Why Not Use Wikipedia?

Have you been told that Wikipedia can't be used as a scholarly source for your academic papers? Well, that's usually true but what you may not have been told is that Wikipedia is a valuable resource for evaluating information and resources you find on the web. Below is a 2 minute 41 second video that a group of researchers at Stanford University created to help professors understand how Wikipedia can be used during the scholarly research process. Take a look:

So while you may not be able to use Wikipedia as a source for your paper you can use it to:

Get background information
Find useful search terms and phrases
Get useful reference links that take you directly to a source that you can use in your paper or project

Want more information on how to find the above information on a Wikipedia page, just watch the short video below from our friends at the University of New Brunswick.

Okay, so now you know how to evaluate websites and pull out information from Wikipedia but what about all of those scholarly articles that are available for free on the internet? Sure, the library has plenty to choose from but let's say you don't want to leave Google to find your sources. While we in your college library may think this is not necessarily the fastest way to get what you need, we are happy to help you understand how to do the best with what you get.

On the next page you will learn about Google Scholar and how to use it to find good scholarly resources for your research.

By the way, if you're interested in taking a deeper dive into the world of Wikipedia check out this 14 minute video from Crash Course, it's fascinating...really!

Citations & Attributions

Video source:

"How to Use Wikipedia Wisely" from The Stanford History Education Group on You Tube

"How to Use Wikipedia in Your Research" from The University of New Brunswick Libraries on You Tube

Except where otherwise noted, the content in this module by San Diego Mesa College Library Links to an external site. is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0