Can Wikipedia Be Cited As A Source

Well, Wikipedia, like other encyclopedias and handbooks, is a tertiary source. Generally, tertiary sources – which include traditional encyclopedias, handbooks, and other reference works – should not be cited since they only pull together background information and don’t bring any new analysis of their own to a topic.

Is it ever okay to cite Wikipedia as a reference in a paper?

Is it a good idea to cite Wikipedia in your research paper? Generally speaking, no. In fact, if you’re writing a paper as a class assignment, your teacher may specifically prohibit citing Wikipedia. Scholarly papers should generally rely on peer-reviewed and other scholarly work vetted by experts in the field.

Can I use Wikipedia as a reference?

Wiki is not paper, so you will need to use an electronic-citation 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.

Does Wikipedia cite its sources?

Wikipedia’s verifiability policy requires inline citations for any material challenged or likely to be challenged, and for all quotations, anywhere in article space. While you should try to write citations correctly, what matters most is that you provide enough information to identify the source.

How do I cite Wikipedia?

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 reliable 2020?

Wikipedia is not a reliable source for citations 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.

Why is it bad to cite Wikipedia?

However, citation of Wikipedia in research papers may be considered unacceptable, because Wikipedia is not a reliable source. This is because Wikipedia can be edited by anyone at any moment. Although when an error is recognized, it is usually fixed.

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 Wikipedia information accurate?

“The study did reveal inaccuracies in eight of the nine entries and exposed major flaws in at least two of the nine Wikipedia articles. Overall, Wikipedia’s accuracy rate was 80 percent compared with 95-96 percent accuracy within the other sources.”Aug 27, 2020.

How often is Wikipedia wrong?

The paper found that Wikipedia’s entries had an overall accuracy rate of 80 percent, whereas the other encyclopedias had an accuracy rate of 95 to 96 percent.

How does Wikipedia produce content?

Wikipedia is written collaboratively by largely anonymous volunteers. Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles, except in limited cases where editing is restricted to prevent further disruption or vandalism. Editors’ opinions and beliefs and unreviewed research will not remain.

Does Wikipedia Make Money?

Wikipedia makes money via donations, investments, as well as merchandise sales. In the future, it plans to launch an API that charges enterprises a fee for access to its data. Founded in 2001, Wikipedia has grown to become one of the world’s most-frequented websites.

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.

How do you cite Wikipedia in APA 6th edition?

To put an in-text citation for Wikipedia in APA, you would use the following format: (“Title of article,” n.d.) An example would be: (“World War II,” n.d.).

How do you cite from a website?

Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of the Article or Individual Page.” Title of the Website, Name of the Publisher, date of publication in day month year format, URL.

How do you cite in APA format?

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author’s last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

Why is Wikipedia so popular?

Wikipedia contains around 17 million articles in its database thus making it to be the largest encyclopedia in the world. Wikipedia also has articles in 262 languages and thus attracting large number of readers from all most all parts of the world. It also has large number of articles in terms of broad range of fields.

Is Google better than 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 is easier to compare these two to real world items that most people have already encountered.

Is giving to Wikipedia safe?

With the money it generates through these contributions, Wikipedia is able to keep its servers running and also maintain the site and ensure that it is secure, loads quickly, and protects user data. Generous donations from its massive user base also helps the site maintain its independence.

Is Wikipedia a primary source?

Wikipedia, as an encyclopedia, is a tertiary source. However, Wikipedia and sources that mirror or source information from Wikipedia may not be used as secondary or tertiary sources. Wikipedia articles are sometimes used as primary sources in articles about Wikipedia.

What is the purpose of Wikipedia?

Wikipedia’s purpose is to benefit readers by acting as a widely accessible and free encyclopedia; a comprehensive written compendium that contains information on all branches of knowledge.