Wikipedia

Growing up and in the classroom, the only thing I ever heard about Wikipedia was that it was unreliable source. Even now, because of this it has caused a sort of aversion for me, where I find myself almost never clicking on the Wikipedia page for it. Of course, I understand why, as virtually anyone can edit a page, but honestly, I find it as a great tool. Wikipedia is a great space for finding the need to know information on virtually any topic ever, and, if you wanted more in depth information, they've got it too! When searching something up, I feel like I have to often open many articles and sites to find all the information I need, whereas Wikipedia has a summary, its history, a timeline, etc. all in one spot. I think Wikipedia can be a great tool to use. 

This week, it was nice to learn about all of Wikipedia's sister tools! I had never heard or used them before so it was nice to explore them a little bit. One that I found really unique and fun was Wikiquote. Wikiquote is a space to find, share, translate, and discover quotes that were made from other people. Want to find notable quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.? It's there! Want to find quotes about love? Also there! 

Another useful resource I found, was Wikibooks.Wikibooks contains free textbooks and manuals available for anyone to read. I was able to find some on a wide array of topics from education to anthropology. 

Another one that I'll shout out is Wikiversity which focuses on learning resources, projects, and research! Take a look at some tools!

I also wanted to share a fun game that my friends and I play sometimes! Its called Wikipedia Race. Basically, you and your friends choose a starting topic and an ending topic. The goal is start on the page of your starting topic and make it to the ending topic by only clicking through the embedded links on the page. You can play it in different ways, like going by who had the least amount of clicks or who got to the ending topic in the shortest amount of time. I recommend trying it out, it's pretty fun!

Comments

  1. StephenJune 8, 2025 at 4:32 PM

    Wikipedia is an unreliable source. That was clearly burned into me during my time as a student.

    I taught academic writing to students at the university level and I taught them all about finding credible articles with externally cited sources. Then a student actually asked me if they could cite Wikipedia, since it fit the requirements of credibility that I had stipulated. I think the whole point of Wikipedia is that it is meant to get you started, to open and access real research. It may be a credible form of tertiary research that summarizes and compiles findings from primary and seconday research, but it shouldn't end up in the reference list. I tell students to use it as a credible gateway to find information, rather than a source to cite.

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