{"id":68,"date":"2021-11-01T01:40:22","date_gmt":"2021-10-31T21:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gradmode.com\/?p=68"},"modified":"2022-07-28T14:42:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T10:42:40","slug":"wikipedia-is-not-a-reliable-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gradmode.com\/wikipedia-is-not-a-reliable-source\/","title":{"rendered":"Wikipedia is not a Reliable Source \u2013 can you still use it for Assignments?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yes – absolutely.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia is a great way to get started on your research because it has everything you need in one place. In fact, the main function of Wikipedia is to get an overview of a topic, rather than just a slice of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites on the internet. Apart from giving an introduction to unfamiliar topics, it can guide you to other (credible) sources for further reading. But nearly all universities and educators repeatedly tell students not to<\/em> use Wikipedia for academic writing<\/strong>. Although this a fairly agreed upon ‘rule’, some rules are meant to be broken (without getting caught, obviously).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we’re trying to tell you is to go about this wisely<\/em>. To use Wikipedia for academic research even though it is not considered a reliable source, you need to look up the references that are provided within the article. You can run them through an academic database like Google Scholar<\/a> while also assessing whether those references are credible on their own.<\/strong> Not sure how to assess the credibility of a site? We explain this in detail with a comprehensive checklist for website credibility evaluation specifically for students<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Citing<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What does a credible site on academic writing guidelines have to say about this approach? You can read for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s not encouraged to use Wikipedia as one of your main sources, Wikipedia can be used as a jumping-off point for other sources. At the bottom of most Wikipedia pages, you can find a list of sources that will take you to other pages…<\/p>Purdue Online Writing Lab<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In order to use Wikipedia correctly for academic research, we first need to understand how Wikipedia works. This will give you a better idea of why it is considered unreliable and how you can overcome this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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