Wikipedia - banned?
By Murray Bourne, 12 Feb 2007
Recently there was some chatter on one of the teachers' listservs that I subscribe to about Wikipedia.
A lecturer said that her students are banned from using Wikipedia for their research because it has not been reviewed by an editor (like a "real" encyclopedia is).
This got me thinking. Actually, Wikipedia is reviewed in a sense, because anyone who goes there and finds an article that is not quite right, can edit it.
I will often go to Wikipedia as a starting point when reading up on something and I always find that it is valuable. I will use other sources, of course, just like you would if you were to start your research with a real encyclopedia.
I don't think it is right to ban it, but it is important that students (and lecturers) know who writes it.
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