I have used Wikipedia for years and never realized it was not "facts". I have my students use it. Grnated, we use it in class for research on celebrities and singers mostly. But still, I have thought it to be fact in the past. It bothers me that just anyone can go in and edit these entries. I was surprised at the companies that edited the entries. In this day and age companies have to know that online information is easily obtained and traced.
I do not fault Wikipedia in that people can change entries. I am sure there is a disclaimer somewhere that states the information available is not checked or confirmed 100%. I, like many others, just would not read that to know how the information can be manipulated. I won't from this point on trust Wikipedia as much as before. I may still use the site for simple searches but will always use others sources when academic information is being sought.
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Good job Pam. May I suggest Google scholar as a good resource for your students? Also, please proof read your post. I saw several misspelled words and in one case you stated "form" instead of "from", a common mistake that I make frequently.
ReplyDeleteI too was surprised that anyone could edit Wikipedia. It probably is written somewhere that anyone can edit an entry, but I am like you and have not ever seen that.
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