Using Wikipedia for research

The objective of this course activity is to look at the different opinions about the accuracy and verifiability of Wikipedia and consider whether it can be a useful source of information for your learners in comparison to other resources.

Wikipedia’s usefulness as a research resource is hotly debated, particularly in Higher Education where many universities discourage students from using it. The reasons given centre around the lack of verification of much of the content. Multiple authors contribute to the encyclopaedia and although the Wikipedia Foundation identifies unverified material and flags it as often as it can, there are still arguments about whether content is reliable and valid.

To understand more about this debate, skim-read the article ‘Reliability of Wikipedia’ which can be found by using the Wikipedia search facility located in the left-hand navigation bar. This is quite a lengthy article which quotes many of the independent studies that have been carried out into the content on Wikipedia pages. Pick out one or two opinions expressed in this article that will help you decide whether you would recommend this resource to your learners. You could organise a debate in class about the reliability of Wikipedia directing your learners to this page for research.

Reflect on whether you feel the issues around verification of content should discourage certain learners from using Wikipedia. How does your view of Wikipedia compare with other encyclopaedia providers? For example, Encyclopaedia Britannica has an online version, however, users have to pay £50 a year to use the full resource. Would you feel more confident about recommending this resource to your learners?