GLE 120 Digging in: A Dialogue about Sustainability: Wikipedia

Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, talks to the PBS Newshour about Wikipedia's role in our society.  

Giles, Jim. "Internet Encyclopaedias Go Head to Head." Nature 438.7070 (2005): 900-1. OxResearch; ProQuest Central; ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

We all use Wikipedia to find background information on a wide variety of topics on a daily basis.  It is important to fully understand what Wikipedia is and where it gets its information from in order to more effectivly use the website.  

Wikipedia: 

• Web-based, multilingual, free-content, and openly editable.  
• Content is created/written by a large collaborative of unpaid contributers.  Over 77,000 contributers.  
• "Users can contribute anonymously, under a pseudonym, or, if they choose to, with their real identity."
• Content is NOT peer reviewed and therefore not considered "scholarly".

"Wikipedia:About." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About>.

Many people use Wikipedia on a daily basis to find general background information on a variety of topics.  Wikipedia has many benefits but it also has many shortcomings. Here are some you need to be aware of:

• Lack of Authority 
• Quality of writing varies
• Completeness
• Accuracy of information
• Easy to get distracted
• Articles can be vandalized easily
• Contributors can write and edit articles anonymously 

For more information you can read the article "Why Wikipedia is Not So Great".  

Although there is a lot wrong with Wikipedia there are some really great things about it: 

• Updated really quickly
• Mistakes can be corrected instantly
• Good starting point for finding background information on a topic
• Good place to build your keyword list for use in the library databases 
• Largest encyclopedia ever created (4 million articles) 
• Articles do not have size contraints like printed encylopedias do

Read the article "Why Wikipedia is So Great" for more information.  

It has been mentioned before.  The idea of Wikipedia is well-intentioned; however, it does have its limitations. Wikipedia might a place to start getting background information on a topic but you cannot cite it in academic writing.  (Many professors will dock points if you do!) 

Wikipedia is a good resource to use at the very beginning of the research process.  

What is the difference between Wikipedia and a print encyclopedia?  

• Good source to build alternative keyword list
• Wikipedia is NOT an academic source and should never be cited in academic writing
• Encyclopedias, in general, are not considered academic sources. 
• Since Wikipedia is purely electronic, it can easily be updated and corrected.  
• The down side is that it can also be vandalized very easily.