Michelle Hobaugh says “Please do not cute (cite) Wikipedia as a reliable source…it is not. If you were to try and cite this as a reference in a paper submitted for grade at a university, you would receive a failing grade.”
This is a blunt statement for a nuanced topic; implying that Wikipedia should not be used for anything. Wikipedia itself states that it is NOT a reliable source for a RESEARCH PAPER. Professors WILL fail a paper using Wikipedia as a primary reference.
HOWEVER, professors (including me) sometimes recommend that students use Wikipedia at the BEGINNING of a research process to identify possible sources of information that they can explore further. I have found Wikipedia to be an excellent source of POSSIBLE RELIABLE SOURCES.
Information seeking is an important leadership skill for students to develop and requires critical evaluation of information sources. Pathways such as Google or Wikipedia can LEAD to good information, but are not necessarily reliable sources in and of themselves. Let the reader beware!
John Lowe
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2020 18:14:19 -0400
From: John Lowe
Subject: Wikipedia Comment needs Context