All in all
13 years ago
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Wikipedia
Wikipedia - a great first point of reference. But I don't believe it should ever be used as a source in any research paper. This is not necessarily because the information is untrustworthy - mostly I find it quite reliable - but because it is constantly changing. How can you quote a piece of information if it might not be there in the future?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
That's true and since the references are provided on the main Wikipedia article page, it makes sense to follow on to the original source and reference that. I had no idea that simple English Wikipedia existed, but this certainly makes me more open to the idea of letting students go to Wikipedia as a starting point for information.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Jenny, and I think this is the core issue. We need to teach students to extract the information and to go to the "real" source, if only to keep the information somewhat more constant than the ever-changing wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent point Jenny, and something I never considered before.
ReplyDeleteOne piece of advice - it is worth including a 'date accessed' with anything you reference in Wikipedia (and for that matter, on other websites).
ReplyDelete