twitter
58
edits
What are good sources to cite?: Difference between revisions
→Using Wikipedia
| Line 26: | Line 26: | ||
== Using Wikipedia == | == Using Wikipedia == | ||
Students everywhere love to look to Wikipedia for answers. This is all well and good, but can Wikipedia be an appropriate source? There are many different policies on this and writers should always check with their supervisor before relying on Wikipedia. One thing that Wikipedia can give everyone is a jumping off point. Most wiki articles have many sources and writers can check out their sources and adopt them into their paper. It also allows authors to quickly gain a basic understanding of the subject they are writing on | Students everywhere love to look to Wikipedia for answers. This is all well and good, but can Wikipedia be an appropriate source? There are many different policies on this and writers should always check with their supervisor before relying on Wikipedia. One thing that Wikipedia can give everyone is a jumping off point. Most wiki articles have many sources and writers can check out their sources and adopt them into their paper. It also allows authors to quickly gain a basic understanding of the subject they are writing on if they are unfamiliar with it. | ||
<br /> | <br /> | ||
Using Wikipedia as a source is a very controversial topic because it is able to be edited by anyone. The site has many fail-safes to keep errors to a minimum and usually succeeds. There is, however, no guarantee that when you go to the "American Civil War" wiki page you won't read that the south won and then proceeded to destroy Venus.<ref>Raphael, JR, ''The 15 Biggest Wikipedia Blunders''. PC World, 2008</ref> | Using Wikipedia as a source is a very controversial topic because it is able to be edited by anyone. The site has many fail-safes to keep errors to a minimum and usually succeeds. There is, however, no guarantee that when you go to the "American Civil War" wiki page you won't read that the south won and then proceeded to destroy Venus.<ref>Raphael, JR, ''The 15 Biggest Wikipedia Blunders''. PC World, 2008</ref> | ||