Wikipedia: Friend or Foe (Poll Closed)

Wikipedia is a bad source to use becasue anyone can write on it and delete or change other people's work. Sometimes that could be good, but it also means a person with little to no knowledge can write whatever they want about the subject claiming it is true when it is the completely false. I am not saying Wikipedia is awful, but you must be careful in what you believe.

Wikipedia is a perfect example to demonstrate to students why they cannot believe everything they read. Not all information on the internet is factual or true and our students need to understand this. Wikipedia is an excellent source to point that out to students.

Wikipedia is not accepted as research for most universities. But, it can be useful if you want to get basic information on a subject... and then go to somewhere else to get more details. I agree, with the ability to change and edit pages, it cannot be used solely as true information. I tell my students to use it only for basic information. They are not allowed to site it, or reference it in any work. They must back up their information from trustworthy places, like .edu or .gov sites , or from databases like Questia using research papers.

Wikipedia is neither friend or foe it is a nosy, ill-informed opinionated neighbor. Sure there is some good information you can gleen from this source. But much like the know-it-all neighbor, not all of the information is accurate or applicable. Certainly educators should point student's away from using this site as a source to cite in serious academic work, but as a start to see where else one might look for information, it can be advantageous for a student to get some ideas. As with all educational tools, Wikipedia is only as useful as an experienced educator can make it.

I allow my students to use Wikipedia...but just as a jumping off point. They must verify anything that they get from Wikipedia from other sources. As others have remarked, it is a wonderful example of "you can't believe something just because it's online" but it's also a wonderful example of the collaboration that is made possible by current technology. It's here, it's not going away so we must teach stratigies to maximize it's use.

Wikipedia does filter its content; submissions must be approved before they are displayed. Most of the information on Wikipedia is true, and other sources would have the same information. Also, Pamela, it's "cite", not "site". I'm ashamed that you are a teacher.