In a recent NCTE article titled "A Stand Against Wikipedia," the history department at Middlebury College is trying to make it clear to students that Wikipedia is not a citeable source. Although the department does not want to completely ban the use and credit of Wikipedia (because they feel it is a violation of freedom of access as well as would be ignored by most people in retaliation), professors are telling students not to cite the website in any academic papers. They have not imposed any punitive measures if students do use Wikipedia occassionally, but they have stressed that overusing the site will result in reduced grades.
The department at Middlebury College is not trying to disseminate the use of Wikipedia completely. They feel that Wikipedia is a good footstool to information available over the web, especially for students looking to grasp certain material in a basic form.
However, Middlebury is stressing to students that they use more primary and "serious secondary sources" when citing, especially on the college level.
I agree with Middlebury's initiative to make students look outside the box of Wikipedia. Most students use Wikipedia because it is convenient more than for its illustrious and serious information. Most search engines will give Wikipedia as threads for information, and students find it so easy to type and click rather than to search for more credible sources.
I am not the biggest fan of Wikipedia. I find that other websites and book sources are more credible. I do not personally feel comfortable citing Wikipedia in any of my bibliographies because of the potential for that information to be either wrong or skewed.
Granted, the Wiki idea is wonderful in its ability to link people to various sites and information. However, it needs to be more carefully monitored if students are going to be held accountable for the information on it. That is why students must be trained in how to decipher credible from discredible information on websites. Hence, one of the reasons I am so pro-book. I love looking through a book for information rather than the web (yes, it is true, and yes, it is rare).
source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/26/wiki
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3 comments:
I admit I found Middlebury's actions laughable.
That a fac. needed to legislate how its their students would conduct research seems absurd to me.
Why isn't the necessity of investigating multiple sources on any topic simply stressed in classroom assignments and across campus in a spirit of authentic inquiry?
The research to date shows that WIKIPEDIA is extremely accurate--surely as accurate as what's in "books." Be careful not to lionize books--books that are full of error--read "Lies My Teacher Told Me," right Phil?.
It's a good idea to examine all print and non-print sources for accuracy. Wikipedia is as good a place to start as any--and maybe even better--especially for very current topics. E.G. Tonight I'd look to Wikipedia about 10 o'clock (well, earlier) EST for the most accurate information about the battle b/w the Colts and the Bears~
Wikipedia is a phenomenom teachers cannot afford to ignore. Seems like somebody's got their head in the sand up in Vt.!!
Like Staci, I was really skeptical about using Wikipedia as a source in my research papers. However, like Dr. Stearns says in her comment, research does shoe what Wikipedia IS very accurate. Will Richardson opened my eyes to this fact when he came to talk to us last semester in the library. The number of times Wikipedia is edited per minute is astounding (I can't remember what that number is, but trust me, it's huge), and it makes me realize that there are so many people editing Wikipedia that wrong content will be fixed within a very short amount of time.
Wikipedia is great because current topics can be published within minutes by the people who know the material best.
My verdict: I trust Wikipedia, but I would double-check any questionable information before regarding it as fact.
I find this very interesting Staci. For the first block of group projects, my group is working on a Wiki site.
I think that Middlebury should not limit their students' use of Wikipedia. Students must learn to sift through sources to find their accuracy. There are many sites on the internet that could be considered not valid.
I had a teacher that would not let us use Wikipedia and I thought it was ridiculous! This is just another example of how people do not understand new technology.
Bridget
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