Is it appropriate to use Wikipedia in an academic paper?
452958
I am almost always disappointed when Wikipedia is used by my students as a source in an academic paper, and I generally warn my students against using it.  I agree with the person above who wrote that wiki articles often include basic bibliographies that can lead students to more useful sources, but in many cases, the information to be found on Wikipedia is less than satisfying.\n\nFor example, one student of mine used the wiki entry on "cargo cults," and the information he found there was misleading, and certainly not reflective of current scholarship on the subject.  Because Wikipedia is an online source that is updated often, my student thought that the information it contained would be "cutting edge."  This was a bad assumption to make.  We ended up using it in class discussion as an instructive example of the problems with Wikipedia.\n\nAcademia runs on the principle of peer review.  This means that everything a scholar attempts to publish is reviewed for integrity and quality by recognized reviewers with demonstrated expertise in the field.  The basic problem with Wikipedia is the absence of a uniform, reliable, standardized peer review process.  In other words, the "policing" is insufficient, because Wikipedia articles are not reviewed by recognized experts in the fields in question. \n\nOne final note:\nWhy don't more scholars contribute to Wikipedia themselves and make it a better site?  Well, in some cases they actually do, for the sake of students who might consult the site, but in most cases, they don't, because it wouldn't "count" as a valid publication effort, because it's not a standard, peer-reviewed endeavor!\n\n(Sorry for the length of this response, but I thought it was an important question that deserved a thoughtful reply.)
508605
No, no, no.....wikipedia is fine for some things, but please keep in mind that it's written by anyone who wants to contribute, including the guy who's writing to be cute or funny or deliberately misleading.\n\nI would suggest this site (http://arabworld.nitle.org/main_menu.php?module_id=3) which is a collaborative web project sponsored by the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education.
911818
As a general rule, you should use a couple of guidelines in selecting the subject of your paper, assuming you have complete freedom to make this choice:\n\n1. Select a subject in which you have genuine personal interest. That way you will both have some enthusiasm for the work you are doing, and you will have the opportunity to gain some new knowledge as you do your research.\n\n2. Find a subject about which there is controversy or disagreement between experts in the area. This allows you to lay out the controversy in your introduction, present the opposing views, and then reach a conclusion at the end, which expresses your personal opinion. This can be especially powerful, if after your research, you have changed a view you once held.\n\nBelow I have listed two good sources for you:  \n\nFirs is the Librarian's Index breaks subjects into categories, which can be helpful in giving you ideas for the topic, if you are stuck at this point. It is very useful for getting at sources of information in the topic area you select.\n\nThe other source is Wikipedia. This is an outstanding source for researching information about your topic\n\nOne final note - Make certain you cite each source of information that you use. This is especially true if you are quoting the statements of some other person. This establishes that  (a) you are giving credit to the person who you are quoting; (b) you are separating your thinking from those of others, and not simply plagiarizing (copying or stealing) the work of others, and; (c) you are demonstrating that you know how to prepare the format for a research paper , which will be essential when you go on to college.
566963
As a university student, I can tell you that at least professors in general will look down on using that as a source of academic info, although some secondary educators may differ on this point. The problem with it is that anyone can submit an article and be published. It is not peer-reviewed either, so the info may not be completely accurate or up-to-date. For a good source of info regarding encyclopedias, consult one that features articles written by experts in their respective fields, those who have solid credentials like PhDs, MDs, etc. Remember that, individually, opinions will vary from teacher to teacher about this topic, though.
75929
Funny, was this torn directly from your assignment or what?\nTry using wikipedia.com or google.\nI could write your paper, but not for free !\n:-)
186545
my space and wikipedia
154033
Wikipedia has a good page.
14993
It all depends on how accurate your data needs to be. Anyone can contribute to a Wikipedia entry. So remember, when you are looking up, say "Nuclear Fusion", the text you see could have been co-written by a nuclear expert AND some dork like me who thinks he knows everything. So, the answer to your question is that.....your reliance on information from Wikipedia should be relative to your need for accuracy.  The greater your need for accuracy, the deeper you should probe for sources. Wikipedia CAN BE wrong...and if you are going to design some nuclear experiment, relying solely on Wikipedia might make you glow in the dark (which is only a good thing this time of year if you are a certain reindeer).
100029
when in doubt, go to wikipedia.
925805
There are a few different styles. If your topic is history, Turabian style. You may also use APA for science work. However, if you are doing this for English class or at the middle school level MLA is always appropriate. \n\nThe students in our school use Noodlebib. There is a link from our school webpage because the librarian expects the kids to use it. It is a site that libraries subscribe to, yours may.  With Noodlebib, the kids simply fill in boxes with the appropriate info and Noodlebib will print in in the correct format.
673550
Most, yes, but not all. For your own personal curiosity, or to settle an argument with a Friend it's fine. I wouldn't use it as a source for an actual assignment of some sort, though.
853315
you'll find everything you need to know with Wikipedia
188652
I suggest you start at the "your first article" help page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Your_first_article which explains what you should know before creating your first Wikipedia article.\n\nThere are no general article templates as such, but some individual WikiProjects do suggest a structure. Look at the manual of style at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:MOS or see if there is a WikiProject on the topic you want to write about with more specific guidelines. There's a list of them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject \n\nTo add an image, you upload it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Upload or go to http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ Special:Upload to upload freely licensed images that can then be used on all Wikimedia projects. You add the image to the article by typing [[Image:Name.jpg|thumb|Caption]]. See the tutorial at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Picture_tutorial for more help.\n\nThe search index updates automatically, though not always immediately, so your article will be searchable. The best way to make sure people can find it is to link to it from other articles. You can also add redirects from alternative titles. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Redirect for help.\n\nMake sure you search for existing articles on a topic before starting a new page. There are already articles on the topic you mentioned. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_content_management and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resource_management .\n\nYou can't restrict the editing of other people at Wikipedia, except temporarily in cases of severe vandalism.
404576
Here is some wikipedia and some other sources
596122
Wikipedia is NOT recognised as a reliable source by academic institutions! Be careful what you quote from.\n\nIf you are searching for more conventionally reliable sources online, trust sites that end with .edu (educational institution) or .ac.uk (british academic institution) or, depending on how much you trust governments, .gov. \nThere are probably international equivalents to these, but the point is, anybody is free to contribute to wikipedia, even somebody whose dog is called maimilien robespierre.
822710
Wikipedia or Webelements
9654
Scientific journal Nature did a study on this recently and found that Britannica had an average of 3 errors per article, whereas Wikipedia had an average of 4. This indicates that Britanica is likely to be a more reliable resource.\n\nThis was based solely on scientific entries however and may not reflect the accuracy of other parts of either encyclopaedia.