Author: Jill Goatcher
Wikipedia is the website ever-present in our Google search results. Unfortunately, it has never been considered a legitimate source of information when cited in academic papers. Most professors at Occidental, and throughout academia, do not recognize Wikipedia as a viable source for research papers.
However, Wikipedia should be considered a legitimate academic source, and schools should allow students to cite the information they find on Wikipedia. CNET News reported on a study that found only a .09% gap between the accuracy of The Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia, which makes a compelling argument for the legitimacy of Wikipedia.
The website serves as an incredibly vast and accurate source to the general public and deserves a level of respect commensurate with these attributes.
Wikipedia is written, run and edited by the very people that use it, which creates a self-cleansing mechanism. Often included within these articles are citations indicating where the author got the information for the page.
This feature of Wikipedia allows students to gather both primary and tertiary information. Wikipedia gives students a starting point to work from, an overview of information that steers them towards more specific works and information that can help them further form their papers. The accessibility of Wikipedia’s articles comes as a refreshing change to many academic journals that are often highly technical and verbose.
In most cases, the pages themselves are legitimate sources,
having gone through many edits and writers. Many sources for research-based writing are cited to inform the reader where the information came from so they have the ability to look up the source and review the author’s biography to screen for bias.
Students are currently not allowed to cite Wikipedia because the source lacks credibility in the academic world and would ultimately lead a professor to question the validity of the student’s work. This leaves the professor, and the reader, with a missing piece of information from which the student drew conclusions and opinions.
This does not lead to a well-rounded, accurate paper in the sense that the research used is missing. Professors should reevaluate how students incorporate information from Wikipedia into their research and reconsider its validity as a source.
For those who still question the legitimacy of Wikipedia, its articles were recently subjected to a test against those of Encyclopedia Britannica’s, based on academic validity. The discovery of only a .09% gap between the accuracy of Britannica and Wikipedia demonstrates the power of millions of minds full of knowledge compared to the power of an encyclopedia edited by a few people and printed periodically. The constant editing and writing contributions on Wikipedia keep it up to date and accurate.
With this minute difference in accuracy between Wikipedia and a widely respected encyclopedia, it is hard to see why this website is not considered an acceptable source by professors. The combined power of knowledge, legitimate editors and a self-cleansing nature gives readers an incredible resource of knowledge.
Jill Goatcher is an undeclared first year. She can be reached at goatcher@oxy.edu
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