Wikipedia Research

I was intrigued when I came across the article on Wikipedia in this week's Collegian. It tells of the changes Wikipedia is going through to make it a more reliable site.

I was private schooled until twelfth grade when I transferred to Martin High School in Arlington. When I got there, all of my teachers were saying not to go to Wikipedia for information. I was a little shocked because I had been used to using Wikipedia, not as a source but as a type of reference.

I think it's great that Wikipedia is trying to make their site more accurate and taking away the option where anyone can edit because people would just give their opinions and not actual fact. However, some of the faculty interviewed said that they would still tell students not to use it and recommended the TCC databases instead. In all honesty, I don't like the databases! I've been through 3 database studies and still can't figure it out. I can't ever find any information with depth or detailed information. I prefer using Google as a search engine for sources but now teachers are saying that even Google is a hindrance and we should all just start on the databases...like that's going to happen.

Sites like Google and Wikipedia are, in my opinion, good search engines to start the research. Wikipedia isn't something you'd want to include in your sources but if you have a topic that's hard to understand then I think it's perfectly acceptable to use it in order to grasp the topic. After a few minutes on the site, go to a "scholarly website" to find the creditable information. Teachers should be saying THAT instead of just pushing the idea away completely.


"Wikipedia's Webs site going through changes"
By: Dea Ozegovic
Collegian Volume 22, Issue 10, Page 4