Do you use Wikipedia?

[Deleted]

I do it all the time, we are students and tbh I don't really care if its true or not. The thing is papers aren't used for anything so why put
valuable time in it?

[Rageadon]

"everyone can edit on wikipedia" thats what the teachers kept telling me for 6 years... AND THATS BS!!!

Use it and compare it with other legit sites ... only then you can tell for sure, but these days you need to be admin or some sort to edit

[Archangel Tyrael]

Wikipedia is absolute trash.

No, I won't use it.

[Bakis]

Yes and no, I never use it on purpose but when it comes ontop when I google I at least read the recommended link.

[Deleted]

As so many others have already mentioned, I use the sources the wiki posts. Also at times to quickly look up things just for fun, such as certain holiday event differences across the world or old history about different things.

In school we were told that using wikipedia was fine for as long as we cited other more credible sources that supported the claims wikipedia made.

[Eliot123]

Eh, depends, if I am making a presentation for a seminar that I have to do just to fulfill the quota as a student, I do, because no one really pays attention or gives a damn. I wouldn't cite it for anything remotely serious though.

[Kuntantee]

Wikipedia is not academical source. You can not use it as reference in any kind of academical research. However, it's really solid source of information and it's mostly accurate.

[Jaylock]

Wikipedia is absolute trash.

No, I won't use it.

Why do you think its absolute trash? There are plenty of other posters who find value in it as you can tell.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Wikipedia is absolute trash.

No, I won't use it.

Could you please point to a wikipedia page that's trash?

[NewOrleansTrolley]

It's a decent tool. I will confess I am a little bit old school in that I like reading from books and source material. But it's a great encylopedia if you understand its limits. (especially for political candidates. lol) It's also hilariously obvious to spot when a student copies from it.

No one here can deny it's not a good foundation of general knowledge for the masses. Which is what encylopedias are created for, right?

[Yvaelle]

Anyone who doesn't use wikipedia in this day and age is crazy. I live in wikipedia. That doesn't mean you cite wikipedia in academic papers of course - everyone has mentioned that - but you can of course use it to brush up quickly on a topic, and then use the sources they supply to jumpstart your research paper.

Alternately and much more importantly, it's the solution to all trivia questions "What year was Mary Cassatt born?" - asking and answering those little questions in our heads or in our day-to-day lives is like, half the reason the internet was invented

[reef]

i have used wikipedia to help with research projects, but i always find the information i need within the citations at the bottom of the wikipedia page. i never use wikipedia as my cited source for a project.

I do it all the time, we are students and tbh I don't really care if its true or not. The thing is papers aren't used for anything so why put valuable time in it?

i don't really understand the "we are students" part. so because you are a student, you don't care if its true or not? because you're a student, papers are not worth your valuable time? because you're a student, the papers don't matter because they aren't used for anything?

some of the research and scientific papers i wrote in college helped me start my career. some students also care about whether or not what they are learning is true. imo, papers are more than worth a student's valuable time.

[Nikkosyia]

My instructors at my school will allow wikipedia as a source, but only if you use the sources Wikipedia has used.

If the Wikipedia page does not have any sources, than they will not allow you to use it. (Which is very rare.)

I find it a bit quicker and a lot more filtered than Google for specific things instead of keywords as long as you know exactly what you're looking for, and than go through the sources at the bottom. Depending on the subject, can have anywhere from 3-100+ sources that are properly fitted to what you're looking for instead of some millions or tens of thousands of links with words that are shared with your desired subject of search.

[BarelyLegalBear]

I have been told by many of my teachers in the past not to use Wikipedia because anyone can put random information on them. I try to use .edu websites and such as much as possible. I used to use Wikipedia all the time but learned that it is not the best place for information. So, i'll just stick with websites i know i can trust.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Wikipedia is also an amazing place to start even if you're writing papers. It's incredibly up to date with all of the latest findings, where if you're doing research purely by your own research, you might miss that paper published 2 weeks ago.

[Very Tired]

I'm willing to bet more than 99% of the information on Wikipedia is correct, yet that doesn't stop some people from jumping on the lolwikipedia train whenever you cite it.

[Deleted]

I use Wikipedia a lot.

[serenka]

its a great site for looking up small facts when you forget something, but would never cite it on a paper, wikipedia nearly always lists its sources, always good to use those!

[lopk]

Of course I do, because the information is accessible and accurate. I really don't know what else to say; the only people who have ever told me that Wikipedia is unreliable were my teachers, and they don't even know how to work a YouTube video, so I have a hard time believing them.

[Reeve]

Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Wikipedia Commons?

Wikipedia didn't really come into its own until after I'd graduated college, so no.