How Do You Cite A Wikipedia Source?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Structure to follow to cite a Wikipedia article in MLA style: “Article Title.”

Website Title, Publisher (if different from website title)

, Day Month Year published or updated, URL. Reference example: “Special Relativity.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 July 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity.

How do you cite Wikipedia in-text MLA?

Structure to follow to cite a Wikipedia article in MLA style: “Article Title.”

Website Title, Publisher (if different from website title), Day Month Year published or updated, URL.

Reference example: “Special Relativity.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 July 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity.

Is Wikipedia a valid source to cite?


Wikipedia is not a reliable source for elsewhere

on Wikipedia. Because it can be edited by anyone at any time, any information it contains at a particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or just plain wrong. … Wikipedia generally uses reliable secondary sources, which vet data from primary sources.

Can you cite Wikipedia in a research paper?


Wiki is not paper

, so you will need to use an electronic- format instead. … You should not cite any particular author or authors for a Wikipedia article, in general. Wikipedia is collaboratively written. However, if you do need to find the list of authors of a particular article, you can check the Page history.

Is it OK to cite from Wikipedia?

Citation is not needed for fact-checking general knowledge. … In any case,

you should not cite Wikipedia itself

, but the source provided; you should certainly look up the source yourself before citing it. If there is no source cited, consider a different method of obtaining this information.

What type of source is Wikipedia?

Wikipedia:Wikipedia is

a tertiary source

– describes how Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and as such Wikipedia is a tertiary source.

What is a better source than Wikipedia?


Some online encyclopedias

are more reliable than Wikipedia due to different formats and ideology-based approaches. Wikipedia is the largest online encyclopedia at 6.2 million articles and growing. Encyclopedia Britannica Online is the most reliable and respected online encyclopedia, but it requires a subscription.

What is MLA citation example?

MLA citing format often includes the following pieces of information, in this order:

Author's Last name, First name

. “Title of Source.” Title of Container, Other contributors, Version, Numbers, Publisher, Publication Date, Location.

How do you reference an article from a website?

  1. author (the person or organisation responsible for the site)
  2. year (date created or last updated)
  3. page title (in italics)
  4. name of sponsor of site (if available)
  5. accessed day month year (the day you viewed the site)
  6. URL or Internet address (pointed brackets).

How do you cite Wikipedia in APA 6th edition?

When citing Wikipedia in-text, all you need is

the article title

. This is because Wikipedia is a collaborative website and there is no author or published date. The citation, which will be in parentheses, will have the title of the page or article in quotations.

Can I use information from Wikipedia on my website?

If you want to use Wikipedia's text materials in your own books/articles/web sites or other publications, you can generally do so, but you

must comply with one of the licenses that Wikipedia's text is licensed under

. Many of the media files on Wikipedia are also reusable.

Is a Wikipedia a primary source?


Wikipedia is a bad source

. While it is a tertiary source, Wikipedia is not considered a reliable source for Wikipedia articles. Tertiary sources can provide a valuable overview of a topic, but often oversimplify complex material. It is usually better to cite the secondary or primary literature directly.

Is Wikipedia a tertiary source?

Tertiary sources are publications such as encyclopedias or other compendia that sum up secondary and primary sources. For example,

Wikipedia itself is a tertiary source

. Many introductory textbooks may also be considered tertiary to the extent that they sum up multiple primary and secondary sources.

How accurate is Wikipedia 2019?

They found that while Wikipedia articles were rated at 83.8 percent for completeness, the information published in the articles was

99.7 percent accurate

.

Juan Martinez
Author
Juan Martinez
Juan Martinez is a journalism professor and experienced writer. With a passion for communication and education, Juan has taught students from all over the world. He is an expert in language and writing, and has written for various blogs and magazines.