Silent&Sullen Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 "She went on wikipedia to edit the Frankenstein page and put in false information." The edit was probably gone within the next few minutes and her IP was probably blocked. A lot of times, if you're trying to edit Wikipedia from a school's server, it will block you because it's trying to catch all the students who edit in information just for kicks. In fact, many IPs are blocked -- if you want to do some serious editing, you would need to make an account. Like I said, the main Wikis are pretty trustworthy, but I'd rather not use them for the specifics, like numbers, because mistakes are easily made without any actual malice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LavAzza Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 "She went on wikipedia to edit the Frankenstein page and put in false information." The edit was probably gone within the next few minutes and her IP was probably blocked. A lot of times, if you're trying to edit Wikipedia from a school's server, it will block you because it's trying to catch all the students who edit in information just for kicks. In fact, many IPs are blocked -- if you want to do some serious editing, you would need to make an account. Like I said, the main Wikis are pretty trustworthy, but I'd rather not use them for the specifics, like numbers, because mistakes are easily made without any actual malice. I would say the next few weeks seeing as the students had about a month to do the research. She caught them while they were doing presentations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiaircraft Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 I don't believe that wiki is a good source of info. Why? Because it's user edited. Meaning any user can implement false information. Here's an example. Last year my crazy English teacher decided to teach her sci-fi kids a lesson in proper research methods. So since they were reading Frankenstein at the time they had a huge project to do. She went on wikipedia to edit the Frankenstein page and put in false information. I'm not sure if the wiki is still like that, but hey, she caught the frequent wiki-ers. Mind giving me your crazy English teacher's Wikipedia account name or IP address? I'll warn her and file an administrative block request as necessary myself. :angry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Brother Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 No because it doesn't really give you the information you want unless you can't really care...which is rare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent&Sullen Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 I would say the next few weeks seeing as the students had about a month to do the research. She caught them while they were doing presentations. Really? Huh, that's rare. o_O This post has been edited by a member of staff (Meowy Christmas) because of a violation of the forum rules. Please keep your posts at least 7 words long. Quotes and smileys do not contribute to the post count. Please check your user inbox to see if you have been contacted regarding this incident, then review our rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liliram Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 I think Wiki is great and they do have to post their resources. I understand though why schools won't usually allow it as a reference. I also like how it includes the personal affairs/information of the people-stars. politicians, Nobel peace prize winners, etc.! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAV of Gang Green Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Wikipedia can be edited, but if something seems wrong then the moderators remove the info, so I say it is a good source. I use it all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ΩCCΩ Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 I agree, Wikipedia is a very good source of information cuz nobody can come and post anything they like on it, and besides, it is really easy to use :D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuidenalosninos Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Definately no! For basic information on a topic you don't know much about it can be great! But as for being legitimate reference material for any highschool, college or university exam or essay, anyone can edit the information on there. So you never know the bias of the person writting it is. I usualy use it to get an idea of what to study. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey_Joe_Mc Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Wikipedia can be a great source so start off with, but if the wiki-posters do it properly, they should cite their sources. From there, you can find credible sources that can be used for your own citation. However, if I'm just looking for general info, I'll go there and read up on whatever I'm looking for. Unless there's someone out there who just wants to mess with people, most of the info on there is probably correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuidenalosninos Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 Books are still better though :P. If you have an essay to do, my best advice is to go to your local university, spend an hour in their thesis library reading whatever's relevent, then gather the cites at the back of the books and study those as well. For primary/junior school internet and wikipedia are fine. But when you get to about year/grade 9 or 10 some teachers start marking you down for only using internet, and using wikipedia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domino Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 I don't really consider Wikipedia to be a legitimate source that you could cite in say....a research paper or something. I mean, I use wiki all the time for stuff, and it's almost always correct. But then you think about how anyone can edit it, and that fact seems to make it a little bit less trustworthy, for me at least. One time one of my friends almost edited the article on Hercules to say that he wore a Pokemon Cards for clothes, so that we could use it for documentation for a skit we were doing. :P. I'm sure that one of the mods would have had it down pretty fast, but there's a LOT of pages on Wikipedia, and a LOT of information that has to be moderated. You could really go either way on this one, depending on what you were using it for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holliepop Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Answering the question, No. It's not a good source for official information. I learn a lot of things from Wikipedia but I can't say it's a good source for information for school and research purposes. I say this because the information you are citing can easily be removed, or changed/altered. It's not always 100% legit information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aloudervoice Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 i'd say no to Wiki being reliable because my university would reject any essay with wiki as a reference. even if the rest is great. so maybe i've been programmed to distrust it. however, recently they've got better at moderating content so it is more reliable than it once was... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
June Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Honestly, I'm a university student with a 3.8 GPA and I use wiki all the time. Usually i'm writing on subjects I already know a LOT about and its just a matter of looking up quick facts. I just don't source it as a resource because we aren't allowed :X. So called 'academic' sources from online journals, etc. rarely do me any good- they re so specific and overcomplicated. But i'm also in art school so the general format of an essay would be to formulate my own thesis about a piece of work and then explain what it means. Not a ton of fact. This topic has been edited by a member of staff (Stephé) because of a violation of the forum rules. Please do not bump an old topic that has been inactive for over 21 days. Please check your user inbox to see if you have been contacted regarding this incident, then review our rules. Per the reason above, this topic has been LOCKED. Please contact Stephé if you have any questions regarding this action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts