Middlebury College History Department Bans Citing Wikipedia as Research Source

[wyldwolf]

When half a dozen students in Neil Waters’s Japanese history class at Middlebury College asserted on exams that the Jesuits supported the Shimabara Rebellion in 17th-century Japan, he knew something was wrong. The Jesuits were in “no position to aid a revolution,” he said; the few of them in Japan were in hiding.

He figured out the problem soon enough. The obscure, though incorrect, information was from Wikipedia, the collaborative online encyclopedia, and the students had picked it up cramming for his exam.

With the move, Middlebury, in Vermont, jumped into a growing debate within journalism, the law and academia over what respect, if any, to give Wikipedia articles, written by hundreds of volunteers and subject to mistakes and sometimes deliberate falsehoods. Wikipedia itself has restricted the editing of some subjects, mostly because of repeated vandalism or disputes over what should be said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/education/21wikipedia.html?ex=1329714000&en=156f770bd93c4fa0&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[AlCzervik]

1. my daughters school also bans wikipedia, they can access it but they can't use info

from it.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Well, duh.

Use Wiki as a way to find a source, not as a source itself. If the statement has the proper citation linked, go with it, otherwise it's just rumor.

[Reverend_Smitty]

6. Seriously...

you think college students would know better than to just pluck out random facts off of the internet. I've used it as a jumping off place for research but never actually quoted something from it when it comes to academic papers. Good grief people are just lazy sometimes

[SaveElmer]

3. I used it in grad school...

But never without confirmation...

Its a good tool for pointing you in a potentially correct direction...but never take it at face value...

[Dora]

4. Good. No encyclopedia should be cited.

When doing research at the college level, encyclopedias are unacceptable.

I love wikipedia, it's a great source of info and I use it all the time - as a regular person seeking general information. Today I looked up "carpenter ants" because we have a problem with them in our house and I wanted to learn a little. Tonight we'll try the boric acid.

Never during my undergraduate or graduate school experiences would I have thought using ANY encyclopedia as "research" an acceptable resource. There is a reason universities have libraries, and encyclopedias are not it.

[LanternWaste]

15. As an aside...

As an aside...

Boric acid is GREAT for roaches. Two to four teaspoon-sized piles in different parts of each room in thoue house will do the trick w/in three weeks.

For ants (at least for Carpenters and Black) I'm going to throw at you a "home" remedy that really, REALLY (did I say "really"?) works... 50% vinegar & 50% lemon juice in a spray bottle generously aplied to all countertops, window & door sills, etc.-- it doesn't kill them, but it drives them off.

[dflprincess]

16. My teachers didn't allow us to use encyclopedias as a source in high school

much less college.

[Dora]

17. Now that you mention it, mine didn't either. n/t

[MADem]

5. That makes complete sense to me.

They should use the resource like the 21st Century equivalent of that smartass in the dorm down the hall, who knew everything about anything, but could, once in a blue moon, be dead wrong.

It's a great "getting started" point, but it's subject to false information, trolling, and bulllshit in general. Additional verification is always a good thing. While you might take a risk on Wikipedia as the only source for the details of Don Knotts' film career, historical matters of greater importance should be sourced elsewhere.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Re: Don Knotts, IMDB would be better. nt

[JerseygirlCT]

8. Good, as well it should

It's an interesting resource, and a terrific idea, but one should never, ever, take it at face value as fact.

Use it to get enough info to do some real research.

[unpossibles]

9. maybe instead of banning wikipedia, those students should just get bad grades

I know I am biased as the internet was barely around when I was in school, but I knew that if I used lazy sources it was my own damn fault. Hell, as someone who has cheated on more than one test back in the day, the fact that so many used the same bad source says to me that they probably "borrowed' the information from each other.

[kestrel91316]

10. Not a valid primary source. Ok for getting you started down the

road toward valid research, however.

[robcon]

11. I think all colleges should ban Wikipedia citations.

There's a lot of misinformation in Wikipedia.

edit:grammar

[ElizabethDC]

12. At my university, professors are very clear about when you can and cannot use it

This is probably the case at most places, but most professors have their own policies about it - there are times when it's appropriate and times when it isn't. As others have pointed out, it's a good jumping off point - especially because it gives a lot of good links to websites that *can* be cited. I consider it an invaluable resource, and I know that my fellow students feel the same way - but I think we all understand its appropriate uses.

[MadHound]

13. Any college or university worth its ivy should do this,

As well as high schools, middle schools and elementary schools. Sure, Wiki is a fine place to get one started. But it isn't a good secondary or even terceary source for papers or presentations.

[Lisa]

14. I ask my students to cite additional sources ...

If they insist that Wikipedia is sufficiently credible on its own, I tell them that if that's the case, it shouldn't be too hard for them to find already-published sources that back it up, right? And if they can't, that throws into question both the information, and their uncritical acceptance of Wiki.

[donsu]

18. Neil should have been progressive and had his students

research the subject and make corrections to Wikipedia.

banning it won't have the results his closed mindedness hoped for.