4 ways to use Wikipedia (hint: never cite it)

Nov 07

You should NEVER cite Wikipedia in an academic paper. Your teacher will think you are at best lazy and at worst an idiot if you do. But that doesn’t mean that Wikipedia is useless; far from it. Here are 4 ways to use Wikipedia to write better papers without needing to cite it at all.

Background information: The Grapes of Wrath makes a lot more sense if you understand the dust bowl of the depression. The fighting in Iraq makes more sense if you understand that it wasn’t until after World War I that it became one country under the British. Knowing the context of your topic can help you understand that material better and write about it more clearly.
Links: At the bottom of every article is a list of external links. These sites are often articles or respected authorities that you CAN cite. For example you could use a few liens from the Woody Guthrie song Tom Joad about his experience of seeing the film Grapes of Wrath in a paper on the topic. There are also good links in the Notes section (which are the references for factual statements made in the article).
Keywords: Sometimes coming up with the right keywords for a library or google search is the hardest part of a research project. The Wikipedia page can give you a ton of clues about what word combinations will get you the best results. For example “drought” gets a lot more irrelevant hits than “dust bowl”.
References: Also at the bottom of each article is a list of books and articles that were used to put this article together. Those are things you can read and later cite. A librarian can help you get a copy if you can’t find them yourself.

The goal here is not to take Wikipedia as gospel but to use it to focus your research (via links, keywords and references) and get a little context (via background information). Focusing cuts down the time you spend on the project while context will get you a better grade for your effort.

19 Comments so far »

Sydney said

am November 13 2007 @ 11:50 am

Great post…my Comp teacher actually just lectured my class over this last week. I can’t believe how many people actually cite Wikipedia.
David Gerard said

am November 13 2007 @ 4:39 pm

Speaking from the trenches of Wikipedia … spot on! It’s an encyclopedia, use it as a backgrounder for yourself only and double-check any substantive fact you assert. It’s a starting point, not a finishing point. (And the whole thing is a live working draft, so though it gets better on average with time any given page at the wrong moment may be HORRIBLY wrong. Keep your wits about you.)
Phill Bailey said

am November 13 2007 @ 7:27 pm

I’m a first year undergrad, and every time essays are mentioned, we’re told don’t use wikipedia! The darned thing is, that for simple background on something or someone for a bit of information you’re giving in passing, there’s nothing quite so easy as to whack it into wikipedia. I certainly wouldn’t want to search JSTOR every time I had to find basic stuff out, I’d actually top myself! I will admit that on my first essay I did cite wikipedia, slaps wrist, boohissboo. I dread to imagine what comment I’ll get for that - however I am only hoping for a third on it…
Lifehack Digest for November 13th - lifehack.org said

am November 14 2007 @ 9:30 am

[…] 4 ways to use Wikipedia (hint: never cite it)Wikipedia is a great resource for academic work, though not as a source in a paper. GearFire Student Productivity spells out what you CAN use it for: background information, links to solid sources, and ideas about serching for more information.Tags: wikipedia student research writing papers […]
4 Ways to Use Wikipedia « CHIC LRC: Library & Tutoring Center said

am November 14 2007 @ 4:35 pm

[…] help you. Click here to find out how. Posted in Best of the Web, Homework […]
rebecca said

am November 14 2007 @ 11:58 pm

Hi Phill - Rather than citing Wikipedia directly you can look to the links at the bottom or the reference section to find more reputable and stable sites. It’s a LOT easier to document background information once you know what you are looking for.
Finally: Good Advice on Wikipedia « Megan Golding said

am November 15 2007 @ 10:08 pm

[…] Finally: Good Advice on Wikipedia Posted on November 15, 2007 by Megan Golding Don’t remember where I first heard of the Gearfire Student Productivity blog I’m thrilled for the referral. One post this week really impressed me: “4 ways to use Wikipedia (hint: never cite it)“. […]
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net said

am November 29 2007 @ 10:58 pm

Hmm…wikipedia is very very hit and miss. For academic stuff, I would say it’s pretty reliable. But I’m a boxing / MMA fan, and some of the articles in there must have been written by the fighters themselves. I remember one guy who was the punching bag for everyone else, but the wikipedia article stated he was three time world champion. Freaking hilarious!

Cheers,
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net
Modern personal development, entwined with ancient spirituality.
academhack » Blog Archive » More Wikipedia Non-Sense said

am December 6 2007 @ 1:20 pm

[…] for students who are in college check out Gearfire’s run down of how to use Wikipedia. (Note to ill-informed: Gearfire gets it right. Wikipedia is an […]
Study Hacks » Blog Archive » 25 Articles Every Student Should Read said

am December 6 2007 @ 5:19 pm

[…] Four Ways to Use Wikipedia (hint: never cite it) | GearFire […]
Jake’s Life » More Resources I Wish I Had In College said

am December 8 2007 @ 3:52 am

[…] 4 Ways to use Wikipedia (without citing it) at Gearfire […]
pjg084 said

am December 9 2007 @ 8:48 pm

This is a great article. I am glad somebody wrote something along these lines as it’s what I have been thinking for a long time. I have wondered how many people have actually thought to look into the references etc at the base of the page.
4 Tips on how to make better use of Wikipedia « 1855 said

am January 12 2008 @ 9:41 am

[…] use of Wikipedia January 12, 2008 GearFire, an weblog for “academic success” has a useful post on how to unleash the power of the Wikipedia without citing it in your paper: Nothing that I […]
WikiSummary | GearFire - Tips for Students said

am February 10 2008 @ 11:44 am

[…] or complete. If you haven’t already read it, be sure to check out Rebecca’s related post on how to use Wikipedia. digg_url = “http://www.gearfire.net/wikisummary/”;digg_title = […]
Pete White said

am February 29 2008 @ 12:10 pm

99% of the time there is nothing wrong with Wikipedia as a source. It has great material and the facts are as good as many other sources. The problem is that because a resource like Wikipedia was not available in the teachers day anyone who uses it instantly gets branded lazy even if what they have written about is perfectly good.

Wikipedia shouldn’t be used as an only source but to tell people they shouldn’t be citing it at all is ridicilous.
beauty blog said

am April 9 2008 @ 4:19 pm

actually my sister was JUST telling me how her professor does not allow Wikipedia as a valid source for papers and essays. It’s too bad, I think Wikipedia is one of the most powerful collaborative resources out there. It’s not an encyclopedia from 70 authors… it’s a huge online knowledge base of 2.4 million contributors!
busby seo challenge said

am June 10 2008 @ 8:49 am

Wikipedia content is not reliable i guess its not checked and compiled by teacher and scholar,One option which is hated by me the most is editing, Editing my any one.
PPC said

am June 12 2008 @ 3:38 am

Citing Wikipedia is suicide if you’re doing projects. Rather follow the contributors and cite them as references in your work.
Lillie said

am June 24 2008 @ 2:13 pm

Great, simple information. Do you mind if I use this for student handouts as a resource? I’ll be sure to cite your work!