Should i use wikipedia as a source

You can easily add the article with the Citavi Picker. The Picker will send both the article link and the the permalink to your Citavi project. This means that years from now you will still be able to view the same exact version of t he article that you consulted for your paper.

Have you ever cited Wikipedia in a paper? Do your professors have a policy on using Wikipedia as a source? Please share your experiences with us on Facebook. Loveland, Jeff; Reagle, Joseph : Wikipedia and encyclopedic production. DOI: Jana Behrendt, a librarian by training, is deeply interested in everything related to personal information management.

However, she does not read as much as you would expect from a librarian. Get a regular dose of research inspiration. Enter your email address to get bi-weekly emails whenever new content is added. Toggle navigation. Our Support Options. Planned Accidents Manage your time, organize your work, and be more creative in your research. Can I cite Wikipedia in my paper? What place does Wikipedia have in academic writing?

In addition, Wikipedia:. At the end of the day, however, Wikipedia is not suitable for academic work. For one, you should never use an encyclopedia as a source. Academic work requires primary or, at worst, secondary sources. Encyclopedias are considered a tertiary source. Even back in , Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told students not to cite it for class projects or serious research. You can use Wikipedia for entertainment, to read interesting and informative articles, or as a place to start your research.

He is affiliated with the Digital Commons Policy Council. At the start of each university year, we ask first-year students a question: how many have been told by their secondary teachers not to use Wikipedia? Without fail, nearly every hand shoots up. Wikipedia offers free and reliable information instantly. So why do teachers almost universally distrust it? Wikipedia has community-enforced policies on neutrality, reliability and notability.

Wikipedia is free, non-profit, and has been operating for over two decades , making it an internet success story. Many teachers point out that anyone can edit a Wikipedia page, not just experts on the subject. Popular articles are reviewed thousands of times. A team of researchers from MIT and the University of Pittsburgh asked chemistry graduate students to flex their writing skills and create new Wikipedia articles on scientific topics that were missing from the site, eCampus News reports.

The new scientific Wikipedia articles received thousands of views per month, including many from researchers writing scientific literature. So, if Wikipedia is good enough for scientists, it should be good enough for students, right? This is where digital literacy best practices come in.