Table of Contents
Wikipedia’s main namespace is an encyclopedia and thus a tertiary source. Wikipedia avoids describing topics that never have been described before — doing otherwise qualifies as performing original research.
Is Wikipedia a secondary source or tertiary?
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 are some examples of tertiary sources?
Examples of Tertiary Sources: Dictionaries/encyclopedias (may also be secondary), almanacs, fact books, Wikipedia, bibliographies (may also be secondary), directories, guidebooks, manuals, handbooks, and textbooks (may be secondary), indexing and abstracting sources.
Does Wikipedia count as a secondary 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.
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.
Is lexicomp a tertiary source?
Some examples of tertiary resources include textbooks, drug compendia like Lexicomp or Micromedex, package inserts, websites like the CDC or ClinicalTrials.gov, and other online databases.
Is a biography a tertiary source?
Tertiary sources are publications that summarize and digest the information in primary and secondary sources to provide background on a topic, idea, or event. Encyclopedias and biographical dictionaries are good examples of tertiary sources.
What is the best example of tertiary sources?
Examples of tertiary sources include: Encyclopedias. Dictionaries. Textbooks. Almanacs. Bibliographies. Chronologies. Handbooks.
What is the difference between primary and secondary and tertiary sources?
Data from an experiment is a primary source. Secondary sources are one step removed from that. Tertiary sources summarize or synthesize the research in secondary sources. For example, textbooks and reference books are tertiary sources.4 days ago.
What are the advantages of tertiary sources?
Possible Tertiary Sources Advantages: They offer a quick, easy introduction to your topic. They may point to high-quality primary and secondary sources. Disadvantages: Because of their distance, they may oversimplify or otherwise distort a topic. By rehashing secondary sources, they may miss new insights into a topic.
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 isn’t Wikipedia a primary source?
This page in a nutshell: Wikipedia does not publish original thought. All material in Wikipedia must be attributable to a reliable, published source. Articles may not contain any new analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to reach or imply a conclusion not clearly stated by the sources themselves.
What is the difference between primary source and secondary source?
Primary sources are firsthand, contemporary accounts of events created by individuals during that period of time or several years later (such as correspondence, diaries, memoirs and personal histories). Secondary sources often use generalizations, analysis, interpretation, and synthesis of primary sources.
How does Wikipedia cite their sources?
Citations for World Wide Web pages typically include: URL of the specific web page where the referenced content can be found. name of the author(s) title of the article. title or domain name of the website. publisher, if known. date of publication. page number(s) (if applicable).
How reliable is Wikipedia?
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.
What are secondary sources?
Secondary sources were created by someone who did not experience first-hand or participate in the events or conditions you’re researching. For a historical research project, secondary sources are generally scholarly books and articles. A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources.6 days ago.
What is tertiary nationality?
Tertiary means third in order, third in importance, or at a third stage of development. He must have come to know those philosophers through secondary or tertiary sources. American English: tertiary /ˈtɜrʃiɛri/ Brazilian Portuguese: terciário.
What comes after primary secondary and tertiary?
up to tenth. It’s primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, quinary, senary, septenary, octonary, nonary, and denary. There’s also a word for twelfth, duodenary, though that — along with all the words after tertiary — is rarely used.
Is the travel brochure a primary secondary or a tertiary source?
Almanacs, travel guides, field guides, and timelines are also examples of tertiary sources. Survey or overview articles are usually tertiary, though review articles in peer-reviewed academic journals are generally considered secondary (not be confused with film, book, etc. reviews, which are primary-source opinions).
What is tertiary source and examples?
Examples of tertiary sources include: textbooks (sometimes considered as secondary sources) dictionaries and encyclopedias. manuals, guidebooks, directories, almanacs.
Is a biography secondary source?
Secondary sources are interpretations and analyses based on primary sources. For example, an autobiography is a primary source while a biography is a secondary source.
Is Britannica a tertiary source?
No, the Encyclopedia Britannica is a tertiary source. An encyclopedia references information without any analysis or opinion, therefore, it is a tertiary source. Nevertheless, depending on the scope of your research, encyclopedias can be referenced as primary sources.
Is handbook a tertiary source?
Tertiary sources compile and summarize mostly secondary sources. Examples might include reference publications such as encyclopedias, bibliographies or handbooks.
Are tertiary sources reliable?
A tertiary source that is a compendium of factoids by an author with no known expertise, and which indicates nothing about the sources of its own information, is not a reliable source.
How do you find tertiary sources?
Where to find tertiary sources Oxford Reference Online. A collection of over 2 million entries from dictionaries, encyclopedias, and companions published by Oxford University Press. VCU Libraries Search. Search for ‘encyclopedia,’ ‘handbook,’ or ‘textbook’ + your general topic (cartoons, depression, etc.).
