Thursday, November 15, 2007
IS WIKIPEDIA GOOD SOURCE OF INFO?
Is Wikipedia truly a good source of info or is is hurting the scholarship of the world's students? This is a question that was asked by Jeremy Wagstaff, a journalist, for the wall street Internet journal . In the article Jeremy questions the accuracy of wikipedia,The hugely popular site where random viewers can edit articles on an array of subjects.In the article Jeremy writes,
"Wikipedia, in case you haven't heard of it, is built and maintained by anyone who wants to contribute, on the fly. Literally, anyone...In the time it's taken me to write these three sentences (four minutes, say) entries have been updated or altered more than 150 times."
Jeremy goes on to speak of more credible encyclopedia and information sources that have been found to be inaccurate in the past by several well respected experts. These respected sources include the Oxford Dictionary. He writes,
"Well, first off, we shouldn't get too defensive about the infallibility of more traditional encyclopedias. British newspapers had a field day a few months back with the Oxford University Press' massive new edition of the Dictionary of National Biography, quoting experts on Jane Austen, Florence Nightingale, George V, Edward III and Patrick O'Brien as saying entries contained factual errors, were "written by the constitutionally illiterate" or, in one case, "was entirely fictitious."
This goes to prove that even respected names in information can be proven to have errors. Even if they have big respected names such as the oxford dictionary. When someone hears that you got your information from the Oxford Dictionary they expect it to be accurate. But, even the Oxford dictionary apparently has its flaws.
Wagstaff went on to do a poll of some leading experts and found that most of the information on the site is accurate. he also goes on to bring up the point that t6he sire is regulated by individuals who make sure that the information is correct and unbiased.
My conclusion is that it is ok to use Wikipedia as a source of information, but not as a primary source. If your just looking to learn a few quick facts or get a general overview on a subject, that is completely fine. Its when you try to base a whole paper or essay on it that you run into problems. One of the big things that most good college professors focus on are attention to detail and more importantly your analysis of the subject. You cant get that from Wikipedia. On the same token you cant knock the site all together.
Comments:
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i totally agree i wouldnt use wikipedia as a primary source but it has helped me in times when i wanted a quick fact fix. i think it is very useful but we should be mindful that regular old joes put these facts up and they might not have all the facts straight.
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