Does wikipedia count as one source or do i cite it for everything?

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: MrLee
Seriously, your teach hasn't warned you against using Wiki's in your work? Every teacher of mine has shunned Wikipedia. Think about it. You could cite something that someone just randomly entered into that page the night before and it could have absolutely nothing to do with what you were hoping to get out of it. Oh... you read your citations? Doubtful my friend...

The same can happen with any source.

Published sources have some level of peer review, like professional standards on fact checking or review by professionals within the field. Wikipedia has this built in but there are no guarantees on the quality of the reviewers nor on the permanency of correct information. Everyone has equal say and it takes no effort for someone to change an article. I have corrected factual errors in articles on wikipedia only to turn around and see them be reintroduced. Recently, there was the big snafu when it was discovered that a prolific contributor, who became an editor on one of the Wiki projects, misrepresented his credentials. While this in itself is not all that big of a deal on the internet, the person did however use his false credentials to promote his ideas and contributions over others. In the end you have to go through and check over what is said on the site with the sources, negating the whole point of using Wikipedia as a source itself.

 

[Jeeebus]

My wife is a high school teacher and gave an assignment last year where students had to create a magazine with articles re mathematicians and such. Several kids simply copied, word for word, wikipedia articles... and I'm talking right down to the colored hyperlinks. Needless to say, things didn't go quite so well for them.

Do not cite Wikipedia.

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: Born2bwire

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: MrLee
Seriously, your teach hasn't warned you against using Wiki's in your work? Every teacher of mine has shunned Wikipedia. Think about it. You could cite something that someone just randomly entered into that page the night before and it could have absolutely nothing to do with what you were hoping to get out of it. Oh... you read your citations? Doubtful my friend...

The same can happen with any source.

Published sources have some level of peer review, like professional standards on fact checking or review by professionals within the field. Wikipedia has this built in but there are no guarantees on the quality of the reviewers nor on the permanency of correct information. Everyone has equal say and it takes no effort for someone to change an article. I have corrected factual errors in articles on wikipedia only to turn around and see them be reintroduced. Recently, there was the big snafu when it was discovered that a prolific contributor, who became an editor on one of the Wiki projects, misrepresented his credentials. While this in itself is not all that big of a deal on the internet, the person did however use his false credentials to promote his ideas and contributions over others. In the end you have to go through and check over what is said on the site with the sources, negating the whole point of using Wikipedia as a source itself.

You have to do that with any secondard source if what your writing is important wikipedia is no different.

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus
My wife is a high school teacher and gave an assignment last year where students had to create a magazine with articles re mathematicians and such. Several kids simply copied, word for word, wikipedia articles... and I'm talking right down to the colored hyperlinks. Needless to say, things didn't go quite so well for them.

Do not cite Wikipedia.

Like I said that is the real reason teacher dislike wikipedia there assignment is already done and on the internet for just about any trivial topic they can come up with.

I would like to see what happens if a student cites one of the wikipedia mirror sites like about.com. I bet must of the teachers would miss it.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: pyonir
Some of you guys take your love of wikipedia too far. I cannot believe anyone would ever think that i'd be okay to use a source for a paper. Something on this forum amazes me every time i come here.

QFT!

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: BigJ
YOU DON'T USE WIKIPEDIA AS A SOURCE!

QFT.

jebus, don't EVER use wikipedia as a "source." it's no better than saying "some guy i met on the street said." it carries absolutely zero value.

and any web page counts as only one "source" anyway.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: platinumike

Originally posted by: BigJ
YOU DON'T USE WIKIPEDIA AS A SOURCE!

!!!! wait wait. please explain. Its not really too late, but im runin outa time here. Im thinkin ill just turn it in anyways

You must be joking.

 

[timosyy]

Use the sources at the bottom of wikipedia entries.

Edit: for example, if I wikipedia'd "Berlin Wall":

Notes

1. ^ Nikita Khrushchev. William Taubman, Sergei Khrushchev, Abbott Gleason. Yale University Press. May, 2000
2. ^ "Berlin Wall." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 23 February 2006 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9078806>.
3. ^ http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB56/
4. ^ http://www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/history/facts.htm
5. ^ http://www.wall-berlin.org/gb/mur.htm
6. ^ http://www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/history/facts_02.htm
7. ^ http://www.die-berliner-mauer.de/en/fakten.html
8. ^ http://www.wall-berlin.org/gb/mur.htm
9. ^ http://www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/history/facts_01.htm
10. ^ http://www.die-berliner-mauer.de/en/fakten.html
11. ^ Naxos (2006). Ode To Freedom - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (NTSC). Naxos.com Classical Music Catalogue. Retrieved on 2006 November 26. This is the publisher's catalogue entry for a DVD of Bernstein's Christmas 1989 "Ode to Freedom" concert.
12. ^ http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/prj/scs/txt/en205918.htm
13. ^ Furlong, Ray (July 5, 2005). Berlin Wall memorial is torn down. BBC News. Retrieved on 2006 February 23.
14. ^ Reuters (September 8, 2004). One in 5 Germans wants Berlin Wall rebuilt. MSNBC. Retrieved on 2006 February 23.

References

*Buckley, William F., Jr. (2004). The Fall of the Berlin Wall. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0-471-26736-8.
* Cate, Curtis (1978). The Ides of August: The Berlin Wall Crisis?1961. New York City: M. Evans.
* Catudal, Honoré M. (1980). Kennedy and the Berlin Wall Crisis. West Berlin: Berlin Verlag.
* Kennedy, John F.. July 25, 1961 speech.
* Maclean, Rory (1992). Stalin's Nose: Across the Face of Europe. London: HarperCollins.

 

[waggy]

its a good place to start. but do not use it as a source.

 

[So]

1. Wiki is not a source.
2. That said, I used it -- once. But that was on the biggest BS paper in my life. I had a professor doing an 'experimental' class (9 people, not listed in the course guide), and he needed to fill time, so he decided to make us all write a report on resistors and capacitors (this is a senior level EE class). This was a class on PCB design, and focused on the use of microprocessors. Needless to say, EVERYONE in the class pretty much summarized the wiki page + random Google results.

No other time have I, nor would I for anything that I thought was scholarly.