Intro to Wikipedia
April 1, 2008I was in tenth grade. I had a five page research paper to write. Being the world class procrastinator that I am, it was now the weekend before its due date the following Monday. I was in the library checking every reference computer for any books on “The Visigoths.” As you might imagine I left the library empty handed. So as I sat at home thinking of excuses I hadn’t yet used to extend a deadline, I figured I’d do a search on yahoo. As I had figured, the first few results were a few vague, fairly unusable, explanations of who they were (they were an East Germanic tribe that sacked Rome in 410 by the way), but just as I was about to completely give up I stumbled upon a link that sent me to some oddly named site containing more information on the Visigoths than I could have ever wanted to know. I based my paper almost entirely off of this single site and with it was able to pull off a B+. This site was Wikipedia, and it saved my butt.
In this blogging session Maddie and I will be leading you in a discussion of Wikipedia and high culture VS low culture. But before we really get into it we thought it would be nice to hear about your first experience and initial thoughts were on Wikipedia. How did you come to learn of its existence? What was your initial reaction?
The first time I looked at Wikipedia was probably less than two years ago.. I think?? I think that I had heard other people mention it and first only visited it to check it out and see what it was about, not to use it as a reference. I remember being pretty amazed at all of the information on the site and the depth which it covered. I think that Dr. Sarver said it best when our class began this semester — Wikipedia is a great resource as long as it is used appropriately, as a starting point to derive ideas from which you then use other resources to verify. This is pretty much how I felt about Wikipedia when I first learned that others had the power to edit it.
I first heard of this website when I was in high school doing research for our final 10 page English paper with at least 5 sources etc… and I remember our teacher and librarian telling us “Do not use wikipedia as a reference the information isn’t correct” and so whenever it came up, I just disregarded it (we were shown some vandalism on topics we were shown it showed how easily it could be manipulated & wrong)it was still fairly new at the time to me… (2003/4ish)
After coming to college, I began to use it just as a quick summary of information on a topic, yet I’ve still never used it as a source for any paper. I think my high school English teacher is still in my mind. I think it’s a good starting point to get a quick blurb about a topic and then use it to reference other sources. I’m not sure if I trust “experts” on topics from wikipedia yet even though we’ve been told it is highly reliable and correct. I agree with Frank, that the amount of information though is astounding, but honestly I don’t know how they can keep track of all that consistently.
although I just checked the wikipedia “mistake” that our speaker put on today’s second life ….and it was fixed.
I think that I always knew that Wikipedia existed, but never really used it until freshman year of college. We had to do research on a topic of our choice, and I choose to research the pros and cons of extrinsic rewards for receiving good grades. I found a lot of material on Wikipedia and incorporated it into my research.
When I met with my professor, she told me that Wikipedia was not a reputable source, and that I should stray away from it. This made me upset because I put it all of the research and had to do it over. Also, when I googled my topic, a wikipedia site was in the top ten, so I thought that it was weird how it was high on the list for google but not for this class.
It seems that a lot has changed within the past 3 years, and more people are accepting Wikipedia. I agree with what Frank said, that Wikipedia is a great resource when used properly.
Alexis
My first experience with Wikipedia was in high school. Whenever I was required to research something, Wikipedia was the first site that always would appear. If I remember correctly, my teachers ingrained it into our heads that we should not use the information off this site for the mere reason that the content could be altered by the average joe. Honestly, I thought they had a point because even I could go in and write something about….pirates, a topic that I know little about. But I think now it has developed into a more reliable source than it has ever been, because of the security standards that have been placed on the site. I have been more comfortable using Wikipedia in research; however I don’t think I would base all my research solely on this source, but use it more as a starting point. I agree with Frank’s statement about how it could be a great thing if it was used appropriately.
hmm… that’s a tough question, as I really do not remember my first encounter with Wikipedia. However, I do remember it not being allowed for academic use in my high school because it was not a reliable source of information. I was surprised at how often it is updated, however, because when my roommmate I FIRST found out that Heath Ledger had passed away, we wanted to make sure that it was not just a rumor on campus or something. My roommate searched his name, and sure enough, on the day of his death, his Wikipedia entry was updated.
This was an interesting first question! It really got me thinking.
Krystina
I don’t remember my first experience with Wikipedia either. I think that I probably would have first used it after it poped up for a google search. Normally, I do not bother to look on this site. My teachers in high school and college always would tell me to not use Wikipedia because anyone could alter the information; I never really questioned what this meant. Honestly, up until now I did not know what a wiki was, nor that I could potentially edit or create one of these encyclopedia like pages.
The first time I ever used Wikipedia was not that long ago actually. It was my first research paper for college and I was terribly nervous of everything (esp MLA format. haha) But, luckily I discovered it through google and was excited. However, the community college I was attending was really against it (like Jamie said) and really tried to scare us into using it. We weren’t allowed to use it as a citation in our paper, but of course, everyone i knew used it to get back round on the topic and become more familiar with whatever they were learning.
Now, I use wikipedia ALLLLLL the time. It’s sort of pathetic actually. If I’m watching tv and they talk about something I dont know about, or am interested in, I wikipedia it. It will even tell you the net worth of celebrities (terrible that I know that).
The first time I ever used Wikipedia was not that long ago actually. It was my first research paper for college and I was terribly nervous of everything (esp MLA format. haha) But, luckily I discovered it through google and was excited. However, the community college I was attending was really against it (like Jamie said) and really tried to scare us into using it. We weren’t allowed to use it as a citation in our paper, but of course, everyone i knew used it to get back round on the topic and become more familiar with whatever they were learning.
Now, I use wikipedia ALLLLLL the time. It’s sort of pathetic actually. If I’m watching tv and they talk about something I dont know about, or am interested in, I wikipedia it. It will even tell you the net worth of celebrities (terrible that I know that). It’s such a useful tool and I think a lot of people would be lost without it.
My first experiences with Wikipedia were actually not very positive. In Highschool, a lot of my teachers urged us not to use sources by Wikipedia because of the referencing issue and how some people that contribute to it are not credible. Like the speaker mentioned, things cited in Wikipedia are more benficial when needed for current issues. Before my teachers spoke about Wikipedia, I had no idea what it was, so I think the first time I actually went onto Wikipedia, I went into the site with a kind of set point of view, that it was not credible. I like the idea of it, and I like the fact that it is a collaborative information database; however, I do not put it in scholarly essays or papers. -Autumn
The first time I used Wikipedia was in high school and I pretty much relied on it for most research on any papers or projects. Once I got to college I continued to use Wikipedia until my COR class when my professor told us it wasn’t a reliable source because you can change the data on it. So since freshman year of college this is my first time that I’ve started to use it again. I think that the security setting have evolved immensely since I was in high school and even since I was a freshman here. I think that now the security settings are so reliable Wikipedia will do great things as an online source of information. The best part about Wikipedia is the fact that you can contribute information you know that others don’t. It’s basically a learning experience in it’s own and shows that everyone may not know everything about a certain topic but someone else does and they have the power to inform you.
I am usually religious about staying out of the conversation (about which I’d love to get your feedback – but that’s another conversation). But it seems that this thread is just crying out for a teachers’ perspective on the issue (even though you already have had access to several through the dialogue between faculty in the English Department.
Nonetheless, and despite the fact that I’m only one teacher, so I don’t presume to represent all teachers or anything like that, here’s my take on my students’ use of Wikipedia: I RECOMMEND it as a jumping off place — and for that you can hardly beat it, as so many of you have pointed out. There’s virtually nothing as current and expansive out there.
But that’s as far as I’ll want my students to go in terms of using WikiP. As someone points out above, I discourage students from quoting from WP in papers, b/c one of the main reasons we practice academic citation as we do is so that someone reading the article can respond by reading the same sources that you have used. And as several of you have also observed, Wikipedia is ALWAYS changing, so if you cite it today, you’re referencing a temporary text that could very well disappear in 5 days. Once it’s gone, you’re left looking like you made it all up.
So even though I’d agree that it is one of the most reliable and rich reference tools out there, my stance is use it, but don’t quote from it.
Feel free to convince me that there’s a better way.
Dr. Sarver
Wow it seems like most of your teachers were much more informed about wikipedia then mine. By 11th grade they had started telling kids not to use but up until then I had never heard it mentioned in any way.
And dont feel bad Jessica, I do the same thing all the time : p
Guilty as charged. I’ve used wikipedia several times to look up books for class just because I didn’t feel like reading them. Who knows if the summaries were correct or not. I’ve actually gotten in trouble like some of you because I cited wikipedia as a source in one of my papers in High School. My teacher made me go back and find a different source that was more legitimate for the paper. So as professor Sarver said, you shouldn’t quote from the site, or use as it as a source. It should be used more as a tool for guidance with a paper, rather than stealing or believing everything you read on it.
I did the same thing as Krystina when I heard about Heath Ledger. Knowing that people are constantly updating wikipedia (which is one of the great advantages), I thought that the news about his death would be on there and it was.
I hope that you see how easy it is from the activity that I’m going to post, that things are not always correct on wikipedia and how easily ideas can be changed.
I have used wikipedia numerous times to look up information about a topic. I can’t really remember the first time I used wikipedia, but I do know that when I discovered it I really didn’t know what it was all about. I was completely unaware of the fact that other people could alter entry’s and that each page was created by a random person. I remember in my first semester last year watching a Super Sweet Sixteen episode with my friends. The birthday girl was the late rapper Eazy-E’s daughter. Due to the fact that Eazy-E died from AIDS, my friends and I had a huge debate as to whether or not his daughter in fact was infected to. I hate to be wrong. So, I looked it up on google, and what do you know. I found it in this website Wikipedia that I had used a few times before. I immediately called my friend and was like, “See! Wikipedia says she is infected with the disease! I win.” My friend began to laugh. She quickly informed on how Wikipedia actually works and advised me not to take everything on the site to heart. I guess she was right!
Kaitlyn
Wikipedia is a music lover’s dream. The program UTorrent and the website Wikipedia are a match made in heaven. I can (and do) spend several hours using wikipedia to find an interesting group, and then use UTorrent to download their albums. My entire taste in music changed sharply, and for the much better. There is a plethora of incredible music out there, and wikipedia has pages for tons of artists, whether new and underground or old and forgotten.
Two things I wanna say:
1. I agree with Autumn – I never cite wikipedia for a scholarly essay.
2. I agree with mindich – my teachers never even mentioned wikipedia to us, but I’m sure if some student asked, they said no…
by the way, wikipedia has been my homepage for years and it still is
My first experience with Wikipedia was a few years back and of course like many others I was told not to use it for research. Dr. Sarver made a good point of how easily your source could be gone. Sometimes if I want to know a little something , I check out Wikipedia and the references down below the information because sometimes it is a hotlink to some useful and accepted information.
The Cortland librarian speaker guy we had kind of scared me with the history button. Wow what goes on behind closed doors! I will have to be a little more creful when In know students are viewing the site.
Pat P
I had always heard in high school that wikipedia was not a reliable source, so I never used it. I was fully introduced fall semester last year in YA lit. I learned how to work on the site for a novel called SMACK. Since I have checked it out a couple of times but I don’t use it regularly, and never for a paper.
Jackie
As jackie had mentioned, I too always knew not to rely on Wikipedia. However, when I came to college I began to use it as a quick reference for certain terms. I think it is a good starting point when beginning to do research just to get an idea. However, I would never use wikipedia as one of my references.
I actually do not remember using Wikipedia in High School. It first came to my attention during my freshmen year here at SUNY Cortland. One of my teachers told us not to use Wikipedia as a reference for a paper, therefore, I didn’t use it. I never asked or understood why, I just believed them and stayed away from the forbidden site. It wasn’t until I had Dr. Sarver last semester that I truly understood why Wikipedia is not always a reliable source. Because it is always changing, you can’t always find the exact information that was there when you sited it. Obviously, the information could also be incorrect in the first place! I agree with Janet that it is a great starting place, however, I would not site it in a paper of course!
Stacia
I also wanted to point out that the reference links often found at the bottom of a Wikipedia page can be checked for credibility and then used as sources. I have used Wikipedia in this way to find sources that I CAN site in a paper. Have any of you found useful sites by looking at the links that are referenced on the Wikipedia page??
Stacia