12-01-2011, 12:55 AM
bwicklander wrote:
I donated a few weeks ago. I support Wikipedia every year. I find the information quite reliable, for the most part.
It is interesting that for college classes that I can't use wikipedia as a source, but college professors have no problem with me using someone's blog for the same information.
With the internet, there are few reliable sources anymore. Many publications have allowed blog style writing as journalism. Bleech!
That's a pretty standard academic policy, it's the same at my sons' schools. With blogs you have authorship; you know who wrote the material you are quoting, and you and your professors can judge the worthiness based upon that source. With wikipedia you likely have no idea who wrote the information, even though in some cases lots of references are listed.
I think wikipedia is great for certain types of informal research, but you have to approach it with a lot of caution and a critical mind.