Wikipedia and Research Papers

Lets be honest, in this day of age, how can you NOT use wikipedia? Almost, if not all information on any given page has a citation, so referencing isn't a problem.....Do you use wikipedia to "cheat"? For the record, I don't copy and paste sentences. I do a lot of reading on the page, then go to the citation, and write my own sentences.

Good springboard

Wikipedia's a good starting point for high school papers and lazy college freshmen, but you should have no problem whatsoever finding primary or even good secondary sources after your first college-level science class (or even English).

At least for computer science, Wikipedia is one of the best places to get a good breadth/depth on the topic you are researching. Wikipedia is generally so good for computer science topics that most CS professors just point students to wikipedia anyway

There are other, more reliable sources such as books, and your school should offer websites such as opposing viewpoints as sources to whatever you're writing about. Wikipedia is a good starter point if you're having trouble with an essay.

I don't think there's anything wrong with it but it's not totally reliable unless your sources are accurate and reliable. Also, Wikipedia is mostly information. If you want to debate on something, especially something obscure than you need other sources.

I just use a college database, but I have used Wiki.

I don't use Wiki directly, but use Wiki's sources. Turns out a lot of the sources usually overlap with each other when I do papers.

I also prefer to use .Gov websites, or websites associated with some sort of higher order so I don't look like a total dumbass when professor gets all red pen happy. Like when doing medical papers I just use http://www.thelancet.com, which is a medical database were doctors can post their findings anonymously to avoid legal issues, but must verify with the board of committee and prove they actually have a PhD in said field to post.

It's pretty great as doctors can be straight up like...

Clenbuterol + Cocaine = ultra pain killer cocktail and offers performance enhancing abilities in athletes. Things that are generally unethical.

I use Wikipedia for background, to learn generally about the topic I'm writing about. After that I use research papers using digital libraries available through my University like JSTOR ect.

Wikipedia is a good source to find out what resources might exist on a topic that have information on the subject discussed. However, learn to use your library system, some college libraries offer borrowing privileges to the outside public for a fee, and even some chained library systems have good resources store in warehouses and other branches in the system.

For the purpose of formal research, it is only a starting point. Literally anyone with an internet connection can edit it, so the information is notoriously unreliable. You can look at the citations, though, and actually read the sources that the information came from.

Wikipedia usually cites its information, so I just validate whatever sources they cite and take it from there. There's a mass of information at your disposal, how can you not make use of it?

xD THANKS

Hell no. I only use large stacks of library books in combination with reputable journal articles (plus legislation, cases, government agency reports, etc. for law essays).

I don't think I've used Wikipedia for essays for 5-6 years now. Savvy lecturers would crucify you for it, plus it's simply lazy, it won't help you develop good research skills, and it it's probably a good indication about how little effort you're putting into your work.

I mean, I'd kind of understand using it as a broad introduction to a field if you know absolutely nothing about it...but how often would you really pick essay topics that you know nothing about?

^To answer your last sentence, pretty often. I was going to choose something I knew more about, but then I said to myself that would have been to easy. Now I'm regretting it.

I will use wikipedia to find the sources and then check the sources and cite those

In case OP isn't trolling and is simply an idiot:

Wikipedia has sources, sometimes good ones. Use those.

Bookmarked.

Edit: Nevermind. I was expecting more advice on how to get high and perform at the top of my game but I didn't see anything else :p

if youre at the university level , taking info directly from Wikipedia is unprofessional , though a few of the links at the bottom of the page sometimes lead to legit academic sources.

Yeah it won't do that. You also need a University ID code, or pay some insane fee.

It's not open to the public completely for free, but you can glance at studies.

I never at all used Wikipedia in college and I did write several papers back then. The Internet is full of all kinds of research and academic papers for those searching for materials and references. Its not necessarily because Wikipedia sucks for this kind of things (it may do however), but I felt that if I as a university student can't apply myself enough to lookup and grasp research and academic papers and articles written on subjects that I'm studying, then it wouldn't look like I have any sort of a bright future. So it was more of a self-worth thing, and of course a sense of professionalism that too was definitely there. I can be very meticulous when under the impression that my work is going to be viewed or received publicly.

But I use Wikipedia as a gateway to get me interested in a topic and put me on track to start reading on it. Its also useful to understand certain terminologies and to quickly survey any topic like a historical event or a religious doctrine.

It condenses a lot of information from various viewpoints, so you can very easily get a bunch of articles and sources that give you a really well balanced presentation on a subject.

Wikipedia is fine, it is one of the first places to get updated. Check references and you can't go wrong.

Honestly not always. The main topics in my most recent research paper had very little information on Wikipedia anyway, and I had to search pretty hard and sift through some journals to find some decent sources.

Try Wikiversity and Google scholar.

Wikipedia is a non-scholarly source. It endeavors to provide a "layman's" encyclopedia of knowledge for the general public, they reject any professional research from actual experts in the field. The reason why teachers and professors do not wish you to use it as a source is because they want you to do your own research, to read primary sources, and not just a basic retelling of a collection of sources.

I use Wikipedia all the time for my papers and such (unless the professor specifically says no Wiki). But I don't rely on it. Gotta get info from other places too.

Well wikipedia at least has some source citations. The college should offer some sort of subscribed database