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If you’ve ‘Googled’ any topic recently, you’ve probably found links to a website called Wikipedia
near the top of your results list. Wikipedia is a free online
encyclopedia that differs from other encyclopedias in a significant
way: along with reading the articles in Wikipedia, anyone can add or
edit articles however they like. According to their website, Wikipedia
was created in 2001 and has since grown to be one of the largest sites
on the web, passing one million entries
in the English-language version of the encyclopedia in March of 2006.
It is a collaborative effort with articles written by individuals from
around the world using wiki software that allows content to be added or changed by anyone. As a result, Wikipedia is a dynamic work that is always growing, always changing.

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Limitations and Advantages of Wikipedia

Many of the articles in Wikipedia are long and comprehensive, and
many entries exist in Wikipedia for which no equivalent entry may be
found in any other encyclopedia. As a result, it can be quite tempting
to use the information found there in essays and lab reports. Those who
would do so, however, are advised to use caution. While Wikipedia is
without question a valuable and informative resource, there is an
important concern to take into account when using it:

Because anyone can add or change content, there is
an inherent lack of reliability and stability to Wikipedia. Authors of
articles may not necessarily be experts on the topics they write about,
leaving a lot of room for errors, misinformation, and bias.

The founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, has recently stressed
that Wikipedia may not be suitable for academic uses, saying, "It is
pretty good, but you have to be careful with it. It’s good enough
knowledge, depending on what your purpose is."

While it is important to be aware of the limitations of Wikipedia,
there are some advantages as well. It is easy to access online for free
at www.wikipedia.org. Articles
are often added quickly and, as a result, coverage of current events
and new technology in particular is quite extensive. Printed
encyclopedias can take years to add new entries and those entries may
not cover a topic in as exhaustive detail as those in Wikipedia.

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Appropriateness as a Source

Whenever you do research it is important to think about the type and
quality of resource required for your current assignment. Consider
whether you are looking for fact or opinion, the depth into which you
want to explore a topic, the importance of reliability and accuracy,
and the importance of timely or recent information. Also ask yourself,
"Is an encyclopedia, print or online, an appropriate source of
information for this project?" Then decide if Wikipedia is an
appropriate resource for your current needs. If you’re still unsure, talk to your professor or to a librarian.

You may decide that the best use of Wikipedia might be as a starting
point at which to gain contextual information about a topic before
moving on to more detailed or more reliable information sources. Other
starting points for research can be found in the library’s Subject Research Guides.

As with any source of information, in print or on the web, you may also want to explore and evaluate additional equivalent resources simply to be sure that your facts are correct.

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Citing Wikipedia

Wikipedia: Citing Wikipedia
Wikipedia provides a page informing its users how to cite its content
using the following styles: APA (American Psychological Association),
MLA (Modern Language Association), MHRA (Modern Humanities Research
Association), Chicago Manual of Style, CBE/CSE (Council of Science
Editors), Bluebook, BibTeX, and AMA (American Medical Association).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Polls / Surveys, Web Searching and Surfing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.