Wikipedia revisited
Are you tired of the Wikipedia debate? I feel compelled to weigh in anyway. I think the question is not "Is Wikipedia reliable?" but "Is it an appropriate source for a research paper?"
Would you cite Wikipedia as a source for a peer-reviewed journal article? Well, no. Would you cite the Encyclopedia Britannica, or any other encyclopedia? Probably not. Not because those sources are not reliable, but because they are fact-based summaries rather than the kind of critical analysis found in books and journals that is required for sophisticated academic research.
I'll illustrate with an example. I have a long-standing interest in Irish history and culture, and recently during a lull at the reference desk I got curious about the Irish language, sometimes referred to as Irish Gaelic. So I checked Wikipedia, and found a very interesting and informative entry that satisfied my curiosity. You can read it here.
What was even more interesting was the discussion among the various contributors. Language, like many things, is a political issue, and there are not always clear-cut answers to linguistic-related questions. If I wanted to explore for myself some of those issues raised in the Wikipedia discussion, where would I go? The journal literature, the library catalog. Or better yet, to Ireland, where I could interview people and collect my own data.
When I got ready to write up my results, would I include a reference to that Wikipedia entry? I don't think so. That was just the beginning, the first step on the trail. What I've described above is the research process, from initial curiosity to basic fact-finding to literature review, original research, and summary of findings.
It all starts with a question, that leads to more questions. What is Irish Gaelic? Where is it spoken today? What other languages is it related to? Wikipedia can provide some of the answers, but the bigger questions can only be addressed through a much broader analysis of information.
Are undergraduates capable of this kind of research? Absolutely. But the process has to start with a genuine question, to which there is not an easy Wikipedia-produced answer.
Would you cite Wikipedia as a source for a peer-reviewed journal article? Well, no. Would you cite the Encyclopedia Britannica, or any other encyclopedia? Probably not. Not because those sources are not reliable, but because they are fact-based summaries rather than the kind of critical analysis found in books and journals that is required for sophisticated academic research.
I'll illustrate with an example. I have a long-standing interest in Irish history and culture, and recently during a lull at the reference desk I got curious about the Irish language, sometimes referred to as Irish Gaelic. So I checked Wikipedia, and found a very interesting and informative entry that satisfied my curiosity. You can read it here.
What was even more interesting was the discussion among the various contributors. Language, like many things, is a political issue, and there are not always clear-cut answers to linguistic-related questions. If I wanted to explore for myself some of those issues raised in the Wikipedia discussion, where would I go? The journal literature, the library catalog. Or better yet, to Ireland, where I could interview people and collect my own data.
When I got ready to write up my results, would I include a reference to that Wikipedia entry? I don't think so. That was just the beginning, the first step on the trail. What I've described above is the research process, from initial curiosity to basic fact-finding to literature review, original research, and summary of findings.
It all starts with a question, that leads to more questions. What is Irish Gaelic? Where is it spoken today? What other languages is it related to? Wikipedia can provide some of the answers, but the bigger questions can only be addressed through a much broader analysis of information.
Are undergraduates capable of this kind of research? Absolutely. But the process has to start with a genuine question, to which there is not an easy Wikipedia-produced answer.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Wikipedia revisited.
TrackBack URL for this entry: https://blogs.psu.edu/mt4/mt-tb.cgi/7638
Leave a comment