Wikipedia?

[wakka102]

They don't allow us to use Wikipedia in schools as a source to do any sort of paper or anything at all. However, I know some teachers that get information from wikipedia to use in class as well as my English teacher use to print out whole pages from the site to use as handouts during a discussion of something.

 

 

 

Basically, whats so wrong with using Wikipedia? I've heard that it can be edited by anyone but that has been changed I'm pretty sure. I've never seen anything on Wikipedia that was wrong. Can someone show me something on Wikipedia that is wrong? Can teachers legally use it in class? Whats the deal peoples :-s .

[Lionheart_0]

They don't allow us to use Wikipedia in schools as a source to do any sort of paper or anything at all. However, I know some teachers that get information from wikipedia to use in class as well as my English teacher use to print out whole pages from the site to use as handouts during a discussion of something.

 

 

 

Basically, whats so wrong with using Wikipedia? I've heard that it can be edited by anyone but that has been changed I'm pretty sure. I've never seen anything on Wikipedia that was wrong. Can someone show me something on Wikipedia that is wrong? Can teachers legally use it in class? Whats the deal peoples :-s .

See, teachers arent as computer savy for the most part, so they dont realize that the editing has changed on there. That being said, it has only changed so much. There are still pages where people can go in and change dates and what not.

 

 

 

Better use the sources given at the bottom of the page.

[look_its_rob]

Didnt you ever see that episode of the colbert report where he told his audience to help save the whales(maybe whales might of been another endangered animal.) by editing wikipedia to say they are no longer extinct. the next day the whale was reproducing like rabbits and was just scratched off the endangered species list(according to wikipedia.)

[wakka102]

They don't allow us to use Wikipedia in schools as a source to do any sort of paper or anything at all. However, I know some teachers that get information from wikipedia to use in class as well as my English teacher use to print out whole pages from the site to use as handouts during a discussion of something.

 

 

 

Basically, whats so wrong with using Wikipedia? I've heard that it can be edited by anyone but that has been changed I'm pretty sure. I've never seen anything on Wikipedia that was wrong. Can someone show me something on Wikipedia that is wrong? Can teachers legally use it in class? Whats the deal peoples :-s .

See, teachers arent as computer savy for the most part, so they dont realize that the editing has changed on there. That being said, it has only changed so much. There are still pages where people can go in and change dates and what not.

 

 

 

Better use the sources given at the bottom of the page.

Thats the thing that gets me, all of the stuff on they're is documented with sources. Isn't that what any other site I would use for research does? If I can't trust something with documented sources what can I trust? I'm talking on a level of what is actually true, not what the teachers say I can use.

 

 

 

Didnt you ever see that episode of the colbert report where he told his audience to help save the whales(maybe whales might of been another endangered animal.) by editing wikipedia to say they are no longer extinct. the next day the whale was reproducing like rabbits and was just scratched off the endangered species list(according to wikipedia.)

No, I never saw that. But how long ago was that? I'm pretty sure wikipedia has changed most their editing abilities.

[look_its_rob]

oh well, it exists. believe you me

[whocares]

Wikipedia is not a reliable source beacause, as many sources online, regular people are providing information that may or may not be true. Now I know that Wikipedia has some good information, but there is no gaurentee that it is reliable.

 

 

 

Most of my teachers allow me to use it as a reference to get started but prefer us to use other sources. If using soruces online, they prefer ".edu" reliable sources.

 

 

 

It's good to use other sources such as books, it gets you prepared for college too.

[vilageidiotx]

They don't allow us to use Wikipedia in schools.

 

 

 

Citation needed :lol:

 

 

 

Back to the subject...

 

 

 

Could be because its not much of a source. Because anyone can edit it, its not really a trustworthy source. I can recall once finding ther article about the american revolution had been vandalized, with all the major figures having been replaced by ones from the movie antz. Obviously ants had nothing to do with the revolution. This shows it is obviously not always right.

 

 

 

Of course, it can be because its to easy, you dont get the feel for research that you will need in college, from just using wikipedia.

[wakka102]

Wikipedia is not a reliable source beacause, as many sources online, regular people are providing information that may or may not be true. Now I know that Wikipedia has some good information, but there is no gaurentee that it is reliable.

 

 

 

Most of my teachers allow me to use it as a reference to get started but prefer us to use other sources. If using soruces online, they prefer ".edu" reliable sources.

what exactly makes a source reliable? I mean I see the same stuff other places just as on wikipedia. Just because its on a .edu site or its in a book in the library makes it true? where the proof? It just confuses me.

[Abelmisi]

Some of it is not reliable. Everyone has acces to it, and everyone can make changes to it.

[look_its_rob]

that episode isnt to old. a couple months at most

[Devilsdragon]

i've seen wrong information on wiki, that's why you can't use it. a reliable souce is something like a reference book

[Star_Fox]

when were doing large assignments like research papers then they restrict using wikipedia as a source. its helpful for most school assignments but the information isnt always 100% correct.

[hellbellz]

Some people mess with Wiki and mess it up for people. For example I saw on the Halo 3 section of Wiki say that it was going to be not continued. It was a couple minutes until it was deleted.

 

 

 

I'd say it's accurate 75% of the time. I don't understand why my teachers didn't let me use it either.

[Intriguing]

I used it for both a Physics and Chemistry assessment, as did everyone in my class, and we got marks knocked off for it.

 

Then I had a huge Ancient History assignment the other week. I wasn't planning on using it, but with some topics, such as life in ancient Carthage, it had so much more information on it than other sites that it wasn't funny.

 

It's not wise to use Wikipedia as your only source, but seriously, if you have even the slightest bit of knowledge on the subject about which you are writing, it's pretty easy to tell when they're providing factual information or just making stuff up.

 

I can see why they make a fuss over it in college/university, but in high school it just seems stupid.

[Mercifull]

Use wikipedia to find academic sources, they are usually at the bottom of the page. Problem solved.

[____]

Use wikipedia to find academic sources, they are usually at the bottom of the page. Problem solved.

That's what I do and no one complains.

 

 

 

 

 

If you cite Wikipedia and not the sources at the bottom, you're not as computer savy as you think :uhh:

[Ginger_Warrior]

I don't regard Wikipedia as juch as an encyclopedia as a reference tool. Having said that, most of its information is perfectly accurate.

 

 

 

I've often seen it on these forums. An instant dismissal of any information from Wikipedia. The information is only useless if you don't bother to check the sources that are linked to the article, since all information on Wikipedia has to have a source proving it. Having said that, it pleases me there are people who are sceptical of the information they see on the Net.

 

 

 

So my advice is when you find a good piece of information on Wikipedia, trace its source, and use that instead.

[Bubsa]

They don't allow us to use Wikipedia in schools as a source to do any sort of paper or anything at all. However, I know some teachers that get information from wikipedia to use in class as well as my English teacher use to print out whole pages from the site to use as handouts during a discussion of something.

 

 

 

Your school needs new teachers. Fact.

 

Regurgitating someone elses opinion is not teaching.

[Ginger_Warrior]

They don't allow us to use Wikipedia in schools as a source to do any sort of paper or anything at all. However, I know some teachers that get information from wikipedia to use in class as well as my English teacher use to print out whole pages from the site to use as handouts during a discussion of something.

 

 

 

Your school needs new teachers. Fact.

 

Regurgitating someone elses opinion is not teaching.

 

I agree, except it unfortunetely is modern-day teaching. In other words, *not* education.

[Smokie]

Wakka, try searching more obscure articles. Major things, like country articles, World Wars, significant historical figures, widespread political movements, etc. will have thorough, well-researched and well-documented articles, because you often have Ph. Ds doing the editing and writing, usually transposed from another paper they've written, with many many sources to supplement it.

 

 

 

However, if you look at less significant things - for instance, search your school. If there is in article, it likely will not have any sources to verify the information.

 

 

 

This is the trouble with Wikipedia (and no, they did not disable the option of letting anyone edit it, with the exception of a handful of locked and semi-protected articles) - an immense amount of the information on it may be true, but no one can say with certainty.

 

 

 

If you search a lot of the international articles, as well, poor grammar and blatant opinions begin to become more apparent. The opinions are the second problem with Wikipedia - there's a difference between saying "The United States is the most powerful country in the world", or saying "The United States is the only remaining superpower in the world" with the source of Charles Krauthammer (who is very qualified on the subject).

 

 

 

But Wikipedia is amazing, no question :)

[ThurinEthir]

Where I live, it mainly depends on the teacher, but it's usually no Wiki.

 

 

 

For example, my science teacher last year recommended Wikipedia as a source. My history teacher this year, "Wikipedia is [cabbage]".

 

 

 

But my history teacher has a pretty good reason to say that. His friend, while in college, had to write a paper about a battle in some war. (I forget which) He used Wikipedia, and according to Wiki, the battle never happened. He handed in the paper, and received an F. Why? The professor that taught the course fought in that battle.

 

 

 

But it's rare that something like that happens...And yep, like other people have said, use the sources.

 

 

 

(If anyone reading this wants to screw Wikipedia up to screw some students, then please, either go get a life or edit Uncyclopedia.)

[lordkafei]

The easy way around this is to find what you want in Wikipedia, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the External Links as sources. 8-)

[Zonorhc]

If Wikipedia is cited as a source, it can later change in such a way that the original citation becomes invalid. As a corollary, it is unreasonable to expect anyone to cite the specific time and date of the Wikipedia article they are quoting or deriving information from.

 

 

 

The way I see it, that's a very good reason to dismiss Wikipedia as an academic source. You're better off looking at an article's references and using those.

[llamster]

I once did a research report on the Cold War. My teacher told me that I couldn't use Wikipedia as a source, but I did anyway :D . There's nothing wrong with Wikipedia; the chance that you'll find an inaccurate article is very slim.

[superson]

What I find funny at my school is that teachers won't let you use Wikipedia, but they'll let you use some online site they've never ever heard of before.

 

 

 

I could make my own site, and they'd let me use stuff from there..