Wikipedia: Why do my instructors say NO?
- Articles may be biased, incomplete, or vandalized.
- May contain obvious oversights or omissions.
- Many contributors do not cite their sources.
- Bibliographies are frequently incomplete or out-of-date.
- Credentials of authors vary.
- Continually edited >100,000 edits/day.
- Can propagate misinformation
Wikipedia: How can I use it well?
- Useful for background information, ideas for keywords.
- Contains many viable links and references.
- Excels in popular culture, emerging technology, and obscure subjects.
- DON"T rely on it or cite it as a source of information, but only as a starting place for exploration.
- DON'T rely on it or cite it as a justification for an argument! (you might cite sources it links to, but only if you find them to be credible, accurate, useful, etc.).
Reliability of Sources discusses what makes information reliable and explores one model for evaluating reliability (CRAAP). You'll learn to point out and apply criteria that can be used to judge the reliability of information.