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Because Wikipedia cannot be considered a reliable source, the use of Wikipedia is not accepted in many schools and universities in writing a formal paper, and some educational institutions have banned it as a primary source while others have limited its use to only a pointer to external sources.
The fact that Wikipedia is not a reliable source for academic research doesn't mean that it's wrong to use basic reference materials when you're trying to familiarize yourself with a topic.
- What Exactly Is Wikipedia?
- Wikipedia’s Strengths
- Wikipedia’s Drawbacks
Wikipedia, which launched in 2001is a free online encyclopedia run by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation and written collaboratively by its users. There are 10 rules and five pillarsfor contributing to the site. The five pillars establish Wikipedia as a free online encyclopedia, with articles that are accurate and cite reliable sources, and editors...
1. Basic information on virtually any topic In addition to being free and readily available, Wikipedia’s standardized article layoutand hyperlinks to other articles enable readers to quickly track down the basics on their topic – the who, what, when, where and why. In our experience, many students come to the library with a chosen topic – for examp...
1. Systemic and gender bias The crowdsourced nature of Wikipedia can lead to the exclusion of some voices and topics. Although anyone can edit, not everyone does. On the issue of gender bias, Wikipedia acknowledges that most contributors are male, few biographies are about women, and topics of interest to women receive less coverage. This dynamic c...
Nov 4, 2021 · Wikipedia offers free and reliable information instantly. So why do teachers almost universally distrust it? Wikipedia has community-enforced policies on neutrality, reliability and...
And the answer is, we can trust Wikipedia just about as much as we can trust anyone who tells us anything. But Wikipedia, perhaps contrary to popular belief, isn’t a source of information...
Mar 20, 2023 · Wikipedia requires that information included in an article was published by a reliable source. While this is often an important element to confirm something is true or correct, it can be limiting for topics that have not received coverage in newspapers or scholarly journals.
Aug 26, 2021 · The information should be up-to-date and current. The source should be relevant to your research. The author and publication should be a trusted authority on the subject you are researching. The sources the author cited should be easy to find, clear, and unbiased.
