A dear friend of mine told me a story when she was in the fourth grade and had a research project on the great Aztec emperor, Moctezuma. Not knowing where or how to find valuable information, she started with the basics: Wikipedia. But once she started reading the page, she knew something was wrong. The Wikipedia page described Moctezuma as a powerful leader and “as his friends called him, Mike, the taco destroyer.” She, like so many others, learned that Wikipedia is not exactly the best source to rely on. Wikipedia does offer a wealth of knowledge on virtually every topic possible, but as it is a public domain, it is possible for anyone to edit these pages.
But do not lose hope! Wikipedia can be an excellent gateway to finding valuable information and reliable sources. If you’ve ever read anything from Wikipedia, you’ve probably noticed the blue hyperlinked numbers that appear after pieces of information. If you click on these numbers, the site will redirect you to the bottom of the page where the resources and citations are located. These resources typically come from published journals, credible websites, and academic research papers, which are all typically acceptable sources to use in academic writing.
Recently, I was conducting research on modern depictions of religious events for one of my Theology classes, and I stumbled across the Wikipedia page for the movie The Prince of Egypt. I noticed a hyperlinked number next to a particularly compelling bit of information about the art of the movie. I wanted to know more about this information (and make sure it was credible!), so I clicked on the number next to the sentence, and the page scooted down to the bottom and highlighted the source I wanted, with a link to the online article. The article appeared in a new tab, and I could easily see the information that Wikipedia pulled from the source. I utilized this article in my paper, creating citations from the information provided by the article.
Now, as college students, we are always looking for easier and faster routes to take so one might be tempted to use the information from Wikipedia and cite the linked article. But it’s important to note that, most of the time, Wikipedia summarizes large chunks of information pulled from the original source. Because of this, citing the linked source but using the information you read on Wikipedia isn’t the best choice as Wikipedia isn’t using direct quotations. Further, anyone can still edit Wikipedia articles. The original pieces that Wikipedia cites are published and uneditable, thus more reliable and credible. Finding resources from Wikipedia still requires effort and work, but the website can make finding reliable sources much easier. Concerning my research paper involving the Prince of Egypt, Wikipedia acted as a bridge, connecting me and various research articles.
Ultimately, Wikipedia can be quite helpful in finding other sources that will prove to be reliable and accurate. Remember, Wikipedia is like the appetizer before dinner. It’s good but comes before the fulfilling and quality main course.