Wikipedia

Any inquiry I have, whether for pleasure or an assignment, begins with a basic Wikipedia search. Why would I start with any other source? An encyclopedia will have significantly less entries and many pages on the internet are unreliable or provide facts without citation. Wikipedia allows users to access the resources used by editors in the creation of specific pages, as well as allow users to check the history for the most recent additions and see who posted them. Wikipedia, along with About.com and Howstuffworks.com, are some of the best online tools to find answers to simple everyday questions (i.e. how to do Sudoku puzzles) as well as more academic topics (i.e. Swedenborgianism) in an efficient manner.
As a teacher, it is my plan to emphasize the use of Wikipedia as a support and research guide and nothing more; it will be explicit that students are not to cite directly from Wikipedia. I will openly encourage students to use Wikipedia as they begin their research projects or to help brainstorm potential topics.
The fact that Nature magazine reported in 2005 that Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica were nearly equal in the accuracy of their articles demonstrates the ability of the Wikipedia creators and editors to remove unfounded data in order to keep the website’s reliability intact (Johnson, 2006). I find it surprising that Wikipedia is able to keep a level of accuracy that rivals an encyclopedia while providing more entries and the ease of access that accompanies a website (as long as there is an internet signal).
My policy surrounding internet search will be a focus on the reliability of each website. I will more closely monitor and investigate the resources from internet sites (with the exception of published documents that have been converted to a digital format) than from resources used from the school or public library. I feel that the internet is the best way to gather a lot of information in a little amount of time, making Wikipedia one of the most efficient ways to research. On the other hand, much time must now be devoted to ensuring that each resource is accurate through multiple cross references and deeper analysis of contributing material. We seem to be at an educational crossroads, where we have more information available at our fingertips than ever before but we’re not sure if we can use it.

References:
Johnson, D. (2006). Wikipedia: Ban it or Boost it? Media Matters , 26-27.