Monday 5 May 2008

Wikipedia: to use or not to use?

This is a brief follow up to part of what we discussed in class this morning.
If you're a regular Wikipedia user, like me, you have probably noticed that there is a "toolbox" on the left hand side of every article, just under the Wikipedia search box, and that the last tool in the box is to "cite this page". That's the tool I used to create the page we looked at this morning listing the different citation styles for the Wikipedia entry on Of Mice and Men.

The other page we looked at was Wikipedia's warning against using its articles in academic writing, and that page neatly lists and explains the points you covered when you brainstormed the pros and cons of Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is an excellent resource, but don't cite it to support your ideas unless you're sure it's appropriate, which it sometimes is. I use it so often it's one of the permanent links on my browser tool bar, next to Gmail, but I don't often use the "cite this page" tool.

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