In Defence of Wikipedia

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In Defence of Wikipedia

Introduction

There are many college professors that encourage their students not to use Wikipedia as a source for their essays for their classes. This essay will focus on the fact that Wikipedia is a good source at many times in order to find a starting point for approaching an essay. Wikipedia goes through a thorough vetting process in order to upload their content and has increasingly become a trusted source for information on a multitude of topics. Due to this, Wikipedia is a good source for use in an essay and this essay will expand on this thesis statement.

The topics that will support the thesis of this essay will be further explanation of Wikipedia and its vetting process, examples of when I have personally used Wikipedia for my own assignments, and expert ways of using Wikipedia as a starting point for information regarding an essay and then double-checking the information through other references. First, I will begin with the vetting process of Wikipedia.

Vetting Process of Wikipedia

Wikipedia undergoes a thorough vetting process prior to uploading their content (Wikipedia.com). Here are the steps of the vetting process:

1. An experienced editor – theproposer–, who thinks another editor – theprospect– might be a good candidate, notifies the prospect of the intention of listing the prospect here.
2. Prospect agrees on the prospect's talk page. This agreement does not mean any commitment that prospect will run as a candidate.
3. Proposer posts the namehere.
4. Other editors reply to the proposer privately by e-mail, especially if they believe the prospect would not be a good candidate, or if they want to co-nominate the prospect.
5. Proposer evaluates the replies, and if the feedback looks good, then:
6. Proposer asks the prospect if he or she wants to run as a candidate for adminship
7. Proposer officially nominates the prospect
8. If the feedback identifies a problem, then the proposer can discuss it with the prospect, and helpthembecome a better candidate. When the proposer thinks the prospect has improved appropriately, they can relist the prospect, mentioning that the earlier concern has been addressed (Wikipedia.com).

Through this thorough vetting process, Wikipedia.com is able to ensure that their content is accurate, useful and updated on a regular basis. Next, I will discuss specific examples where I have used Wikipedia.com for my own assignments.

Using Wikipedia.com

For my own assignments, I usually start off by going to Wikipedia.com as a starting point for information. Most of the time when I search for information on the Internet, the fact that the Wikipedia.com source material comes up top-ranked, is a key indicator to how often Wikipedia.com is used for source material for information for assignments.

I read through the material on Wikipedia.com if it is a topic that I may not be familiar with, such as the rule of Julius Caesar for example, or the effects of citric acid as another example. I look through the referencing material at the bottom of the page in order to find out the original sourcing material of the content and if I choose to use that content from Wikipedia.com that has been compiled for the online encyclopedia, then I will source the material from the original source rather than Wikipedia.com. This has helped me to establish A+ grade for many of my assignments.

Another useful component of Wikipedia.com is that it is very good for establishing facts regarding a company’s profile for any business-related assignments that I may have. For example, if I am working on an assignment regarding the annual revenue, net revenue and gross assets of a company such as Apple, all of that information and open-source statistics are readily available through Wikipedia.com. Sometimes in this case, I will use Wikipedia.com to back up the information that would be on the Apple.com website regarding the financial revenue information of that company to support the information and to verify that it is indeed correct.

For all of these examples, Wikipedia.com is excessively helpful in this regard. Next, I will discuss further how Wikipedia.com is a starting point for doing research on an essay supported further by how other college professors and college students are using Wikipedia.com.

Starting Research with Wikipedia.com

According to Head and Eisenberg, more students than not are using Wikipedia.com as a source for their assignments:

Major findings from the study are as follows:

1. Far more students, than not, usedWikipedia.Wikipediawas used in addition to a small set of other commonly used information resources at the beginning of the research process.
2. Reasons for usingWikipediawere diverse:Wikipediaprovided students with a summary about a topic, the meaning of related terms, and also got students started on their research and offered a usable interface.
3. Respondents who were majoring in architecture, engineering, or the sciences were more likely to useWikipediathan respondents in other majors[11] (Head & Eisenberg).

This proves that although some college professors disapprove of Wikipedia.com being used for assignments, many college students are finding Wikipedia.com to be helpful for their assignments. Further research information from Head and Eisenberg, explain the use of Wikipedia.com this way:

The signature research assignment for humanities and social sciences courses is the argument paper (67 percent). These papers entail choosing a topic, defining an issue, and taking a position backed by evidence culled from secondary resources (e.g., books, journals, and resources found on the Internet).

To a lesser degree, students reported conducting “outside research” for other course–related assignments that were interpretative readings of a text (53 percent), historical analyses (39 percent), and literature reviews (38 percent).

Over half of the survey respondents (52 percent) were frequentWikipediausers — even if an instructor advised against it[12]. Students reported that they frequently, if not always, consultedWikipediaat some point during their course–related research (see Figure 1).

Far fewer of the respondents (22 percent) reported that they rarely, if ever, usedWikipedia (Head and Eisenberg).

This proves that I am not the only student out there who knows that Wikipedia.com can be very useful for an assignment. This many college students cannot be wrong. Now, I will conclude.

Conclusion

This essay has discussed the use of Wikipedia.com for assignments done by college students that are assigned by college professors. Bearing the sometimes disapproving words of college professors towards the use of Wikipedia.com, this essay set out to defend Wikipedia.com and to show how helpful this online encyclopedia resource truly is to many college students.

Works Cited

Head, Allison J. and Eisenberg, Michael. B. First Monday: Peer-Reviewed Journal on the

Internet, March 1 2010, Accessed September 4, 2016.

Wikipedia.com. Wikipedia: vetting process, June 24, 2015,

Accessed September 4, 2016.