CIV 201: European Civilization 1: Wikipedia

What's better than Wikipedia?
YOUR LIBRARY!

Online database resources and in print library materials are credible sources of information than Wikipedia. 
You also have access to help from a librarian.

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

General information encyclopedia - A general scope of a variety of topics.

Subject specific encyclopedia - Focuses on certain topics within a field of study.

General dictionaries - Most often in terms of language, English or foreign.

Subject specific dictionaries - Brief entry for a certain topic or field of study. 

Why Wikipedia is not so great.

• Allowing anyone to edit Wikipedia means that it is more easily vandalized or susceptible to unchecked information which requires removal.

• Wikipedia is written largely by amateurs. Those with expert credentials are given no additional weight. Some experts contend that expert credentials are given less weight than contributions by amateurs. Wikipedia is also not subject to any peer review for scientific or medical or engineering articles.

• Articles and subject areas sometimes suffer from significant omissions, and while misinformation and vandalism are usually corrected quickly, this does not always happen.

• Wikipedia is more subject to subtle viewpoint promotion than a typical reference work.

• Wikipedia's radical openness also means that any given article may be, at any given moment, in a bad state, such as in the middle of a large edit, or a controversial rewrite

• Users should be aware that not all articles are of encyclopedic quality from the start: they may contain false or debatable information. Indeed, many articles start their lives as displaying a single viewpoint; and, after a long process of discussion, debate, and argument, they gradually take on a neutral point of view reached through consensus. 

• Others may, for a while, become caught up in a heavily unbalanced viewpoint which can take some time—months perhaps—to achieve better balanced coverage of their subject.

Wikipedia is useful in some instances.  It is best to verify all information with a second source. Use to find:

• Basic information about the subject
• Pronunciation
• Definition
• Related terms

It is best to go to the direct source of information on the subject.  Use the article links provided in:

• References
• Further readings
• External links