Wikipedia is a reliable resource

[Amnesiac]

One thing that annoys me greatly is how people, notably schools, dislike Wikipedia because "anyone can edit it hurr durr".

What they fail to recognize is that Wikipedia has a strong userbase that strives to make articles perfect. Even the smallest changes to some parts of the wiki will be reverted in seconds. Everything has to have citations. It's incredibly organized and strict for an entirely volunteer based community.

Studies have shown that Wikipedia is actually just as reliable (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/full/438900a.html) as proprietary encyclopedias. Wikipedia has also been examined and complimented by librarians associations (http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6317246.html) and academia (http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1413/1331).

You can read more of my opinion here if you really want to :P (http://freedomism.weebly.com/uploads/4/3/0/5/4305800/freedomism_07-10.pdf)

Your thoughts?

[Azunite]

Yeah, many of homeworks have been rejected because of wikipedia.
BUt it is easy. Just look at the source written below the page!

[Jess]

I agree. my history teacher won't let us use wikipedia for this essay that I have to write.

Wikipedia is so useful, and it is reliable. but I guess some teachers don't like it...

[Azunite]

Yeah but some historical sources can be written from A or B side, not neutral C side.
But if it was something scientific or something of course wikipedia is reliable.
Will someone change and write personally false info there like "Oxygen is a liquid which flows in some specific rivers, notably Pacific OCEAN" lolz

[DarkHorses]

Wikipedia has the most information, and it's a lot easier to use rather than endlessly searching for a site that contains the same information. I remember I jokingly typed a bunch of nonsense on wikipedia, read through it, refreshed the page, and it was gone instantly. They constantly have people editing them in case someone posts inaccurate information, so personally I find it reliable.

[JimSauce]

I agree, Wikipedia is extremely helpful and not as trolled as people claim. Besides, even if your teachers didn't allow Wikipedia, you could still just cite the source at the bottom.

[Azunite]

Yeah that's what I said.
And do they check on every student's source and every word in it ?

[Jess]

I agree, Wikipedia is extremely helpful and not as trolled as people claim. Besides, even if your teachers didn't allow Wikipedia, you could still just cite the source at the bottom.

I still can't use Wikipedia as my source. I will lose a ton of points

[Azunite]

Aye.

[Atonement]

I still can't use Wikipedia as my source. I will lose a ton of points

How would they know you used Wiki? All they'd have is the source, not that you used Wiki?

Right, so, my professors problems are that anyone can edit it. I've seen pages of complete bullshit (trolls), but its gotten better. I find most the things I read are very accurate and reliable. And if an article is biased, it often flags it as biased. :) I love Wikipedia for quick easy organized information.

[The Dark Lord]

Although the teacher might be right in stating that it could be biased, almost any source is written with a viewpoint/message to convey. Also, if you know your subject well enough, then you should be able to work out whether it is accurate or not

[ShyGuyInChicago]

I think Wikipedia should be accepted as long as the article are accurate. There are disclaimers on some pages that are poorly written, but those are a minority. I think schools should accept Wikipedia as long as the sources are accurate. Wikipedia does say that they make no guarantee of validity and that one should check the article against multiple sources. So as long as one checks the sources in the article and the article is shown to accurate Wikipedia should be fine.

[huginnmuninn]

there is plenty of false information on wikipaedia but when im in a hurry to get a report or essay done 90% of the time its just as reliable as searching for hours on other sites

[Perseus]

Whenever I want to know something, such as a book or movie plot, I go there. It's reliable. When I was doing a Bio thing last semester, I looked at a lot of things from Wikipedia to see if it was the same, and guess what? It was; in fact, there was more information on it. I hate the jackasses who are like "hurr, anyone can edit Wikipedia, so never trust it."

[Amnesiac]

Whenever I want to know something, such as a book or movie plot, I go there. It's reliable. When I was doing a Bio thing last semester, I looked at a lot of things from Wikipedia to see if it was the same, and guess what? It was; in fact, there was more information on it. I hate the jackasses who are like "hurr, anyone can edit Wikipedia, so never trust it."

Indeed. I've noticed people will criticize Wikipedia when it proves them wrong on a subject.

I have a feeling this is why teachers don't like Wikipedia: because their students have used it to prove them wrong.

[AutumnDae]

So weird, we talked about this in AP Bio today.

[Whisper]

the university I attend won't accept it at all, even uttering it in class is as bad as swearing

Encyclopedias period are discouraged
Our main source of information is peer reviewed academic articles, PERIOD.

I usually use wikipedia to give me personally a more lamin term understanding of what i'm looking for and then I jump off that but I never quote and or use information from that site on my papers at ANYTIME.

[Nexus]

I'd just use Answers.com in place of wikipedia. Most of their information was derived from wikipedia, ironically. But my school was completely oblivious to that and didn't bother adding Answers.com to the filter.

School Admins: 0 - Me: 1

[darkwoon]

Wikipedia, just as any other information source, can be reliable. Or not.

I often use wikipedia as a primary source of infos for school works - however, I always cross-check with other sources, to ensure that the viewpoint is not biaised or wrong. That's why Wikipedia itself asks for bibliographic references. Unfortunately, most people do not make the effort of checking those, limiting their search to wikipedia itself.