back after their project is over. I thought you might like to know what's going on. Cheers, MediaKyle (talk) 18:51, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

Hey there @MediaKyle, Thank you for the heads up. The students are provided with several trainings to help them learn the basics of editing. You can check them out here. In practice though, things might turn out differently. I will be looking over the work out of this class in the next week. In the meantime if you see anything urgent, send me a ping. ty Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 22:47, 2 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Brianda (Wiki Ed), I started writing an article in my sandbox for the wiki edu assignment. I have already started drafting, but my instructor suggested I shorten the title. How do I go about changing the title for the article? Armsjane (talk) 16:39, 30 March 2026 (UTC)

Check your email for my follow up on your question. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 22:51, 2 April 2026 (UTC)

Hello.

I need help with accessing the sandbox, I am confused as to what I have to upload and how to add it into so I can submit the Week 5 assignment.

--Anaclarisaao (talk) 00:38, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

@Anaclarisaao, Check your email inbox for my reply this morning. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:37, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

Hello!

I am a student currently enrolled in the Slavery in Latin America spring 2026 course for the university of Maryland.

I have settled (with my professors permission and review) to create a new article regarding Slavery in Argentina; however before I even create the sandbox and eventual article I do wish to ask about naming. I am aware of multiple articles regarding slavery in other countries or states (eg Slavery in Brazil, Slavery in Florida, Slavery in Colombia etc). However when looking up the Slavery in Mexico it actually is referred to by its colonial name, ie Slavery in New Spain.

I ask this because I am unsure whether to name my article "Slavery in Argentina" or "Slavery in Río de la Plata" which refers to the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata.

Many thanks for your time! HBBG26 (talk) 02:17, 9 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi @HBBG26, There are multiple things to take into consideration. The first is to check out the Wikipedia policy on article titles. The second is to take look at your sources. How do a majority of the sources refer to this topic? Do they refer to it as Argentina or as Rio de la Plata, or something else? On Wikipedia, you typically want to fall back on the way the reliable sources write about a topic. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any follow up questions. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 21:44, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

Hello.

I need help with... Getting access to the outline so I can complete my task for the week please.

--Gianaeckart7 (talk) 00:06, 11 April 2026 (UTC)

hi @Gianaeckart7, Have you assigned yourself a topic on the dashboard? You need to do that first in order to have access to your sandboxes like the bibliography, outline, etc. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 21:46, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

Hello.

I need help with...

Making this article read smoothly! I think I got very in-my-head about being informative and not extrapolating/analyzing anything on my own and now it seems very structured and rigid (I'm not the best at writing just informatively especially since this is a topic I knew a lot about before writing the article and I was worried I would add information not found within my online sources).

Thank you!!

--Kiana4625 (talk) 09:00, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

Hullo!

I wanted to ask about your recent revert of the article Brush Script and ask why it was changed. The detection software flagged the word "subtle" as causing the section to be AI but I haven't used AI for this article, and when looking closer at the detection, it shows a conflict of possibility. I am currently looking into how to appeal this detection and have conversed with my professor on the subject as well. If it is phrasing, I can rewrite the section and verify it before reuploading.

Thank you! Luca Knight (talk) 03:19, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Luca Knight, Please read the email you received about this concern. It has guidance on next steps for you and your instructor. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 00:25, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

Good morning Ms. Brianda! I hope I'm not being a bother, but I was wondering if I can get some help moving my article to become live? I am in scientific writing in Dr. Walters class, and I was working on my article as you pointed out some things needed to be added. I added inline citations and tried to move it, but I keep running into issues. I genuinely don't know why this is happening. Thank you in advance! Sleepy-Ezra (talk) 15:47, 20 April 2026 (UTC)

@Sleepy-Ezra You can submit the article as an articles for creation submission, there it will be reviewed by a (hopefully) experienced editor, who will decide if it is ready to be "published" (moved to mainspace). Cheers! (talk page watcher) msk 16:37, 20 April 2026 (UTC)

Hello.

I need help with...

--~2026-24473-76 (talk) 15:42, 21 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi Brianda, any chance you could provide support to the student at Talk:Deepfake#Changes by student editor? Thanks, Wracking ^talk! 04:15, 23 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi Brianda,

I am a student in the Children's Literature, ENGL 2370-01 class. Yesterday I published my article Knock Knock: My Father's Dream for Me. I wanted to thank you for helping me with the formatting after I went live! I also wanted to ask where you have any recommendations or suggestions on how to improve my article? This is my first experience on Wikipedia so I don't feel super comfortable with the manual of style and neutral/clear voice yet. I saw that a reviewer rated my article C-Class and in need of copy-edits, so I wanted to seek constructive feedback so I can improve.

Thanks! DorseyE (talk) 23:20, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi @DorseyE, No problem! I'd say you could read Words to watch, for examples of how certain language may introduce bias. Then you can comb through the text to revise the writing.

Another thing you could do is look at a featured article in literature and study that article. Pay attention to how it is written, the style, sections, etc. Perhaps you could apply what you see to the article? Here's a helpful category to poke your head into https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:FA-Class_children_and_young_adult_literature_articles Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 22:00, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Hi Brianda!

I am student at USC, working on the Jellycat article. I noticed that my edits were deleted, it was due to some of my sources weren't credible. I decided to find better sources and rewrite my edits so it fits better to Wiki's format. However, it keeps deleting my edits, and I'm afraid to go into edit war... Thank you so much! Ilovebagelz (talk) 23:41, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi Brianda. You recently reverted an addition to Catholic Church and abortion (in the section on Poland) because it might be AI generated. User:Ssophiabasta is working on this article as part of a college-level course. The flagged addition to the article was developed in User:Ssophiabasta/Catholic Church and abortion, where it appears exactly as copied over into the live article. However, the sandbox submission did not get flagged for potential AI use. Additionally, the Pangram report for the passage in question also flagged the prior content (the section about the Pew poll), which the student left unchanged. Could you please reevaluate and advise? ~~~~ Astra801 (talk) 14:34, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Astra801, Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

The work that was flagged was created and changed by the student, including the Pew poll section. They moved around the text from what it was originally, and added additional information.

Can the AI detection be wrong - definitely possible. These alerts are warnings that we need to take a closer look at the text to make sure it is accurate.

That is why we ask the professor to verify the information in the text to ensure the content that is added is accurate and can be found in the cited source. That is still my recommendation moving forward and if the information is verified and all looks well, then the student can add it in again. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 16:40, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Yes, the student added to the Poland section both before and after the short paragraph on the Pew poll that was there before. The information they added in this section (before retaining the section on the Pew poll) does indeed reflect Bucholc (2022). However, my main point was that the student had developed their edits in their sandbox for the article (User:Ssophiabasta/Catholic Church and abortion). Their work in the sandbox is identical to what they copied over into the live article, but it was never flagged in the Sandbox. (Just registering my surprise that the same work is flagged only on the live article, not the sandbox.) ~~~~ Astra801 (talk) 17:12, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

I've asked my colleague to follow up on this and see if he can share any other info. It is surprising. We'll circle back with any findings. Brianda (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:00, 29 April 2026 (UTC)