Can You Use Wikipedia As A Source?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Can you use Wikipedia as a source?

Wikipedia is not a reliable source

for elsewhere on Wikipedia. As a user-generated source, it can be edited by anyone at any time, and any information it contains at a particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or simply incorrect.

Can you cite Wikipedia as a source?


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.

Can you use Wikipedia as a source in research?

Wikipedia – Academic Use


Wikipedia is not considered a credible source

. Wikipedia is increasingly used by people in the academic community, from students to professors, as an easily accessible tertiary source for information about anything and everything.

Can I use Wikipedia as a source in my essay?

Is it legal to use Wikipedia content?

Wikipedia's text content, in a nutshell, can be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license (CC-BY-SA); unless otherwise indicated, it can also be used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

Is Wikipedia reliable source?


Wikipedia is not a reliable source

for citations elsewhere on Wikipedia. As a user-generated source, it can be edited by anyone at any time, and any information it contains at a particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or simply incorrect.

Is Wikipedia OK as reference?

The answer from Wikipedia is clear: at least in research projects, “

you probably shouldn't be citing Wikipedia

”. Why's that? Well, Wikipedia, like other encyclopedias and handbooks, is a tertiary source. Tertiary sources are those that take their information from other primary and secondary sources.

Why students should not use Wikipedia?

So why should you not use Wikipedia:

Wikipedia is not considered scholarly

. Wikipedia acknowledges that its information is not properly vetted. The site has included hoaxes.

Can Wikipedia be peer reviewed?

Wikipedia's peer review process is a feature where an editor can receive feedback from others on how to improve an article they are working on, or receive advice about a specific issue queried by the editor. The process helps users find ways for improvement that they themselves didn't pick up on.

Why is Wikipedia a bad source of information?

The online encyclopedia does not consider itself to be reliable as a source and

discourages readers from using it in academic or research settings

. Researchers, teachers, journalists, and public officials do not regard Wikipedia as a reliable source.

Is Wikipedia Commons copyright free?


Wikimedia Commons only accepts free content

, that is, images and other media files that are not subject to copyright restrictions which would prevent them being used by anyone, anytime, for any purpose.

Is copying and pasting from Wikipedia illegal?


Generally no, unless the source is already under a license compatible with Wikipedia

(such as CC BY-SA), or you donate the source under a free license. A free license makes the source available for anyone – not just Wikipedia, but anyone using Wikipedia – to use, edit, and copy it for any purpose, even commercial ones.

Can Wikipedia be used commercially?


Wikipedia's content is licensed under Creative Commons, the one that allows commercial usage

.

Why is Wikipedia controversial?

Since the launch of Wikipedia in January 2001, several controversies have occurred. Wikipedia's open nature, in which anyone can edit most articles, has led to various concerns, such as

the quality of writing, the amount of vandalism, and the accuracy of information on the project

.

What is the not reliable source?

The following are unreliable sources because they require confirmation with a reliable source: Wikipedia: although this is a good starting point for finding initial ideas about a topic, some of their information and attached resources may not be reliable.

Blogs, tweets

.

Personal websites

.

What is not allowed on Wikipedia?

This applies to usernames, articles, drafts, categories, files, talk page discussions, templates, and user pages. Therefore, content hosted in Wikipedia is not for:

Advocacy, propaganda, or recruitment of any kind

: commercial, political, scientific, religious, national, sports-related, or otherwise.

Why Wikipedia should be a valid source?

Wikipedia is a wiki which means that

anonymous editors, without the requirement of any identification, can write whatever they want on the website

. This means there will, of course, be biased, out-of-date information and even false information and hoaxes.

Which is better Google or Wikipedia?

Google is generally a search engine that indexes web sites around the world. Searches on Google would result in links to the most related sites. On the other hand,

Wikipedia resembles more of an online encyclopedia

. It contains collated information from contributors all around the world.

Is Britannica a scholarly source?

Trust Britannica Library as

a reliable source

with objective, fact-check, and unbiased content that is written by experts and vetted through rigorous editorial process.

Is Wikipedia politically biased?

Research shows that Wikipedia is prone to Neutral Point of View violations caused by bias from its editors, including systemic bias.

Is Wikipedia a valid source Reddit?

CMV. When I go on Wikipedia, most of the stuff is cited and I feel as if every fact stated is backed up by a source. People say that anyone can change it, but usually, it is either blatantly obvious or quickly reverted.

Can I use images from Wikipedia?


You can use (free) images from Wikipedia on your own site, or anywhere you like

. You can use images that are freely-licensed images, provided you comply with the individual image's license terms. While all article text is licensed under the GFDL, free images have several free content licenses to choose from.

Do you need to cite WIkimedia Commons?

WIkimedia Commons

All images, sounds, and videos are contributed by the public and are free to use. However,

they must be cited for attribution because most have a Creative Commons license

.

What Creative Commons license does Wikipedia use?

All text on Wikipedia is licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike 3.0 Unported License

, following a transition from the GFDL.

Can you plagiarize on Wikipedia?

It's wrong to use someone else's words and claim them as your own; that's called plagiarism, and in most universities, it's a violation of your academic honor code.

Wikipedia forbids plagiarism, too

. This includes close paraphrasing, where your words follow the source too closely.

Is Wikipedia content open-source?

The online encyclopedia

Wikipedia is often referred to as an “open-source” project

because it is written, edited and policed by a global group of volunteers.

Are Wikipedia images Creative Commons?

For example, Wikipedia can accept images under CC-BY-SA (Attribution-Share Alike) as a free license, but not CC-BY-SA-NC (Attribution-Share Alike-Non-Commercial). A list of possible licenses which are considered “free enough” for Wikipedia are listed at Wikipedia:Image copyright tags.

How do I copy a Wikipedia page?

  1. Create the destination folder, if it does not already exist.
  2. In the source folder, create a Wiki TOC web part (it may be named “Pages” by default), if one does not already exist.
  3. Select Copy from the triangle pulldown menu on the Wiki TOC web part.
  4. Select the destination folder from the tree.

Is it illegal to edit Wikipedia?

What is the most controversial topic in the world?

  • Gun Control.
  • Abortion.
  • Religious Freedom.
  • Animal Rights.
  • Vaccines.
  • Privacy Rights.
  • Free-Market Capitalism.
  • Global Climate Change.

What are two downsides to using Wikipedia?

  • Anyone can create, edit, or delete Wikipedia articles.
  • Wikipedia articles cannot be considered scholarly, because we know nothing about the contributors.
  • Articles are works-in-progress, meaning changes are constantly occuring to the information.

Is Wikipedia a secondary source?

Can I use Britannica as a source?


Trust Britannica Library as a reliable source

with objective, fact-check, and unbiased content that is written by experts and vetted through rigorous editorial process. Take a look at our editorial process which serves as the backbone of our products, experiences, and content.

How do I cite this website?

Citing a website in MLA Style.

An MLA Works Cited entry for a webpage lists the author's name, the title of the page (in quotation marks), the name of the site (in italics), the date of publication, and the URL

. The in-text usually just lists the author's name.

How do you add citations to Wikipedia?

  1. Click in the article where you want to add your citation.
  2. Select the “Cite” button.
  3. Click on the “Automatic” tab.
  4. Paste the URL into the box.
  5. Click “Generate”
  6. Double check that everything looks correct.
  7. Click “Insert”
  8. That's it. You've added a citation.
Charlene Dyck
Author
Charlene Dyck
Charlene is a software developer and technology expert with a degree in computer science. She has worked for major tech companies and has a keen understanding of how computers and electronics work. Sarah is also an advocate for digital privacy and security.